Queer Films We're Grateful For in 2025
Explore a selection of titles the NewFest team is grateful to have screened this year.
Between the New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival each October, Queering the Canon and NewFest Pride in the spring and summer, and dozens of partner and sponsored screenings throughout the year: we have a whole lot to be grateful for here at NewFest.
Below is just a sliver of the films we are grateful to have shared with audiences this year. What queer films are you thankful for?
Lesbian Space Princess (2024)
A real life couple creates an “inter-gay-latic” adventure that won the Teddy for Best Feature at the 2025 Berlinale? Say less.
With a silly sense of humor full of in-community jokes, Lesbian Space Princess is an animated sci-fi musical adventure for any queer person who has ever been afraid to be their authentic self — even if that self is a big gay loser.
Screened at #NewFest37 in-person October 15 and virtually October 9-21, 2025
Sorry, Baby (2025)
Eva Victor’s directorial debut has been the talk of the town since it won the Waldo Salt Screening Award: U.S. Dramatic at Sundance in late January. With all-star producers Adele Romanski (Moonlight, Aftersun), Mark Ceryak (Aftersun, All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt), and Barry Jenkins (Aftersun, If Beale Street Could Talk), and stand out performances from Naomi Ackie, John Carroll Lynch, and Victor themself, Sorry, Baby tenderly balances comedy and pain in a truly unforgettable film.
FUN FACT Eva Victor spent time shadowing director (and NewFest friend) Jane Schoenbrun on the set of I Saw the TV Glow!
Special Screening with A24 followed by a Q&A with Writer/Director/Actor Eva Victor
Sorry, Baby is available to watch at home.
New Voices Filmmaker Grant Showcase
We are grateful for our continued partnership with Netflix on an initiative that supports emerging directors telling LGBTQ+ stories through their films.
Screened at #NewFest37 in-person October 14 and virtually October 9-21, 2025
Celebrate grantees MG Evangelista, Shuli Huang, Farah Jabir, and Kevin Xian Ming Yu and stream the New Voices Filmmaker Grant Showcase Virtual Encore nationwide from November 17 to December 21, 2025.
Heightened Scrutiny (2025)
Another Sundance favorite, Heightened Scrutiny follows ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio as he prepares and argues United States v. Skrmetti before the Supreme Court in December 2024. Director Sam Feder (Disclosure) reunites with producer Amy Scholder and executive producer Laverne Cox to capture intimate moments between Strangio and the “heart” of the film, thirteen-year-old Mila. Additional insights into how the current wave of anti-trans legislation came to be are shared by leading experts and public figures like Miss Peppermint, Sabrina Imbler, Gina Chua, Tre’vell Anderson, Elliot Page, and more.
Mere weeks before SCOTUS announced their devastating decision, NewFest welcomed Sam Feder, Chase Strangio, Laverne Cox, Miss Peppermint, and more for a deeply impactful conversation following the film. Being in the room with the extraordinary people who made this film happen and an audience that reflects the magnitude of the film’s impact was remarkable.
The NewFest Pride Centerpiece screened in-person May 30 and virtually May 29 - June 2, 2025
Listen to one of our favorite moments of the Q&A, and stay up-to-date with all things Heightened Scrutiny on their Instagram.
Niñxs (2025)
NewFest37 Documentary/NonFiction Feature Jury Special Mention
Sharing the East Coast Premiere of a documentary following a fifteen-year-old transgender girl named Karla who has the support of her parents and community behind her? With an in-person Q&A with director Kani Lapuerta? Who was able to receive the NewFest37 Documentary/Nonfiction Jury Special Mention in-person at our annual Filmmaker Awards Brunch?
Gratitude abound.
Screened at #NewFest37 in-person October 16 and virtually October 9-21, 2025
Catch the Virtual Encore of Niñxs from November 24 to December 7 on NewFest’s virtual platform.
Shorts: Try a Little Tenderness
As Letterboxd user Ada writes, “I feel like I just took a twenty-minute bite of the sweetest cake ever baked.”
Just in time for Friendsgiving, join us for a feast of sweet stories that center communication, caretaking, and surprising new connections. This charming collection of audience award and jury prize winners spotlights the power of letting down one’s guard and being open to vulnerability – including Brooklyn besties, curious neighbors, a potential hook up, and biological and chosen families.
Melt away your winter worries with Shorts: Try a Little Tenderness, streaming nationwide from November 17 - 30, 2025.
Come See Me in the Good Light (2025)
NewFest37 Documentary/NonFiction Feature Grand Jury Award Winner
When it comes to Come See Me in the Good Light, grateful almost feels like an understatement.
This Sundance Festival Favorite Award-winner is a luminous portrait of genderqueer poet Andrea Gibson, an artist whose words defined a generation. This tender documentary, flowing with the rhythm of Gibson’s poetry, follows Gibson through their cancer diagnosis and their profound love story with fellow poet Megan Falley, celebrating their joy, friendship, and romance that endured alongside volcanic sorrow.
