A partnership between NewFest and Netflix, the New Voices Filmmaker Grant was launched in 2022 to provide resources for emerging filmmakers telling LGBTQ+ stories.

For the fourth year, NewFest is excited to celebrate the grant recipients with a showcase screening of their recent short films, followed by an in-depth conversation with the filmmakers. Join us as we share the auspicious work from 2025 grantees MG Evangelista, Shuli Huang, Farah Jabir, and Kevin Xian Ming Yu and hear what’s to come in their future projects and promising careers. Presented in partnership with Netflix.

Kasbi
Dir. Farah Jabir, 12 min, USA
A middle-aged Pakistani housewife, in search of herself, hires a young, self-assured sex worker to keep her company for the night.

Will You Look at Me
Dir. Shuli Huang, 21 min, China
As a young Chinese filmmaker returns to his hometown in search of himself, a long due conversation with his mother dives the two of them into a quest for acceptance and love.

Anino
Dir. MG Evangelista, 15 min, USA
On the anniversary of her mother’s death, a quiet teen being raised by her two grandmothers awakens to her first period and is relentlessly bullied at school. When her bully later turns his torments on her crush, her pent-up rage erupts and she discovers an ancestral power that is both terrifying and freeing.

Yú Cì (Fish Bones)
Dir. Kevin Xian Ming Yu, 11 min, USA
Bowen, a nonbinary Asian-American from Queens, tries to connect with their estranged father and help him deal with a poisonous fish bite.

This screening will be followed by a Q&A