NewFest Unveils ‘An Act of Rebellion’ Campaign Ahead of 37th LGBTQ+ Film Festival

Ahead of the 37th iteration of NewFest, New York’s largest presenter of LGBTQ+ film and media and the city’s leading convener of queer audiences, has teamed up with The Martin Agency for a powerful new campaign rooted in rebellion.

Inspired by Albert Camus’ quote, “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion,” the campaign meets this cultural moment head-on. Titled 'An Act of Rebellion', the creative underscores NewFest’s core belief: attending a queer film festival in 2025 is in itself a form of protest.

The work captures a cultural truth: in 2025 America, being loud and proud about queerness is itself an act of rebellion, and so is supporting queer cinema. The 'An Act of Rebellion' platform positions every part of the festival, and the organization itself, as defiant resistance in a world immersed with cultural tension. NewFest didn’t just create a campaign platform – they sparked a larger cultural movement.

In this spirit, NewFest has also created the Arizona Queer Film Access Initiative, which will offer complimentary virtual access for Arizona residents to a curated selection from this year’s line up, streaming October 9–21, 2025. This follows news that Phoenix’s Desperado LGBTQ+ Film Festival was forced to cancel its annual event in direct response to President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at publicly funded institutions.

And the design? It’s rebellion in visual form. This modular language system transforms the idea of rebellion across every touch point throughout the festival, from tickets to films and filmmakers. It draws inspiration from queer protest posters of the '80s and '90s with heightened colour vibrancy and textured type treatments to bring added urgency.

The festival debuts next Tuesday, October 9th, and includes soon-to-be blockbuster queer films, from ‘Blue Moon’ starring Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, and Andrew Scott to the NYC premiere of Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut ‘The Chronology Of Water’, and many more!