The 34th Annual New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival, NewFest, kicked off this year on October 13. Two Columbia filmmakers and Film faculty member Tom Kalin screened their films. Founded in 1988, NewFest is New York’s largest presenter of LGBTQ+ film & media and the largest convener of LGBTQ+ audiences in the city. This year, the festival took place throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn and virtually across the US from October 13 to 25, 2022.
Read more about the films below:
Swoon (1993)
Directed by Professor of Professional Practice Tom Kalin, written by Kalin and Associate Professor of Writing Hilton Als
One of the most daring works to emerge from the New Queer Cinema movement of the early 1990s, Swoon offers a radical, revisionist perspective on the infamous Leopold and Loeb murder case.
As part of its 30th anniversary year Newfest hosted a screening and discussion of Swoon on October 19 at The Brooklyn Academy of Music with Kalin participating in a discussion afterwards..
Tom Kalin’s work traverses diverse forms and genres, from experimental video installations to narrative feature films. Known as a prominent figure in the New Queer Cinema, his nonfiction narrative films Swoon and Savage Grace dramatize the individual and social consequences of two notorious American crimes. Since 1997 he has been a member of the full-time Directing Faculty at Columbia University’s School of the Arts Film Division.
Claudia
Written and directed by Film student Erin Nene-Lee Ramirez, produced by Donovan Tolledo ‘22
A teenage girl from Honduras begins questioning her gender identity and personal expression after discovering an underground pole dancing studio in New York City.
Erin Nene-Lee Ramirez is a Chinese-Jamaican and Dominican filmmaker originally from New Hampshire. His work (which explores themes of identity, immigration, and race) investigates the dualities and contradictions within society, with the intention to form a more liberated and collective future. Erin received a BA in journalism from the University of Southern California and is currently pursuing an MFA in Screenwriting/Directing at Columbia University School of the Arts.
Mom, If I were a Vampire
Written, directed and produced by Film student Devyn Chuang
An insecure teenage girl dislikes her disapproving mother, and vows to be nothing like her. When she meets a cool school girl with that couldn't-give-a-damn attitude, she becomes infatuated and follows her down a rabbit hole.
Deborah Devyn Chuang or Devyn Chuang is a Taiwanese American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Her debut short film, Mom if I were a Vampire (2022), premiered at NewFest and willscreen in competition at the 36th Leeds International Film Festival.
