NewFest Unveils Stellar Lineup for 38th Annual New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival: A Global Celebration of Queer Cinema

NEW YORK — Celebrating nearly four decades of championing queer storytelling, the New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival, known universally as NewFest, has officially unveiled the comprehensive lineup for its landmark 38th edition. IndieWire exclusively shared the initial details of the slate, which boasts an impressive 144 cinematic projects hailing from 23 different countries.

Featuring acclaimed festival breakouts from Cannes, Berlin, Telluride, and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), alongside a daring crop of independent discoveries and emerging voices, this year’s festival promises to paint a vivid picture of the global queer experience. Running from October 15 to October 25, the 38th edition of NewFest will transform venues across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens into hubs of cultural celebration, welcoming filmmakers, artists, and audiences alike.

Main Facts: The Scope of NewFest38

NewFest’s 38th edition stands as one of its most robust and geographically diverse programs to date. Bridging the gap between major studio releases and grassroots independent cinema, the festival is set to showcase 144 projects representing 23 countries.

The physical festival will take over some of New York City’s most iconic cultural and cinematic spaces, including the SVA Theatre, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), the Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI), Nitehawk Prospect Park, and the NYC LGBT Community Center. For audiences unable to attend the in-person screenings across Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, a curated selection of films will also be made available virtually through NewFest’s on-demand streaming platform from October 15 through October 30.

The expansive program is anchored by high-profile centerpieces, prestigious international imports, an exhaustive shorts selection, and retrospectives honoring both contemporary icons and foundational cinematic history.

Chronology and Festival Schedule Highlights

The 11-day cultural marathon is mapped out with high-stakes premieres, star-studded red carpets, and reflective community gatherings.

Opening Night: October 15

NewFest38 kicks off on October 15 with the New York City premiere of the Spanish epic “La Bola Negra.” Directed, co-written, and produced by the Cannes Award-winning duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (widely known as "Los Javis"), the film arrives in New York following a massive, rapturous reception at TIFF. Spanning nearly a century of Spanish history, the narrative traces three generations of men connected through desire, pain, and love, starring Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, and Carlos González. The premiere will be accompanied by an opening night celebration.

NewFest Lineup Showcases ‘La Bola Negra’ NYC Premiere, Plus ‘Elsinore,’ ‘Club Kid,’ and More

Mid-Festival Centerpieces

Throughout the middle week, the festival will spotlight several highly anticipated domestic and international titles:

U.S. Centerpiece: Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson’s tender, human-centric coming-of-age drama “Mouse,” which premiered at the Berlinale and features a standout performance by Sophie Okonedo.
Spotlight Centerpiece: Simon Stone’s “Elsinore,” an emotional British biographical drama chronicling the inspirational true story of gifted actor Ian Charleson.
International Centerpiece: Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri’s Nigeria-set “Clarissa,” a stunning contemporary reimagining of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway that examines trauma, memory, and high-society pressures in modern Nigeria.
New York Centerpiece: Jordan Firstman’s Cannes sensation “Club Kid,” following a frantic New York City club promoter whose life is upended by the sudden arrival of his estranged 10-year-old son.
Documentary Centerpiece: Lexie Bean and Logan Rozos’s Berlinale-selected “What Will I Become?”, exploring trans boyhood and community healing.

Closing Night: October 25

The festival concludes on October 25 with a screening and closing party for Ira Sachs’s music-driven 1980s romantic triangle drama “The Man I Love.” Set during a delicate window of art, sickness, and mortality, the film stars Rami Malek, Tom Sturridge, and Luther Ford.

Supporting Data and Programming Breakdown

Beyond the headlining features, NewFest38 offers a sprawling inventory of narrative features, documentaries, episodic series, and repertory screenings.

Special Honors and Retrospectives

Voice and Visibility Award: Emmy-, Grammy-, and Tony-winning actor and political activist Cynthia Nixon will be honored with the 2026 Voice and Visibility tribute. She will participate in an in-person conversation discussing her work on HBO’s The Gilded Age.
Aubin Pictures 30th Anniversary: Celebrating three decades of social justice-driven storytelling, the festival will host a retrospective featuring archival shorts alongside the New York premiere of Catherine Gund and Mariah Norman’s “And Again I Dream.”
Legacy Screenings: In a nod to cultural touchstones, the festival will host "Dolly Doubles" screening classic 35mm prints of “9 to 5” and “Steel Magnolias” in honor of the late Dolly Parton, alongside a 60th-anniversary screening of Ingmar Bergman’s psychological masterpiece “Persona.”
Episodic Spotlight: Starz’s Southern Gothic melodrama P-Valley will host a special screening for its third and final season, followed by an in-depth conversation with creator Katori Hall and series star Nicco Annan.

