[MUSIC - Luscious Jackson: Citysong]

Kousha Nevada: This is All Of It. I'm Kousha Nevada in for Alison Stewart. We're almost at the end of May, which means June is right around the corner. What better way to kick off the start of Pride month by watching some great movies that highlight LGBTQ+ stories? NewFest, the city's largest LGBTQ Film Festival is back with their Pride series. It's a 5-day celebration of queer films and filmmakers, and it's jam-packed with some awesome film premieres like A House is Not a Disco, a film about the history of Fire Island.

Also, there's an advanced screening of Fantasmus, the new HBO series, created by the incredible Julio Torres, who he had on the show a few months ago for his new film, Problemista. There's also a short film series featuring Black LGBTQ+ films and some outdoor film screenings of an LGBTQ Classic. There is so much to take in. Newfest Pride is 5 days long and it starts tonight. To help make the most of the festival, we have NewFest Director of Programming, Nick McCarthy. Hey, Nick.

Nick McCarthy: Hey. Yes, how's it going? Long time sustaining member. Excited to be here.

Kousha Nevada: Oh, well. Wonderful. Nice to have you right across the table. We've also got your partner in crime right next to you, David Hatkoff, executive Director of NewFest. Hey David, welcome to the show.

David Hatkoff: Thanks so much. Glad to be here.

Kousha Nevada: David, let's get started with you. Opening night is tonight. Can you tell us a bit more about the film you're using to kick off NewFest Pride?

David Hatkoff: Absolutely. As you mentioned, June is right around the corner, but it is still May 30th for those who are looking at a calendar, and we could not wait one minute longer to start celebrating. We have been conditioned to believe that pride should start on June 1st, but we at NewFest believe we should be celebrating 365 days a year and A House Is Not a Disco, our opening night film is a New York City premiere.

It is a look at Fire Island, which, of course, is a queer mecca and a place where people for decades have been going to let their shoulders down to feel like they're part of a community, part of a legacy. It could not be a more ideal way to kick off NewFest Pride. The film is a really interesting exploration of the idea of A Queer Utopia, which is like most utopias a bit of a fantasy. It's an honest look at Fire Island, but really captures the celebratory nature of that very special place.

Kousha Nevada: Nick, you hear David talk about the idea that this was a great film to kick off the whole event. Does that resonate with you? Why do you feel like that's a great film?

Nick McCarthy: I think absolutely. As David mentioned, it's such an iconic queer paradise or utopia and the idea of utopia is that maybe it's not a reality. The film at once lovingly captures Fire Island and The Pines, but also challenges our notions of our community to push us forward and drive us further together. I think audiences are really in for a treat for a really lovingly lensed, beautifully captured film. I want to give a huge shout-out to the cinematographer as well but it's also a film that I think will start a lot more conversations about how we can work together to be even stronger community.

Kousha Nevada: That makes sense. Let's listen to a clip of the film. Here it is.

[start of film playback]

Actor: There's something magical about the fact that there's no streets, no cars, feels very like plucked out of one place and placed into a desolate space. However, I don't feel like I'm doing without anything. This is my house on Shore Walk. I don't own it, but it's my house because I pay for it.

[music]

I usually start in mid-April and leave mid to late October. I'm usually here until the Halloween party, which is the week before Halloween, they do this really big Halloween party out here. Almost six months of half of my year, half of my life is Fire Island. Looks. Looks are pretty much whatever you want them to be. You're wearing a look. Not one I would wear, but it's a look

[end of film playback]

Kousha Nevada: That was from the film, A House Is Not A Disco. It is being used to kick off the NewFest Pride Film Festival, which starts tonight and runs until June 3rd. We are here with Nick McCarthy, who's the director of programming, and David Hatkofff who's the executive director of NewFest. Nick, I'm listening to this clip and it resonates with so many of the themes that you talked about. You've seen the film. What's one thing that you took from it?

Nick McCarthy: I think it really is going back to how we can work together, how we can reconcile what is both specific but also universal in our experiences as LGBTQ+ people be that gay, queer, bi, trans, intersex, and beyond. I think really, the film does a great job of providing that portrait and pushing that forward to see where our connections can be and how we can really work together. Pride is a moment where we have to acknowledge collaboration and teamwork. Whether you're making a film, whether you're marching, or whether you're putting on a festival.

It's the ideal film to kick off our festival with that theme that is front and center. Of course, that audio clip just ended with a talk of looks. For folks who are coming tonight, they're going to see a lot of looks on the red carpet for sure. I can guarantee that. We are on Rush. Currently, we are sold out in the Big Boy at SBA theater but there are some tickets available for the film screening tomorrow, which we can talk a bit more about but yes. It's going to be a look-filled extravaganza.