You’ve likely heard that this extraordinary film will break your heart. And it will. But what you may not have heard is how gently, how masterfully, it will piece it back together, leaving it fuller, wiser, and somehow stronger than before. Rarely has the phrase “a life well lived” been captured with such tenderness, such clarity of purpose. Prepare to be captivated, undone, and deeply moved. This is storytelling at its most human. – Murtada Elfadl, Senior Programmer
When Gibson passed away in July 2025, the film became an even more poignant tribute–capturing their fierce spirit, enduring influence, and boundless capacity for love. With intimate direction from Ryan White, this affectionate film honors a voice whose power transcends a lifetime.
A documentary about cancer could sound unbearably heavy, but COME SEE ME IN THE GOOD LIGHT offers the best kind of catharsis: the life-affirming kind. Ryan White captures Andrea Gibson’s fierce spirit and boundless love, leaving us moved, inspired, and deeply grateful. – David Hatkoff, Executive Director
Screened at #NewFest37 in-person October 17 followed by a Q&A with director Ryan White
Streaming exclusively on Apple TV.
High Art (1998)
For five years now, we’ve hosted our popular annual five-day retrospective series that shines a spotlight on LGBTQ+ films and filmmakers who deserve increased recognition for their contribution to the cinematic canon. Queering the Canon is always a place of gratitude — from filmmakers excited to share their films (sometimes for the first time theatrically), to audiences (re)discovering queer classics.
Our Opening Night film at Queering the Canon: So Obsessed was the New York Premiere of the 4K Restoration of Lisa Cholodenko’s iconic High Art. This chance to celebrate a cultural touchstone of queer cinema in a gorgeous new restoration was special for both audience and film team members.
The Opening Night of Queering the Canon: So Obsessed screened April 3, 2025
Recap the evening on our Instagram.
Assembly (2025)
Immersive and celebratory, this one-of-a-kind film follows internationally acclaimed artist Rashaad Newsome as he embarks on his most ambitious project yet — a multimedia exhibition and performance at New York’s historic Park Avenue Armory. Once a bastion of white military power, the Armory is transformed into a vibrant celebration of Black and queer culture through video projections, holograms, sculptures, collages, music, dance, and African fractal patterns. As he mounts a monumentally innovative work, Newsome engages international performers, visits Ghana, and creates an anti-colonial AI character (“Being”) to comprehensively explore ancestral history, memory, and guidance.
Through stunning visuals and dynamic performances, Assembly weaves together Rashaad’s creative process and the lives of his collaborators to highlight the capacity for art to reclaim agency and inspire change – offering a vision of intergenerational resilience, transformation, and hope.
We were especially grateful to not only screen the New York Premiere in June, but to have shared the film again with our virtual audiences nationwide as a NewFest Pride Virtual Encore Exclusive at #NewFest37 this fall.
Screened at NewFest Pride in-person June 1 and virtually May 29 - June 2 and October 9-21, 2025
Stay up-to-date with all things Assembly on their Instagram.
A Deeper Love: The Story of Miss Peppermint (2025)
Miss Peppermint is no stranger to NewFest. Attending screenings like the World Premiere of Fire Island at NewFest Pride 2022 and the Centerpiece Heightened Scrutiny earlier this year and starring in social series Now Playing with Jason Lemos — Miss Peppermint is certified NewFest royalty.
Following the film’s World Premiere at Frameline, special guests Bob the Drag Queen, Elliot Page, Laverne Cox and the C.O.T.S. (Council of Tran Sisters), and more came to celebrate New York legend Miss Peppermint at the New York Premiere.
In an era where they’re banning LGBT books, media and stories, queer theatre and film provide a record that shows proof that we were here. That we tried. That we marched. That we fought. That we existed. That we thrived. And that we’re still here in spite of all of these things. – Miss Peppermint on the NewFest Red Carpet
BONUS GRATITUDE The following afternoon, Miss Peppermint graced the carpet for our Episodic Showcase for the New York Premiere of “The Misadventures of Bucky & Beene” following two campy pirate radio DJs threatening upstate New York locals with their WRU-GAY in the morning radio show. She co-stars alongside Jonny Beauchamp in Lisa M. Thomas’ indie series.
The #NewFest37 New York Centerpiece screened in-person October 12, 2025
Stay up-to-date with all things A Deeper Love on their Instagram.
HEAR US, RISE UP: Films for World AIDS Day with the Stonewall National Monument Visitors Center
We have one more in-person screening in 2025, and we are so grateful to be doing it alongside the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center.
On December 1, 2025, join us for a special edition of The Queer Lens short film series, marking World AIDS Day 2025 and aligning with the theme: Rethink. Rebuild. Rise. Explore the titles on our Letterboxd.
Wow, Lesbian Space Princess really stands out. Curious if it's your best.