NewFest at 35: Andrew Haigh, George C. Wolfe and Other Filmmaker Alums Reflect on NYC’s Preeminent LGBTQ+ Film Festival (Exclusive)

Celebrating 35 years as New York City’s premiere destination for LGBTQ+ filmmakers, indie cinephiles and the industry who’s who alike, NewFest kicked off one week ago, Oct. 12, at Chelsea’s SVA Theatre with the New York premiere of screenwriter Dustin Lance Black’s latest biopic, “Rustin.”

The days that followed included New York premieres and special screenings for anticipated festival darlings like “Eileen” with Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie, “Nyad” with Annette Bening and Jodie Foster and the world premiere of “Beyond the Aggressives,” the documentary centerpiece and follow-up to 2005’s groundbreaking “The Aggressives.” And the days ahead promise even more – among them “May December” from director Todd Haynes and starring Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman, Cannes award winner “Monster” from Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda and the closing night feature presentation of Andrew Haigh’s “All of Us Strangers,” starring Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell.

Sprinkled throughout its lineup are special shorts presentations from LGBTQ+ filmmakers both established and up-and-coming, a world premiere television screening of Showtime’s “Fellow Travelers” from creator Ron Nyswaner, starring Matt Bomer and “Bridgerton” breakout Jonathan Bailey, and revisits to queer classics like “Gods & Monsters” (1998) and “Young Soul Rebels” (1991), the latter presented in a 4K restoration.

But at the heart of NewFest is its ability to celebrate diverse voices on some of New York’s biggest screens, platform affirming conversations and talk-backs with heralded queer creators and foster community within the entertainment industry and beyond.

“Sharing LGBTQ+ stories in a space designed specifically for queer audiences is magical. It’s joyful. It’s healing. It serves a need that we all share – to feel a part of something. To feel seen and valued and respected,” NewFest executive director David Hatkoff told TheWrap. “Many of these films don’t have distribution, and wouldn’t be seen if not for queer festivals. Artists from marginalized communities are often lacking in support, and festivals like NewFest can help change that.”

The festival sees that mission through by instating programs like their New Voices Filmmaker Grant, in partnership with Netflix, in support of emerging queer filmmakers. The Black Filmmaker Initiative also creates inroads into the industry via NewFest, along with the fest’s NYC Department of Education partnership, which helps shepherd aspiring high school filmmakers to follow their creative spirit with tools and access to the festival. “These students are the next generation of filmmakers,” Hatkoff enthused.

“Our mission has stayed the same – to provide a platform for queer stories and storytellers,” the executive continued. “It’s how we serve that mission that has changed. What started as an urgent need for the queer community in New York to have a safe space to gather in celebration of our stories continues, 35 years later, as a thriving year-round organization that in 2023 alone will have provided a platform for more than 200 queer stories.”

NewFest 2023 features programming both in person and virtually; learn more about its lineup here.

In the spirit of NewFest’s mission of fostering relationships and community among LGBTQ+ creators, of celebrating stories that otherwise would not be seen and in being a career launchpad for so many, TheWrap connected with 11 festival alumni – including 2023 presenting filmmakers like Haigh, who played his very first short film at the festival 20 years ago, and “Rustin” director George C. Wolfe – to share their memories, their thanks and their hopes for the festival’s future.

As Hatkoff said: “Once you’re a part of the NewFest family, you’re in for life.”

Andrew Haigh (Filmmaker, “All of Us Strangers”)
“I first played at NewFest back in 2003. It was my very first short film and the first public screening. I wasn’t in New York, but it meant the world. I still have a copy of the program. This is my fourth time at the festival. It’s a wonderful festival in an incredible city that is so important in LGBTQ culture and history. I want to see stories that challenge and confront. Representation sometimes means making people feel uncomfortable. NewFest allows queer filmmakers to show their films as part of a curated lineup of other queer work to a predominantly queer audience. That does not happen every day, and it’s why festivals such as NewFest are so important.”

George C. Wolfe (Filmmaker, “Rustin”)
“My first experience with NewFest was when I was running the Public Theater. [He served as artistic director from 1993–2004.] They were already working with the Public Theater at the time, but I gladly continued the relationship. They’re a great organization. Any structure or organization that supports artists in the right way, and who tells stories that need to be told, should be celebrated, and in celebrating these people, [NewFest] should be celebrated as well!”

