Best of Besties in LGBTQ+ Cinema (Virtual Panel)

For this year’s Queering the Canon, NewFest and BAM are celebrating the queer bestie. Your ride or die, your best Judy, the one who got you through every heartbreak and hangover. While everyone loves a steamy romance, it’s those joyful stories of queer friendship and community that show us as we truly are. 

We all need a bosom buddy in our corner, but who has written those stories and who is writing them today? How have queer films of the past portrayed bestie dynamics? What do we dream of within our bestie stories, and what hidden gems from the past can be re-evaluated to celebrate the queer bestie as its own narrative? 

This panel discussion addresses these questions, and more, with a group of genuinely funny and thoughtful cinephiles, experts, and besties. Moderated by critic and filmmaker Jude Dry, panelists include filmmaker Angela Robinson (D.E.B.S, The L Word, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women); comedian, actor, and screenwriter Joel Kim Booster (Fire Island); and filmmaker, curator, and historian Jenni Olson.