10 Films to See at NewFest, New York's LGBT Film Festival

NewFest, New York's LGBT film festival, will take place Oct. 20-25 this year. The festival is presented in collaboration with OutFest (NewFest's Los Angeles counterpart) and HBO, and will feature their largest program ever. Since there are more than100 narrative features, shorts and documentaries in this year's lineup, we have narrowed down the list to 10 of the features we are the most excited for.

Tickets are now available to the general public.

The Pass, Oct. 20

NewFest will open with the North American premiere of The Pass starring Looking's Russel Tovey as a closeted soccer player dealing with sexuality and fame. Variety called it a "knockout showcase" with "a topical urgency." The screening will be followed by a conversation with the filmmakers and cast.

Lovesong, Oct. 25

The festival will end on a touching note with So Yong Kim's Lovesong starring Jena Malone and Riley Keough, which follows two young female friends with a connection that borders the romantic. The Hollywood Reporter called the Sundance entry, "an insightful and superbly acted study of ambiguous love."

Different from the Others, Oct. 21

This year's Legacy Centerpiece will feature a 35mm restoration of the earliest existing 1919 LGBT film, Different from the Others, with live musical accompaniment. The film examines the relationship between a virtuoso violinist and his student under Germany's Paragraph 175 law criminalizing homosexuality.

Holler If You Hear Me: Black and Gay in the Church, Oct. 22

The BET documentary Holler If You Hear Me: Black and Gay in the Church will be followed by a panel discussion about gay members in black churches across America. The film follows gay parishioners who remain active in churches that continue to condemn the queer community through literal interpretation of the Bible.

Scrum, Oct. 22

The Trans List, Oct. 25

This year's Special Centerpiece will feature the HBO documentary The Trans List, which explores the lives Americans who identify as transgender. The film is directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and features interviews by trans author and advocate Janet Mock, Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox, and former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner.

Paris 05.59: Theo & Hugo, Oct. 25

One of the many international films to be featured this year is the French film Paris 05.59: Theo & Hugo, an erotic and real-time depiction of a love story. The film, directed by Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau, won the 2016 Audience Award at the Berlin International Film Festival's Teddy Awards.

Miles, Oct. 22

Miles follows a gay teenager from Illinois who joins the girl's volleyball team in order to win a scholarship that will allow him to attend college in Chicago. The film won the Audience Award at Outfest 2016 and stars SNL alum Molly Shannon as the protagonist's mother.

Hunky Dory, Oct. 23

Hunky Dory stars Tomas Pais in a breakthrough performance as a bisexual glam rocker in drag whose life is interrupted when his ex unexpectedly drops of their 11-year-old son for the week. The film is directed by Michael Curtis Johnson, who wrote the screenplay in collaboration with Pais.

Forbidden: Queer and Undocumented in Rural America, Oct. 22

Mexican-born Moises Serrano tells his story as an undocumented gay man in the documentary Forbidden: Queer and Undocumented in Rural America. Serrano spent 22 of his 24 years in rural North Carolina, but is now inciting a national movement to fight for justice and equality so he can live and love in the country he calls home.