THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER AND NEWFEST PARTNER FOR OPENING AND CLOSING NIGHTS OF 23RD NEW YORK LGBT FILM FESTIVAL

FESTIVAL MOVES TO JULY AND NAMES BRYCE RENNINGER AS DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMING

NEW YORK, Jan. 21, 2011— The Film Society of Lincoln Center and NewFest will co-present the opening and closing nights of the 23rd Annual New York LGBT Film Festival at Lincoln Center. The opening night gala, screening and after party will take place on Thursday, July 21, 2011. This marks the beginning of a new relationship between these pioneering film organizations.

After opening night, festival programming will continue at the School of Visual Arts theater in Chelsea with special screenings at a variety of other respected New York cultural institutions, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Harlem Stage and The Jewish Community Center to provide a full program of screenings from July 22-27, 2011.

The festival’s closing night gala screening and after party will return to Lincoln Center on Thursday, July 28, 2011.

“The Film Society of Lincoln Center is committed to supporting diverse film communities and we look forward to joining forces with NewFest and helping to promote this wonderful film festival, ” said Rose Kuo, the Executive Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Lesli Klainberg, the Executive Director of NewFest, couldn’t agree more, “Our new relationship will help raise the profile of LGBT filmmakers, it gives our sponsors a platform on the stage of one of  the world's foremost film organizations and provides our audience with a film-going experience that is second to none.”

To help NewFest curate the finest selection of LGBT film, Klainberg has also named Bryce Renninger as the NewFest Director of Programming. Bryce J. Renninger has worked for NewFest since 2008.  Before taking on the role of Director of Programming, Bryce served as Shorts Programmer for the festival.  He works in the editorial department of the film website indieWIRE as a staff contributing writer. He also teaches at Rutgers University in the Digital Communication, Information & Media program.  Previously, he served as the Managing Director of the South Asian International Film Festival.

“NewFest's new partnership with Lincoln Center and our new dates are exciting developments that are evidence of our devotion to reaching new communities, spotlighting the best in LGBT film, and providing a film festival experience that can only be found in New York,” said Renninger.  “Everyone at NewFest is energized and ready to expand our festival's role in the film festival circuit and this great city's cultural life.”  

Joining him as Documentary Features Programmer is Cameron Yates, along with Jonathyn Pankratz as Narrative Features Programmer.

NewFest is dedicated to bringing together filmmakers and audiences in the building of a community that values and supports giving greater visibility and voice to a wide range of expressions and representations of the LGBT experience.

We are committed to nurturing emerging LGBT and allied filmmakers. We seek to support those artists who are willing to take risks in telling the stories that fully reflect the diversity and complexity of our lives. And we’re committed to bringing our audience stories that transform our vision of who we are and who we can be.

Through the New York LGBT film festival, presented annually since 1988, and year-round programming, NewFest showcases domestic and international film and video across a host of media channels in our goal of breaking through closet doors and glass ceilings everywhere.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, to recognize and support new directors, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility and understanding of film. Advancing this mandate today, The Film Society hosts two distinguished festivals—The New York Film Festival and New Directors/New Films—as well as the annual Gala Tribute, celebrating an actor or filmmaker who has helped distinguish cinema as an art form, and a year-round calendar of programming at its Walter Reade Theater and its new state-of-the-art Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. It also offers definitive examinations of essential films and artists to a worldwide audience through Film Comment magazine.