Kousha Nevada: Wonderful. Let's go onto the next film, and here's a hint for another movie that you're showcasing. Let's roll the clip.

[MUSIC - Lady Gaga: Rain On Me]

Kousha Nevada: For you, Little Monsters, you may already know who this is. If not, that's the one and Only Lady Gaga. I hear you're showcasing her live concert film. It's a film that our producer Aki is really excited about. David, can you tell us a little bit more about what the film is about and how Lady Gaga has made such a big impact on the community?

David Hatkoff: Absolutely. Yes, please get your paws ready for Monday night in the Meatpacking District, at Gansevoort Plaza. Last year, we had a partnership with Rooftop Films and the Meatpacking District in NewFest to show the stroll, which was a documentary that actually took place in the Meatpacking District. This year we were trying. We put our heads together to figure out what would be the ideal film to celebrate on the streets of New York.

Lady Gaga's Chromatica Ball was and continues to be an event for queer folks. Speaking of looks, people definitely show up with looks wherever Lady Gaga is involved. This is going to be a really exciting opportunity for Gaga fans and New Yorkers to come together outdoors. It's looking like good weather at the moment, and it's going to be loud and it's going to be passionate and it's going to be a real moment, I think.

Kousha Nevada: Yes, Nick, it's an outdoor concert. What are you excited about with that?

Nick McCarthy: I'm excited about all the meat dresses that'll be in the Meatpacking District for this Gaga premiere

Kousha Nevada: [laughs] That's like super on the nose, but that's pretty funny. Let's also talk about when and where that screening is. Nick, can you just remind folks?

Nick McCarthy: Sure. It's at the Gansevoort Plaza in the Meatpacking District. It'll be on Monday, June 3rd. It's of course, an outdoor screening, so once it gets dark, the film will kick off but we have a great DJ set and some opening remarks. It's really great especially just remembering the stroll last year and how impactful it was for folks who maybe weren't even aware that a screening was going on, and they just passed by and they were just so compelled by the image.

It means so much more for queer people to be taking and reclaiming that space too for that moment to celebrate together. We saw only all other allied or other queer folks engaging with that together in a very open space and it felt so New York too and I think that was what was so moving about it.

Kousha Nevada: It makes me think of how, obviously, diverse and vast the queer community is. As a programmer, how do you think about what you're going to put on in terms of content?

Nick McCarthy: It's something that we hope that creators have responsibility to consider as well. As programmers and curators, we're always looking at what stories really reflect reality. We want to see what's reflected by society, but also what can push it forward. We get very excited where we see stories that we may not have seen on screen before. We have a documentary that's part of our virtual exclusives called Coming Around, which is about a bisexual young Muslim who is reconciling her identity with her mother, who is vacillating between acceptance and not.

We also have a film called The Queen of My Dreams which is about a young queer woman in Canada who is reflecting on the bonds that her and her mother have that weren't always clear but as they grow older and they reflect on the mother's story that she shares to her, they see that there's a solidarity within a more feminist lens of breaking down these social mores. I think that's what it is too. It's about this intersectional approach to storytelling that brings in a lot of other elements of communities that want to be seen and want to be heard, but also share their stories and listened at the same time.

Kousha Nevada: We have a clip from the Queen of My Dreams ready? That's a perfect segue. Let's listen to a clip.

[start of clip playback]

Actor 1: Yes. Are you ready?

Actor 2: Yes.

Actor 1: Okay. Disclaimer. The plot's a little insane. It's three hours long and the old age makeup is not great.

Actor 2: It's the best. First watched it with Lynn Law, but I was 12. I wish I knew you when we were 12. I was not cool when I was 12.

Actor 1: No one's cool when they're 12.

Actor 2: Oh, I bet you're.

Actor 1: Yes. maybe.

Actor 2: My mom used this movie to explain love to me or sex, something.

Actor 1: That explains it.

Actor 2: This is my favorite song, it's from E.Q.

[MUSIC - Kishore Kumar: Mor Swapneri Saathi]

[end of clip playback]

Kousha Nevada: That was a clip from the film Queen of My Dreams. We're talking with Nick McCarthy, the director of programming, and David Hatkoff, the executive director of NewFest. We're talking about the NewFest Pride Film Festival, which starts tonight, runs until June 3rd. David, we just listened to a clip from The Queen of My Dreams. I understand this film was part of NewFest Women's Afternoon Out screening. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?