Ron Nyswaner (Creator and showrunner, “Fellow Travelers”) 
“I’m thrilled to be showing ‘Fellow Travelers’ at NewFest and to share it with my queer community. We’ve tried to shed some light on important events in our history, from the 1950s to the 1980s, and to present a compelling, complicated, sexy and bold queer love story – actually more than one. I can’t wait to watch it with a NewFest audience and for the conversation we’ll have after the screening.”

Daniel Peddle (Filmmaker, “Beyond the Aggressives: 25 Years Later”)
“My documentary film ‘The Aggressives’ premiered in NYC at NewFest 2005. I had no real experience yet doing the film festival circuit, as this was my first feature, so I had no clue what to expect. I remember back then, the NewFest programming seemed to be geared mainly to gay white men, and I was a little worried if the typical NewFest crowd would come out for a film that centered QBIPOC AFAB. (NewFest must have been unsure too as they put us in quite a small venue!) I’ll never forget when I showed up an hour before the screening and saw a line around the block – a crowd of mostly Black lesbians and transmasculine folks who were there early for good seats, and others trying to get tickets and being disappointed to learn we had sold out. When I got inside, the theater was packed to the gills. There were even folks sitting in the aisles! The festival staff was totally overwhelmed and quickly announced an encore screening at BAM later in the week for the community turned away. Six feature films later, I would say that that first NewFest screening was the best any of my films ever had. The audience was so engaged, laughing, crying, talking back at the characters. It was clear the film was being loved, and this warmed my heart beyond measure. To have my film embraced by the community it represented was for me the highest honor and I will never ever forget it.”

Andrew Ahn (Filmmaker, “Fire Island”)
“My first experience with NewFest was in 2012, very early on in my career, when my short film ‘Dol (First Birthday)’ screened at the festival. I saved money to buy a plane ticket and crashed on a friend’s couch because I wanted to see my film screen for a queer, New York audience. I met people during the festival that year that I’m still friends with. NewFest helped me build a community of queer filmmakers that motivated me to keep making films. I love the work that NewFest does to honor our queer legacy, to champion our unsung heroes and to foster the next generation of talent. Through film, NewFest galvanizes us to build community and to get out there to face a world that hasn’t yet caught on to the radical love we already practice.”

Elegance Bratton (Filmmaker, “The Inspection”)
“My first experience of NewFest was in 2017 when ‘Walk For Me’ [made its] NYC premiere, my first short film. I was still a grad student at NYU. This was my second year film. It was really a dope experience because my film played at the SVA Theatre. This is the same theater for my second year showcase for Tisch. It was a small full-circle moment that definitely propelled me forward. NewFest is NYC’s oldest LGBTQ festival. As such, it’s a wonderful hub-type of fest where you get a cross section of a wide array of the industry at any particular moment. It’s been absolutely vital in helping me gain a foothold in an industry that is very hard for people like me to breakthrough. Throughout my career, I’ve won grants from NewFest, and last year I was awarded Breakthrough Filmmaker. The attention of these awards helped me to build myself up. The cash helped me get by in rough times. NewFest makes sure that queer storytellers are nourished, supported and as a result, we grow. At NewFest, queer people and stories are the main event. The audience is often made up of queer folks for whom this work is vital and affirming. That sort of enthusiasm is very energizing for me and hard to get anywhere else. NewFest is important because it assures that queer stories are a priority and that queer audiences will show up to love on themselves. It’s existence assures that future queer storytellers have the room to launch.”

Anthony Caronna (Filmmaker, “Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York”)
“My first experience with NewFest was with my feature film, ‘Susanne Bartsch: On Top.’ Quite honestly, up to that point I hadn’t really found a whole lot of support from any significant film institutions. I tried to break through, but it was extremely tough. I didn’t go to film school and I didn’t have a lot of people within the film industry vouching for me at that time. I’m sure a lot of people can relate to that feeling. NewFest was one of the first places that put their arms around me and my work. It was at a time when I really needed that support, and they continue to offer me that throughout the twists and turns of my career. Because so many of the stories I tell or want to tell are rooted in very complicated queer themes, it’s important for me to hear from the community about what I’m creating and what they’re connecting with. I recently had a nerve-racking premiere night for a series I directed called ‘Last Call.’ I was stressed and overwhelmed, but luckily once I got to the premiere, I was surrounded by my fellow queers who lifted me up. I felt an incredible amount of comfort and love. There’s nothing like the support I get from this community, and what NewFest does so well is bring all of us together throughout the year to keep championing each other.”

