NewFilmmakers NY Screens IT IS WHAT IT IS and More Tonight, 6/20

Tonight, June 20, NewFilmmakers celebrates alternate lifestyles.

NewFilmmakers' 6:00 PM Documentary Series presents two new films. Tucker Capps WHAT WE HAVE JUST LEFT BEHIND (2011, 3 minutes) is an animated adaptation of Ryan Van Meter's memoir about growing up gay. The author narrates a scene from his childhood that would change his life forever. Juan Javier and Gabrielle Pescador JUST BECAUSE I AM (2011, 46 minutes) takes the viewer through the inspirational journey of an LGBT youth group, led by an enthusiastic gay mentor, who together give a response to homophobia by creating a performance on love, respect and tolerance.

The 7:00 PM Short Film Program presents six new films. In Paul Festa THE GLITTER EMERGENCY (2010, 20 minutes) Festa performs the Tchaikovsky violin concerto, opposite members of the San Francisco Ballet and The Cockettes, in a silent-film drag ballet comedy. In Katrina Lencek-Inagaki TOTALLY SMOOTH (2011, 5 minutes) a nerdy twentysomething about to lose her virginity has to gain sexual confidence. In Yelena Sabel P -WORD PIZZA (2011, 8 minutes) a white American teenager who considers himself a hip-hop-ghetto-gangsta (who he looks like anything but) delivers pizza to snobby Asians who find him overly vulgar and a shining example of why the human race is doomed. In Paul Baker ANDIE (2011, 8 minutes) Andrew is a boy who loves his doll more than anything. Can he survive the pressures of the world? In Jean- Pierre Bergeron ALONE WITH MR. CARTER (2011, 18 minutes) John is ten years old in 1997, the year Ellen De Generes comes out, and dreams of becoming a cop,. He wants to confide in his neighbor, Mr. Carter, that he is secretly in love with him. Time is of the essence as the 65-year-old hetero detective is going away forever. In Adam Rose QUEEN (2011, 22 minutes) Nikki Holiday, a drag queen cabaret star, tries to fill the void in her life after her plans to start a family fall apart.

Next, the 8:30 PM Feature Presentation presents two films. Liz Levitt- Bradley and Rory Bradley EL CAFFINATO (2011, 13 minutes) is a hipster musicAl Western set in a contemporary coffee shop. El Caffinato tells the story of Milo Beckett, a lovesick loner who must lead the caffeine-buzzed regulars in a musical show down with an old-time foe, Dusky Dan Digby. VP Boyle IT IS WHAT IT IS (2011, 40 minutes) is a modern day contemporary movie musical with a completely original score, IT IS WHAT IT IS explores the lives of seven young New Yorkers during a twenty-four hour period of near misses, tattered relationships and crumbling dreams.

NewFilmmakers screens at Anthology Film Archives on the Lower East Side at 32 Second Avenue & 2nd Street. NewFilmmakers LA screens in the Stanley Kramer Theater at the Sunset Gower Studio and has become a leading showcase for new films in Hollywood. Many features screened at NewFilmmakers are now available on NewFilmmakers Online. New York Admission is $6 for the whole evening and tickets are available at the Anthology Box Office the night of screening. Additional information is available on our website at www.NewFilmmakers.com.