NewFest 2025, New York’s biggest LGBTQ+ film festival, thrilled audiences with a daring celebration of queer identity and defiance. This solidified its status as an important platform for LGBTQ+ storytelling and activism. In its 37th year, NewFest showed more than 130 films, including international stories and groundbreaking documentaries, at five of New York City’s best venues and online, making sure that a wide range of people could see them.
Richard Linklater’s highly anticipated “Blue Moon” opened the festival, and Sydney Sweeney’s sports drama “Christy” closed it. This showed the wide range of queer experiences shown on screen. Filmmaker summits, youth programs, and parties like Dyke Night were some of the most important community events that showed NewFest’s goal of turning outsiders into insiders while celebrating the rebellious and unified spirit that exists in the queer world.
The New Voices Filmmaker Grant was a big part of NewFest 2025. It gave four up-and-coming filmmakers $25,000 each and top-notch mentorship. The goal was to bring more authentic LGBTQ+ stories and new points of view to the festival, which was facing political and industry challenges. David Hatkoff, the Executive Director, said that the festival was all about the queer community, and allies were welcome to help but not take over. The theme of this year’s programming was “queer rebellion,” which turned making and watching movies into acts of resistance and pride.
NewFest 2025 was a testament to the strength and creativity of LGBTQ+ artists. It included big premieres and important talks about access and inclusion in the industry. The festival’s continued growth and visibility show that there is still a need for real, diverse voices. This makes NewFest a beacon for independent, daring queer cinema.
