Movies

15 Lesbian/Bisexual-Themed Films You Can See at NewFest This Weekend

New York’s LGBT film festival NewFest has been going strong for almost three decades. This year the festival has a ton of lesbian/bi/queer content including the biggie: a showing of the much anticipated centerpiece film, Carol. (I’ll be attending and write up a review for Monday.)

Truth be told, queer women don’t always have such excellent representation at LGBT film festivals, but this year we’ve seen an unprecedented amount of feature length films with lesbian and bisexual women’s stories driving the narrative. Hopefully, this will be a trend that continues, but we must do our part and show our support. If you are in the NYC area, here are the queer female driven films you can check out at this year’s Newfest which kicks off on Thursday, October 22nd.

Thursday, October 22nd

The Same Difference: Director Nneka Onuorah‘s frank documentary tackles the discrimination that exists between LGBTQ women. Policing of others’ sexuality and the tensions that can exist between queer women is dealt with an honesty that we don’t often get to see. Felicia “Snoop” Pearson of The Wire fame and OITNB‘s Lea Delaria are among the diverse cast.

Buy tickets for The Same Difference.

Friday, October 23rd

Carol: This much anticipated film starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara is the true crown jewel of NewFest this year. It’s also completely sold out, but the film opens on November 20th so you won’t have to wait much longer. In the meantime, fall in love with the film’s gorgeous trailer.

Queerer than Fiction: Doc Shorts: This collection of short documentaries features two female-centric stories. In the Hollow is about the real life story about a lesbian couple, Claudia Brenner and Rebecca Wight, who were brutally attacked while hiking the Appalachian Trail together. Using actors, footage from that time and current film from the sole survivor, the film tells the story of how a terrible crime against one couple also gave rise to hate crime legislation.

Sex, Politics and Sticky Rice looks at the lives of five Asian-American lesbians who look back on their lives in San Fransisco in the 1980s. Centering around the potlucks that were an important social outlet for these women, this short film is wonderfully funny and honest and gives the audience a fascinating peek into lives and stories we don’t often get to explore on screen.

Buy tickets for Queerer than Fiction: Doc Shorts.

Saturday, October 24th

Liz in September: Starring out model/actress Patricia Velasquez, Liz in September tells the story of two women, each with their own pain and secrets, who are drawn to one another after a chance meeting. We gave the film a rave review when it first came out, so now’s your chance to catch it on the big screen.

Buy tickets for Liz in September.

The Renaissance of Women in Entertainment Panel: If you want to take a break from seeing movies, check out this panel of fantastic filmmakers talking about movies. Newfest recognizes, like we do, that 2015 is a big year for female fronted films and female filmmakers. Rose Troche, Nneka Onuorah, Allie Esslinger, Lisa Haas and Susan Stover make up the panel and the morning is bound to be quite enlightening and entertaining.

Buy tickets to the panel.

Summer of Sangaile: This film took home the World Cinema Directing Award at this year’s Sundance, and it’s easy to see why: The film is a beauty. Aspiring pilot Sangaile falls for the lovely and fun Auste one summer in Lithuania. Check back for our full review shortly.

Buy tickets for Summer of Sangaile.

While You Weren’t Looking: Family drama and classism are at the heart of this South African film. Two generations of a family deal with their own issues. Same-sex parents Dez and Terri face infidelity, while daughter Asanda falls hard for a young butch woman named Shado.

Buy tickets for While You Weren’t Looking.

Sunday, October 25th

Portrait of a Serial Monogamist: We called this film High Fidelity for lesbians” back when we first reviewed it in the spring. Free-spirit and serial-monogamist Elsie can’t help herself from bouncing around from relationship to relationship. Her friends try to convince her to remain single for a spell but that becomes more complicated when she finds that she may have deeper feelings for a woman she broke up with that she realized.

Buy tickets for Portrait of a Serial Monogamist.

Sisters of the Plague: Just in time for Halloween! This creepy film is set in New Orleans and centers on Jo, a young woman who gives ghost tours in the city. Haunted by the death of her mother, the already intuitive Jo starts having unsettling experiences after her father moves in with her and her girlfriend. Check back for our full review of the film on Friday.

Buy tickets for Sisters of the Plague.

The Girl King: Queen Christina of Sweden is a fascinating historical figure and this film delves into her life and supposed romance with her lady in waiting, Countess Ebba Sparre. We found the film to be uneven, but worth seeing nonetheless.

Buy tickets for The Girl King.

The Year We Thought About Love: We are big fans of this sweet and thoughtful documentary about an LGBT theatre troupe out of Boston. True Colors travels around Boston to perform for schools and hopefully open minds and hearts about LGBT youth. The film follows some of the members around as they deal with their own hardships and joys along the way.

Buy tickets for The Year We Thought About Love.

Wild Hearts: Shorts: You had us at Clea Duvall. This series of shorts is all about love and Duvall stars in Ma/ddy, about a genderqueer widow (played by Mel Shimkovitz) who is still dealing with the loss of their wife. Also featured is Actresses, about, you guessed it, two actresses who fall for each other. This short stars Rebecca Henderson, who has been playing all sorts of queer characters this year.

Buy tickets for Wild Hearts.

Monday, October 26th

Her Story Screening and Panel: We are thoroughly geeked about Jen Richards and Laura Zak‘s new trans and queer focused series. This will be the world premiere of Her Story, and Jen and Laura will be taking part in a panel following the viewing along with co-star Angelica Ross, director Sydney Freeland and producer Katherine Fisher. Don’t miss this one!

Buy tickets to Her Story.

Tuesday, October 27th

Girls Lost: This film by Alexandra-Therese Keining (Kyss Mig) has the honor of being the closer to Newfest, and over the last few months, Girls Lost has garnered considerable buzz. Three girls discover a plant that temporarily changes them into boys. Sexuality, ideas of gender, and friendships are all tested as the girls learn more about themselves than they ever expected.

Buy tickets to Girls Lost.

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