NEW YORK — Four emerging LGBTQ filmmakers, who were selected as the first-ever recipients of NewFest’s New Voices Filmmakers Grant, will showcase their work at this year’s New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival.
The initiative, a partnership of NewFest with Netflix in support of emerging LGBTQ talent, distributed a total of $100,000 in funds among the recipients, as well as one year of mentorship. The selected filmmakers will now have the opportunity to screen their work in one of the world’s largest queer film festivals.
The program aims to “continue making sure that filmmakers who have historically been kept away from the resources that they need to be able to tell their stories are starting to get more access to them,” NewFest Executive Director David Hatkoff told the Daily News.
Netflix, which has already committed to a second round of grants, says that the initiative is part of its Fund for Creative Equity, “an effort to help create more behind-the-camera opportunities for underrepresented communities within the TV and film industries.”
One of the few requirements for grant applicants was that they couldn’t have made a feature film or had a film publicly distributed. Grantees were selected earlier this year by a jury made up of LGBTQ programmers, community leaders, established filmmakers and industry professionals.
“We were really trying to target emerging LGBTQ+ filmmakers — folks who were earlier in their careers — and looking to get resources that would help them advance their careers,” Hatkoff said.
The four selected filmmakers are: Livia Huang, a Baltimore-born, New York-based director who will show 2021′s “More Happiness,” a drama that explores a mother-daughter relationship; Rodney Llaverias, a Dominican American filmmaker showcasing 2019′s “The Two-Headed Calf,” a story about an adolescent coming to terms with his sexuality; Nyala Moon, a New York-based filmmaker, writer, and actress of trans experience chronicling the dating life of a Black trans woman in 2022′s “How Not to Date While Trans;” and Blanche Akonchong, a Cameroonian American writer, director, actress and musician from Riverdale, Georgia, whose “Mercury Afrograde,” won NewFest’s Emerging Black LGBTQ+ Director Award in 2020.
They will showcase their work and talk about their future projects at the Nitehawk Prospect Park in Brooklyn on Monday.
Submissions for the next cycle of the New Voices grant will open in early 2023, according to Hatkoff.
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The New Class: Celebrating emerging Queer Voices is taking place at the Nitehawk Prospect Park in Brooklyn on Monday at 7:30 pm. The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are required. All four films will stream for free on NewFest’s on-demand platform from Oct. 13 to 25.
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