5 iconic films that have defined the queer experience

This week, NewFest, New York’s top LGBTQ+ film festival, announced the full lineup of films and TV series screening this year. Highlights include highly anticipated new movies like Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers, Todd Haynes’s May December, film adaptations of best-selling novels Eileen and Lie With Me, and the New York premieres of biopics Rustin and Nyad. Festival goers will also get an advance peek at Showtime’s Fellow Travelers and the second season of Max’s Our Flag Means Death.

This year’s festival isn’t just a chance to see some fantastic LGBTQ+ films. It also marks NewFest’s 35th anniversary. The festival kicked off at the height of the AIDS epidemic and has continued through to this fraught moment, when the LGBTQ+ community has gained more visibility than ever while facing renewed hostility from the right.

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So much has changed for LGBTQ+ people, while so much has remained the same over those 35 years. With tickets already on sale for this year’s festival, which takes place October 12–22 with virtual screenings continuing through October 24, LGBTQ Nation asked the folks at NewFest to take a look back at the past 35 years and choose one film screened at the festival that best captures the LGBTQ+ zeitgeist of each of the past five decades since it launched in 1988.

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1980s: Marlon Riggs’ Tongues Untied (1989)

“When I decided to move to America from Sudan, an older cousin gave me James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time to read and understand what I’m getting into as a Black man in this new country. Years later I saw Tongues Untied in Brooklyn and I wished I had seen it earlier. It would have explained many things about being Black and queer and saved me years of confusion. Its images and poetry of gay Black men dealing with marginalization and homophobia immediately rang true. I can imagine how powerful this film was to many Black queer people who saw it in the 1980s and the 1990s. It is powerful, political, and incendiary, but above all it is a beautiful film that makes sense of our world. So, here’s my call out to queer Black men the world over, watch Tongues Untied and all the stuff that’s jumbled in your head about your place and mission in life will finally become clear.” –Murtada Elfadl, NewFest35 Programmer

1990s: Rose Troche’s Go Fish (1994) 

“Growing up queer during the 80s and 90s meant for many of us keeping our personal lives a secret. In 1994, Guinevere Turner and Rose Troche released Go Fish to the world, voicing ideas that were already simmering in the minds of its targeted audience. The influential quality of this film derives from the choral perspective achieved through a collaborative effort between its director, writers, and cast. Go Fish expresses the inner world of an entire generation that wants to break the silence and stereotypes imposed by a patriarchal society, but also address prejudices within the lesbian community. This film is a bold manifesto that lays the groundwork for a deeper understanding of what it means to be a Dyke beyond butches and femmes, gender identity, or sexual preference. A finely woven text that works as a precedent within the community. Troche and Turner were ahead of their time!” –Anto Astudillo, NewFest35 Programmer

2000s: Angela Robinson’s D.E.B.S. (2004) 

“Post-9/11 U.S. cinema saw an onslaught of tense government thrillers trying to impose national security, and I recall the chaotic and anxious energy that persisted years after. When Angela Robinson’s feature debut D.E.B.S. (NewFest’s 2004 Opening Night Film) was released, the spy genre finally saw a welcome queer spin with camp and levity. A large group of friends and I saw D.E.B.S. shortly after its release and this was the spark we needed—lesbian romance disrupting the world of secret agents in plaid skirts with elite fighting skills. We needed our little moment of queer escape, and to know that lesbian love won over national security. Even now this film continues to bring tender, hilarious queer empowerment during our heavy moments.” –Kim Garcia, NewFest35 Programmer + Technical Director

2010s: Andrew Haigh’s Weekend (2011)

“Queerness has always been closely related with ephemera; for the longest time, our lives seemed to be merely a collection of short and explosive moments. But as we slowly assimilated into the world (into our families, our jobs, our communities), we were forced to redefine ourselves into something more permanent. With Weekend, writer-director Andrew Haigh (who returns this year to NewFest with our Closing Night Film, All of Us Strangers), shows how two men that meet, connect, and are changed over a short period of time are still forced to envision, like the whole community was at the time, what a more lasting future might look like.” –Jorge Molina, NewFest35 Assistant Programmer & Industry Coordinator

2020s: Laura Poitras’ All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (2022) 

“As we all exist in a post-2020 world where the human experience has been inherently altered, this tremendous work from Academy Award winner Laura Poitras candidly captures the angst, frustration, and blistering need to confront oppressive and monied institutions. This epic, sprawling documentary about renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin exudes the interconnected virtues of resistance, art, and reflection that are intrinsically linked to the LGBTQ+ and all marginalized communities’ ongoing fight for social justice with urgency. We were honored to feature this Academy Award nominated film as our momentous Closing Night Film at last year’s festival, and feel the gravity of a sold out, primarily queer audience collectively reach closer to powerful catharsis.” –Nick McCarthy, NewFest Director of Programming