New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival Lineup: HBO’s Dustin Lance Black Docu ‘Mama’s Boy’ Set For Opening Night

NewFest said Thursday that HBO’s upcoming Mama’s Boy, the documentary about the life of Oscar-winning Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, will be the opening-night film for the New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival. The fest, which also announced its full lineup, kicks off its 34th edition October 13.

Laurent Bouzereau’s Mama’s Boy explores Black’s childhood roots, gay identity and close relationship with his mother, who overcame childhood polio, abusive marriages and Mormon dogma, while becoming Black’s emotional rock and ultimately, the inspiration for his activism.

The pic will world premiere at 7 p.m. at the SVA Theater in Manhattan. HBO also said today that it will debut on HBO and HBO Max on October 18 as part of LGBTQ history month.

The festival, which will be presented again as a hybrid edition via NewFest’s online platform, also said that Laura Poitras’ documentary All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, which just won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, will close the fest October 25.

The full lineup this year features festival pics like the Harry Style-Emma Corrin pic My Policeman, Todd Flaherty’s Chrissy Judy, Lukas Dhont’s Close, Netflix’s animated Wendell & Wild and Elegance Bratton’s The Inspection.

Bratton will also receive this year’s Breakthrough Queer Visionary Award following the film’s screening. A24 will release the pic in theaters November 18.

In all there are 22 narrative features, 15 documentary features, four retrospective features, eight episodic series and 11 shorts program screenings. In-person premieres will take place in Manhattan at SVA Theatre and the LGBT Community Center, as well as in Brooklyn at Nitehawk Prospect Park and The Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Special events include an advance screening of the the Season 2-opening episode of HBO’s multi-Emmy winner The White Lotus.