NewFest Film Festival: Wrap-Up

This is me reviewing the films I've seen at this year's NewFest LGBTQ Film Festival. 

After 25 feature films, 2 webseries and 52 short films, my first foray in a film festival in an all-access pass capacity has come to an end. Obviously I'd like for the world to go back to "normal" but I hope virtual film festivals continue being a thing. In any case, more shockingly I actually ended up reviewing all of the feature films that I saw. You can always revisit all of those right here.

There's just one more film left to review, the Closing Night film which won the Teddy at this year's Berling Film Festival...

FUTUR DREI (dir. Faraz Shariat)

There's a youthful energy which pervades this film which is no surprise since it's helmed by 26-year-old Faraz Shariat in his bold debut. FUTUR DREI centers its story on Parvis, a young, out and proud second-generation Iranian-German gay man whose world collides with those of brother and sister Iranian refugees, Amon and Banafshe. The film deftly tackles the restlessness of youth and burgeoning romance and friendship amidst the undeniable culture clash and the spectre of a couple of phobias (homophobia, xenophobia). Bolstered by incredibly moving performances from its three leads, Benjamin Radjaipour, Eidin Jalali, Banafshe Hourmazdi, FUTURE DREI (which is inexplicably titled NO HARD FEELINGS for English audiences) does an admirable job with all three of its main characters especially in developing their relationships as a group and one-on-one with each other giving the film an emotional core which carries it through to the end. Radjaipour though gets the heavy lifting as audiences see his subtle, but real transformation from selfish "dance-your-night-away" kind of guy to selfless "help-your-friends" kind of man by the end. With this film, I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone involve does next. They are the future.

And now some personal awards, because why not...

BEST FEATURE FILM: Breaking Fast
Also:
Cicada
Cured
Dating Amber
Gossamer Folds
Monsoon
Rūrangi
Sublet
Summer of 85
White Lie

BEST ACTOR: Matthew Fifer, Cicada
Also:
Henry Golding, Monsoon
Benjamin Radjaipour, Futur Drei
Steven Silver, The Obituary of Tunde Johnson
Steve Zahn, Cowboys

BEST ACTRESS: Anne Celestino, Alice Júnior
Also:
Lola Petticrew, Dating Amber
Kacey Rohl, White Lie
Rachel Sennott, Shiva Baby

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Amin El Gamal, Breaking Fast
Also:
Antonio Altamirano, Los Fuertes
Arlo Green, Rūrangi
Niv Nissim, Sublet
Ron Rifkin, Minyan

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Alexandra Grey, Gossamer Folds
Also:
Jillian Bell, Cowboys
Molly Gordon, Shiva Baby
Banafshe Hourmazdi, Futur Drei

BEST SHORT FILM: See You Soon
Also:
A Single Evening
-Ship: A Visual Poem
Mes Cheris

Hope you find some good recommendations! Support the arts! If you'd like follow me on Twitter or Letterboxd.