NewFest Pride 2024: Cinematic Cerebrations

By Sean Boelman

Pride Month kicked off a little early this year with NewFest’s annual NewFest Pride event — a showcase of some of the highest-profile queer films that have been playing on the festival circuit, along with a couple of world premieres and special screenings of exciting new projects. From lighthearted comedies to weighty dramas, this year’s NewFest Pride event showcased a variety of films by and about the LGBTQIA+ community that are designed to provoke conversation and celebrate the community.

We at disappointment media got the opportunity to cover this year’s NewFest Pride event remotely by screening some of the movies available as part of the virtual festival lineup. Here are our thoughts on some of the films we saw:

Close to You

Close to You stars Elliott Page in one of his first roles since coming out as a trans man. Written and directed by Dominic Savage with a story co-written by Page himself, the movie follows a man who returns home for the first time in years since his transition, encountering a friend from high school along with several long-buried feelings. It’s a slow-burn queer drama driven by an incredible performance by Page. Although the film doesn’t have a ton of subtlety, it offers an emotionally rich exploration of themes that are often unexplored from a perspective that feels entirely authentic.

A House Is Not a Disco

A House Is Not a Disco is a verite-style look at the Fire Island Pines, the almost mythical “queer mecca” of Fire Island Pines, located about 50 miles from the heart of New York City. In the film, we get the chance to meet several of the people who take refuge in the “homo-normative” community every summer, and they tell their stories — from humorous anecdotes of debauchery to heartwarming tales of finding a place to belong. Although it’s not a particularly substantial movie, it’s very charming.

The Queen of My Dreams

Fawzia Mirza's The Queen of My Dreams has toured the festival circuit to great success since its premiere at TIFF last autumn, but it is unfortunate that it is coming on the heels of several other films told from a similar perspective. Recent South Asian queer romantic comedies like The Persian Version and A Nice Indian Boy hit a lot of the same beats, and while it’s undeniably refreshing to see stories like this being told from these perspectives, it would be nice to see them less formulaic. Still, it’s a cute, crowd-pleasing movie by every means, so it’s hard to hate.

Sebastian

The sex worker drama Sebastian follows an aspiring writer in London who takes up a job as a sex worker to do research for his debut novel. Although the movie shares several similarities with classics in the queer canon like Mysterious Skin, it also stands on its own thanks to a tender and empathetic approach to its characters. This is not a film that lingers on queer misery — instead, it is much more interested in exploring the reality of queer sex and love. When you add in Ruaridh Mollica’s incredible, ambiguous performance, it’s a truly effective entry in this subgenre.

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