NewFest 2021 announces full lineup including Pete Buttigieg doc ‘Mayor Pete,’ ‘Flee’ and Rebecca Hall’s ‘Passing’

NewFest today revealed the lineup for the 2021 edition of its hybrid flagship LGBTQ+ film festival that will include the East Coast premiere of Mayor Pete from award-winning filmmaker Jesse Moss (Boys State), a look at Pete Buttigieg’s campaign to be the first openly gay U.S. president, which will be the opening night film.

The 2021 hybrid edition of NewFest will take place October 15-26 in New York City theaters and virtually on the festival’s on-demand platform. The lineup includes 130 films and episodic series from 31 countries. There are 30 narrative features, 14 docs and 11 shorts program screenings.

The Closing Night film will be Flee, from Jonas Poher Rasmussen, which took home the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year and the Centerpiece film will be Rebecca Hall’s Passing, the story of New York City during the 1920s Harlem Renaissance about two Black women (Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga) who traverse through high society passing as white. The countryside of contemporary South Korea in A Distant Place is the fest’s International Centerpiece.

“This year’s festival is all about connection. The LGBTQ+ community thrives on connecting to one another, and having spent most of the past 18 months apart, we are hungry for experiences that remind us we are a part of something bigger than ourselves,” NewFest executive director David Hatkoff said. “We believe queer film provides an opportunity to connect in a unique and celebratory way. This year‘s program highlights that everyone in our community has a story to tell, and shows just how meaningful it is when we really listen to, learn from, and spend time with each other.”

The program will also feature anniversary screenings of Alek Keshishian’s Madonna: Truth or Dare and Dee Rees’s Pariah and the world premiere of the 4K restoration of John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus.

“There’s nothing like a room full of queer people,” Hatkoff continued. “We are thrilled to offer more than 50 in-person screenings and events throughout NYC, while still maintaining a virtual streaming element that will be available throughout the United States. Whether at the theater or at home, everyone will be able to experience these incredible films in the way that feels most comfortable for them.”

For more information and the complete lineup go to newfest.org.

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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), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) 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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