Silas Howard (Filmmaker, “Darby and the Dead”)
“My first feature, ‘By Hook or by Crook,’ played at NewFest in 2002 to a sold out crowd. It was a really big deal for me as a new filmmaker. First of all, it was a festival in NYC, and that was a big deal. Plus my parents were able to drive down from Vermont. They were in the audience and witnessed the film getting a standing ovation and were so proud. For my work, showing the film at NewFest was monumental. It meant a lot that a festival that existed to foster the queer film community had programmed us. We recently had the chance to showcase ‘By Hook or by Crook’ again at NewFest [as part of its Queering the Canon programming in April] – 21 years later! It was extraordinary. Again, to a full house, this time at BAM in Brooklyn, an iconic venue in its own right. NewFest’s focus on showcasing queer and trans filmmaking in one of the most important cities in the world, for art and film, is groundbreaking. As queer and trans artists, we have always had to build our own world, and festivals like NewFest make a significant contribution to that. The caliber of their programming is outstanding and people notice that. It keeps us going, as artists, whether we’re just starting out like I was back in 2002 or pushing on with indie projects, telling stories that are often not funded by the mainstream.”

Laura Poitras (Filmmaker, “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”)
“I moved to New York in 1992. My first experience at NewFest as a filmmaker was with a film I made with Linda Goode Bryant, she directed it and I codirected it, called ‘Flag Wars,’ which was a look at gentrification of a Black working-class neighborhood, where the people moving in were primarily white gay and lesbian people. ‘Flag Wars’ was my first documentary, and then we were back last year with ‘All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,’ about [photographer, artist, and activist] Nan Goldin and her fight against the Sackler family, which screened as the festival’s closing night film. It was a huge honor for me. Festivals like NewFest are hugely important for the infrastructure and sustainability of independent artists and filmmakers. We felt that a lot, in the recent months with the strikes going on. Festivals provide a platform for independent voices that are crucial – festivals are the way in which many artists’ and filmmakers’ careers have begun, which includes NewFest. They are essential to the sustainability of independent filmmakers.”

Isabel Sandoval (Filmmaker, “Lingua Franca”)
“NewFest has, for years, one of the most considered and sophisticated curation among queer U.S. filmfests in terms of quality – and not just the annual festival, but its year-round programming. A serious cinephile and critic, [director of programming] Nick McCarthy has incredible taste and pushes for truly adventurous, bold, arthouse films from Berlinale, Cannes, Locarno and other major fests that might not otherwise get shown in the U.S. NewFest presents works of great cinema, period, that happen to be queer. It programmed my third feature, ‘Lingua Franca.’ Nick had a chance to see a cut of the film before its Venice premiere in 2019 and was quite taken with it. Shortly before its release on streaming the following year, NewFest hosted a virtual New York premiere for the film. It meant a lot for NewFest to be an early champion.”

Alice Wu (Filmmaker, “The Half of It”)
“So, I’ve only had one official NewFest experience with one of my films: when ‘Saving Face’ was programmed as a retrospective piece in Queering the Canon last year – one of my favorite Q&As ever from the incomparable Kim Garcia. I have vague recollections of going to LGBTQ film fests in the mid-90s in NYC and San Francisco and Seattle and London, when they were all more underground – I’m not even sure some of them were festivals? I was hungry for any sort of representation. But truly, my memory has blurred everything together. A lot of anti-establishmentarian queers blowing things up, and riot girls, and British soul music, and vaginal spoken word, and very, very, very bad sound. Those were the days.”

Programming for NewFest 2023, now in its 35th year, runs in New York City and online from Oct. 12–Oct. 24.

These interviews have been edited and condensed for clarity.

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