NewFest Pride 2024: A Summer Celebration of Queer Cinema

By Sean Boelman

June is Pride Month, and that means all sorts of film events celebrating LGBTQIA+ cinema. Few of these events are as exciting as NewFest Pride, a showcase of some of the greatest queer movies of the year so far that have played at a variety of festivals, including Sundance, SXSW, and TIFF. Although the main NewFest event doesn’t happen till later in the year, NewFest Pride is always a grand time to hold you over till NYC’s biggest queer film festival.

Here are a few of the films (and one show) playing at NewFest Pride that we at disappointment media have gotten a chance to see and think you should check out to celebrate an early start to Pride Month 2024.

Am I OK?

One of the more eagerly anticipated movies playing at this year’s edition of NewFest Pride — both in-person and virtually — is Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allyn’s Am I OK? Starring Dakota Johnson, this romantic comedy premiered at the Sundance Film Festival all the way back in 2022 and was quickly acquired by Warner Bros. and Max (then still HBO Max, if you can imagine how long ago that was), but has not been seen since. Over two years later, the streamer will be premiering the film, and there couldn’t be a better place for its relaunch.

A House Is Not a Disco

Perhaps the most “New York” of the movies playing at NewFest Pride is Brian J. Smith’s documentary A House Is Not a Disco, which explores the phenomenon that is the “queer mecca” of Fire Island Pines. Although this queer hideaway vacation spot has already entered the cinematic mainstream thanks to the Hulu romantic comedy Fire Island from a few years ago, this documentary offers a refreshingly honest look at the community that gathers every summer in an oasis 50 miles away from New York City.

Sebastian

After its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, the sex worker drama Sebastian is making its New York premiere as part of NewFest Pride. The film follows a 25-year-old aspiring writer who decides to begin a second life as a sex worker to research his debut novel. Mikko Makela’s movie feels very similar in nature to films like Mysterious Skin, albeit with less of a lingering focus on misery. Makela approaches these complex themes with nuance and empathy, allowing him to ask some incredibly provocative questions.

Fantasmas

Former Saturday Night Live writer Julio Torres’s feature directorial debut, Problemista, played as one of the main screenings at last year’s edition of Newfest Pride, and he returns this year with an advance screening of the first two episodes of his follow-up project — the anthology series Fantasmas. Fantasmas reunites Torres with his Los Espookys network, HBO, and it feels like they gave him carte blanche with budget and creative freedom. It’s a wacky, endlessly creative comedy series with lots of hilarious sketches, blending his comedic style from his SNL days with the quirky sensibilities of his more recent work, establishing him as one of the most distinctive and idiosyncratic voices working today.

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NewFest Pride runs in NYC and online from May 30 to June 3.