Narrative and Documentary Slate Highlights

The narrative and documentary features delve deep into intersectional identities, global struggles, and playful subversions:

International Narrative Contenders: Standouts include Sandulela Asanda’s South African boarding school drama “Black Burns Fast,” Abinash Bikram Shah’s cross-continental Nepal-set “Elephants in the Fog,” Celyn Jones’s eccentric British biographical piece “Madfabulous,” and Allan Deberton’s Brazilian feature “Gugu’s World.”
Nonfiction Powerhouses: Paul Rowley’s “Gays Against Guns” tracks the frontline activism born out of the Pulse nightclub shooting; Jennifer M. Kroot’s “Hunky Jesus” celebrates 45 years of San Francisco’s radical queer and trans nuns, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; and Andrea Meyerson’s “Karen Williams: I Had to Laugh” honors the pioneering Black lesbian stand-up comedian.

Extensive Shorts Programming

NewFest continues its tradition of robust short-film curation, dividing its blocks into thematic and community-driven programs:

Black Queer Pride NY
Dream It, Be It (Animated worlds)
Dyke Nyte Returns! (Sapphic romance and dating)
Get Some Laughs! (Unhinged comedy)
Getting to Know Him
Having a Great Time Being Trans Lately (T4T showcase)
Heartlands, USA (Rural queer life, presented with The American LGBTQ+ Museum)
Kill Your Darlings (Dark, bloodthirsty fantasies)
New Voices Filmmaker Grant Showcase (In partnership with Netflix)
Queer Teen Spirit (Curated for LGBTQ+ teens with NYC Public Schools and GLAAD)
Sound and Scene Showcase (QTBIPOC short film initiative with Concord Originals)
Transmissions (Dream-logic and trans memory)
Binge the Rainbow (Episodic showcase)

Official Responses and Leadership Vision

Festival leadership emphasizes that the sheer volume and ambition of this year’s slate reflect a broader cultural shift—one where LGBTQ+ narratives are no longer pushed to the periphery, but sit squarely at the center of global cinematic prestige.

Lesli Klainberg, interim executive director of NewFest, highlighted the dual mission of the festival in an official statement:

“NewFest’s 38th edition underscores the festival’s unique role as a vital platform for the best in queer cinema — bringing together acclaimed work from leading studios and distributors with bold discoveries and emerging voices that define the medium’s future. This year’s lineup shows that LGBTQ+ stories are not on the margins of culture; they are among the most ambitious, artistically vital, and anticipated films of the moment.”

Echoing this sentiment, Director of Programming Nick McCarthy pointed to the global resonance of the selected works:

“This year’s sterling slate bursts with bold creativity, prestige, and civic-mindedness — reflecting the vibrancy and vastness of our community on a local and global scale… Queer cinema is fully alive — and it’s thriving.”

Implications for Queer Cinema and the Fall Festival Circuit

The unveiling of NewFest38 arrives at a critical juncture for the film industry. As major fall festivals like Venice, Telluride, and TIFF wrap up, NewFest acts as the essential New York checkpoint for award-season contenders and boundary-pushing independent art.

By capturing international festival hits—such as Cannes award-winners and Berlinale standouts—alongside regional U.S. and local New York premieres, NewFest solidifies New York City’s status as a primary capital for queer artistic expression. Furthermore, by intentionally platforming intersectional stories (ranging from trans-focused T4T narratives and Black queer showcases to international co-productions from Nepal, Nigeria, Brazil, and Spain), the festival ensures that the definition of queer cinema remains expansive, global, and politically urgent.

Ticketing and Access Information

Tickets, festival passes, and detailed screening schedules are currently available to the public via the official NewFest website at www.newfest.org. Physical screenings will run from October 15 to October 25, with virtual offerings extending through October 30.