Review: Mayor Pete

By Abe Friedtanzer

Politics have become so divisive these days that campaigns are often based more on what a candidate is not rather than what they are. It’s refreshing, therefore, to see a politician whose identity is integral to their desire to achieve a certain office. This documentary’s title indicates the informality and folksiness attributed to its protagonist, a man who may actually be one of the most put-together, presentable people in the political world today. That would be Pete Buttigieg, the extremely likeable and publicly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana who made a run for the presidency in 2020…

Being gay is not the only aspect of who Pete is, but it is a big part of it and one that broke new ground when he shared the debate stage with other Democratic presidential candidates...

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NewFest: Two very different international lesbian romances

By Abe Friedtanzer

Part of the appeal of the programming at NewFest is that it spotlights multiple perspectives slightly outside mainstream society, suggesting a universality to the way in which so many feel like they’re not accepted by society. The grouping of these two films in one review has a little to do with their subject matter but much more to do with the fact that I happened to screen them back-to-back and found some unexpected connections and contrasts. Let’s look briefly at Bliss and Sweetheart…

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NewFest Interview: Colby Minifie on ‘Homebody’

We're covering a few titles from the 2021 edition of NewFest, the New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival.

 

By Abe Friedtanzer 

Body swap comedies aren't all that rare, but it's not common that they manage to delve into complex subjects like gender identity. That is very fortunately the case with Homebody, an entertaining 75-minute adventure that finds nine-year-old Johnny (Tre Ryder), who is already in the process of questioning their gender, transplanted into the body of babysitter Melanie (Colby Minifie). We got to chat with the delightful and enthusiastic Minifie about what drew her to this project, the fun experience of making it, and even got some details on what's ahead for her character on The Boys!  Watch the full conversation below...

Homebody is screening virtually as part of NewFest through October 26th, with an in-person screening in Prospect Park this Tuesday.

Two More Other Two

by Jason Adams

I imagine we have some fans of the series The Other Two in the house? Following the sticky travails of the NYC-centric Dubek siblings -- former dancer turned manager Brooke (Heléne Yorke), the gay one Cary (Drew Tarver), and the youngest sibling aka pop sensation ChaseDreams (Case Walker), along their mama-bear Pat (Molly Shannon) -- the series started out on Comedy Central before moving to HBO Max for its second season, which just premiered last week. I got hooked late (binged it at the start of the pandemic) but love love love the show now, and recommend you catch up if you haven't.

Well the fine folks at NewFest (New York's premiere annual LGBTQ+ film festival) have a gift for those of us who are fans -- they are right now for free screening the first four episodes of the second season! And yes that's two more than have aired on HBO so far, so if you're impatient for more right now then this is your scratch for said itch. Head over to their site to RSVP -- I imagine this is just for US folks, and it's only available until 11:59pm on Wednesday, so get to scooting. 

And please do tell me your thoughts on the show in the comments...

Abe’s NewFest Wrap

By Abe Friedtanzer 

Saltanat Nauruz stars in "Welcome to the USA"

There are so many film festivals going on right now, and I’m very glad that I was able to screen so many selections from NewFest. I had the chance to watch fifteen films from the  32nd edition of the New York LGBTQ Film Festival, which took place online this year, representing more than a third of the feature slate. I had already seen Uncle Frank at Sundance, and I would definitely recommend that Alan Ball film, which comes to Amazon Prime on November 25th.

Here are NewFest’s jury prize winners for this year... 

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