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NewFest’s Black Filmmakers Initiative has been created in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and in recognition of the need to create opportunities for queer Black artists and amplify their voices. The initiative will not only provide funding for Black LGBTQ+ filmmakers, but will also help with covering festival submission fees, provide funding for travel-related costs, and contribute free tickets to Black-led organizations to attend NewFest events. The new awards presented by the Black Filmmakers Initiative at NewFest include the Directorial Feature Debut Black LGBTQ+ Filmmaker Award, awarded by NewFest to a Black LGBTQ+ filmmaker whose directorial feature debut is being presented at NewFest’s 32nd edition of the festival....

It’s been clear since the show’s pilot in 2018 that our beloved Cousin Greg, played to awkward precision by Nicholas Braun, would be in for a bumpy ride. And given that he was clearly intended as the audience insert character for a world foreign to the vast majority of viewers, we were in for quite the roller coaster ourselves. For the past three seasons, Greg has gone from relative bumpkin to full-fledged member of an extensive corporate cover-up in a matter of months....

“If there is one takeaway from this year’s Main Slate, it is cinema’s limitless capacity for renewal,” said Dennis Lim, artistic director, New York Film Festival. “Collectively, the films in the program suggest that this renewal takes many forms: breathtaking debuts, veterans pulling off new tricks, filmmakers of all stripes seeking new and surprising forms of expression and representation. We love the range and eclecticism of this group of films and are excited to share it with audiences....

“I dedicate these films to George Floyd and all the other black people that have been murdered, seen or unseen, because of who they are, in the US, UK and elsewhere,” McQueen said in June, shortly after “Mangrove” and fellow anthology entry “Lovers Rock” were confirmed as selections of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival. “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe. Black Lives Matter.” In addition to offering “Mangrove” for free, the NYFF programming team also announced this week it has removed Oliver Shahery’s documentary short “Wild Bill Horsecock” from its virtual screening platform....

“My latest information is that they would start filming, subject to coronavirus, in February 2021,” Standing Bear said. “And they will be here for about 16 weeks. They’re going to start moving in here quietly, I’m not helping that very much, but quietly around November and December. So, they’re coming.” Chad Renfro and Addie Roanhorse are the official Osage Nation ambassadors for the film and say they are in open communication with Apple and Paramount on the upcoming production....

Editor Alan Baumgarten had the most ambitious editorial task: balancing three story threads in “Rashomon”-like fashion with multiple perspectives and jumping back and forth in time, from the overheated courtroom drama to the violent, vérité-like riots during the ’68 Democratic Convention to the bitter political rivalry between Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) and Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen). Plus, Baumgarten oversaw a sprawling six-minute prologue that was like lighting a fuse with historical context and character introductions....

Eva (Simone Bucio) is tasked with sound designing a commercial for a dubious mood-stabilizing drug after sister, Zara (the non-binary artist, Simon(e) Jaikiriuma Paetau), is hospitalized in mysterious circumstances. The pharmaceutical company behind the drug “Equili” has elected to riff on its name in the form of a horse-riding concept. So, one stressful morning, Eva finds herself in a make-shift foley studio rhythmically beating coconut halves in a sandbox in sync with the image on screen of a horse trotting through sawdust....