New York’s LGBTQ+ NewFest goes virtual for 2020

The 32nd edition of the festival will take place October 16 – 27, 2020

NewFest, New York’s leading LGBTQ film and media organization and one of the world’s most respected LGBTQ film festivals, have announced today that they will be moving the 2020 festival to a virtual platform, following a great deal of consultation with New York State Department of Health and venue partners. The festival will take place October 16-27, 2020, five days longer than usual, and will be accessible online to ticket holders nationwide.

NewFest’s first-ever virtual edition of The New York LGBTQ Film Festival, presented by WarnerMedia, will include a robust lineup of panels and conversations surrounding LGBTQ topics, in addition to its regular programming of new features and short film premieres. The Festival will also incorporate virtual live events. Hyundai is the Festival’s Signature Sponsor. 

The full festival lineup, including feature films and special events, will be released on September 23, 2020. All-access passes are now available for purchase at www.newfest.org.  Details on individual tickets will be released in the coming weeks.

“NewFest was founded more than 30 years ago in direct response to the AIDS crisis,” said NewFest Executive Director David Hatkoff. “As our country battles a pandemic, reckons with racial injustice, and deals with an economic downturn ahead of a hugely consequential election for LGBTQ+ lives and rights, maintaining a safe space where queer stories are told and shared has never been more important. In the same spirit of pride and protest that inspired the founding of NewFest, we are thrilled to take The New York LGBTQ Film Festival virtual this year, and look forward to demonstrating through film, conversation and celebration that queer voices will not be silenced.” 

NewFest has presented more than a dozen virtual events this spring and summer, including the virtual premiere of the HBO documentary WELCOME TO CHECHNYA featuring a discussion between The New York Times’ Charles Blow and director David France; the discussion “On Being Black and Queer” in tandem with the HBO series I MAY DESTROY YOU; a Pride Shorts Program in partnership with Vimeo; a Family Movie Night event with the NYC Department of Education; an advance screening of the IFC film SUMMERLAND; and screenings of the films PIER KIDS and LINGUA FRANCA. 

The complete lineup of feature films and special events will be released on September 23, 2020.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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