David Hatkoff: Yes. At NewFest, our mission is to provide a platform for queer stories and storytellers, but also to provide a space for the community to come together in celebration of those stories. There's something really unique and special about experiencing a queer story in a space that was specifically and intentionally designed for queer audiences. There's a lot more queer content than there used to be, which is great, and it's available in a lot of different places. NewFest is a place where every time you walk in the doors, this space was designed with a queer audience in mind.

Women's Afternoon Out is an offshoot of women's night out, which we've been doing for a couple of years. We love this film, Queen of My Dreams, made by Fawzia Mirza, a very, very talented filmmaker making her debut feature here. We wanted to create a moment for the audience to be able to be in community together in advance of the film. There will be chai, there will be Southeast Asian snacks, an opportunity for people to just be together and celebrate before the film even starts. Then there will be a conversation following the

film with Fawzia and producer Andria Wilson Mirza. It's going to be a really special afternoon.

Kousha Nevada: Let's talk about NewFest for a second because this is NewFest Pride, not to be mistaken with the New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival, which you do also organize, but that's in October. What's the goal of having two different festivals?

David Hatkoff: We are a year-round organization. For many years, the festival in October was what we were best known for and the lion's share of our activity, but we found that the queer community needs to be engaged, wants to be engaged, it's urgent for them to be engaged all year round. We actually have three flagship programs, the festival in October, which you mentioned, which is 13 days long, it's 150 films, and almost as many parties. Then we have NewFest Pride, of course, which is starting tonight. We also have a series that we do in the spring at BAM, which is a retrospective series called Queering the Canon.

We do programs with high school students, we have artist development initiatives. It's really, we're taking a holistic look at everything from when a film is conceived and what artists need to be able to make those films, to where they're shown and how they're shown and the experience that the audience has around that. It's a really holistic 360 look, and to do that, we need 365 or in 2024, 366 days to be able to fire on all cylinders in that way.

Kousha Nevada: Yes, beyond the month of June, like we [crosstalk]-

David Hatkoff: Exactly.

Kousha Nevada: -were talking about before. Nick, let's talk about this festival that's going on right now. How can people get tickets to screenings?

Nick McCarthy: They can go to newfest.org and learn all about our brilliant lineup of films. Just to tag on to the Queen of My Dreams, Fawzia Mirza, who's making her future debut, had a short at NewFest just a couple of years ago. Seeing the facilitation of filmmakers really rising and being able to have larger platforms for their voices is just so moving. Once again, newfest.org is where you can learn all about the full lineup, which also includes the New York Premiere of a film called Close to You that was produced, co-written, and starring Elliot Page.

We're really excited to be having Q&As for nearly every film too. Once again, newfest.org, you can get your in-person tickets, you can get your outdoor person tickets, or you can get your virtual passes, which are accessible nationwide. If you know you have, say, a young niece or nephew or a nibling that lives in Idaho or Arkansas and doesn't have access to queer stories, you can let them know that they have a place at NewFest.

Kousha Nevada: Wonderful. Before I let you go, I'm looking at the clock. We've got about a minute left. We're talking about movies and how important they are to our lives. I got to know for you two, is there a queer movie that has shaped you, that has been impactful for you? Just say the title, 10 seconds or less. David, let's start with you. What's the title of it?

David Hatkoff: Beautiful Thing, it's a movie that came out in the mid-'90s. I saw it very shortly after I came out, and it was the first time I saw a queer story on film, and it changed my life.

Kousha Nevada: Beautiful Things. Nick, how about you?

Nick McCarthy: Well, of course, I'm a curator, so I'm going to sneak in The Watermelon Woman as well as High Art, but then mention Stranger by the Lake, which is a psychological thriller from France from 2013 that just really captures the feeling of angst as well as exploration. It takes place in a cruising beach in France, but it's a really powerful metaphor for the AIDS crisis as well, without having to comment on that. I think it really just shows a powerful and resonant and eerie portrait.

I'd be remiss not to mention that we have one world premiere at the festival this year in the film Haze, which comes from Matt Fifer, who had a film at our festival three years ago. It's very much in that same vein of being very eerie and evocative, and a new kind of storytelling for queer identity on screen too. It's not just exclusively limited to certain

documentaries. It's all about the human experience on a larger level, even beyond queer identity. It's interesting to have textures like psychological thrillers as part of something like NewFest Pride, and the audiences keeps showing up, so we're going to keep sharing.

Kousha Nevada: Wonderful. If you're listening and you want to show up, we've been talking about the NewFest Pride Film Festival, starts tonight and runs until June 3rd. It's five days full of screenings, filmmaker Q&As, and parties. We've been lucky to talk to Nick McCarthy, Director of Programming, and David Hatkoff, the Executive Director of NewFest. Thank you both so much for coming by.

David Hatkoff: Thank you so much for having us.

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