New Hope’s “Queer Cuts” Gains International Prominence

NEW HOPE, PA — In November 2023, IPG Mediabrands’ independent production company and development studio, TRAVERSE32, Lambertville based ScullyOne Productions, and New Hope Celebrates, the two decades old LGBTQ+ non-profit, organizing cultural and educational programs, collaborated on five short films about the LGBTQ+ enclave, New Hope.

Through this collaboration, five historically underrepresented LGBTQ+ filmmakers were given sizable grants to develop and produce a series of short documentaries highlighting the issues currently facing New Hope’s queer community.

These short films, collectively made their world premiere on November 4, 2023, at a screening event called “Queer Cuts," which was held at Bucks County Playhouse. Four hundred people attended. One year later, the films have been accepted into multiple queer film festivals within the U.S. and abroad, spreading the word about the area’s rich gay culture and activities.

On October 19, two of the shorts were screened as part of NewFest, NYC's LGBTQ+ film festival’s shorts program, which was followed by a panel featuring filmmakers. The films included Hansen Bursic's “Trans Heaven Pennsylvania,” and Kristal Sotomayer’s “Don’t Cry for Me All You Drag Queens.”

“Trans Heaven” follows a group of transgender individuals, and the freedoms they were once afforded by a monthly get together at the iconic Raven New Hope nightclub. Achieving accolades everywhere, this film depicts the impact of the historic club, sadly now a parking lot, on various generations of those LGBTQ+ individuals who were previously embraced by the venue’s patrons.

“Don’t Cry for Me All You Drag Queens” chronicles current drag local legends, Miss Pumpkin (Michael Gardner) and Phoebe Mantrappe (Kevin Gilmore), and the impact the life of Joseph “Mother” Cavallucci, who became New Hope’s most prominent drag queen in the late 1950's and onward, had on them and still has on the community today. “Mother” stood by her commitment to welcoming and befriending new-to-town gay and lesbian individuals from her arrival in New Hope until her death in 2000.

Miss Pumpkin appears in this clip. (Courtesy of Dan Brooks)

“Queer Cuts” also featured “Ben in Bloom,” a short film by multi-award winner Natalie Jasmine Harris. Their story depicts the life of a local Bucks County teen as he finds himself and his identity through community support and the unconditional love of his mother. Ben navigates his new “coming out” amidst a local region and national culture which questions issues of book selectivity in schools, bathrooms for all and other gender issues. Harris’s short also highlights the work of the members of the 22-year-old “Rainbow Room”, an LGBTQ+ safe space organization, located in Doylestown, and founder Marlene Pray.

A fourth film, “New Hope Rondo,” by Joy Davenport, recounts our town’s history and contrasts it with its current gentrification. The movie was honored earlier this year at the acclaimed New Hope Film Festival.

Each documentary was executive produced by filmmaker Sara Scully, fifteen community sponsors of New Hope Celebrates History and co-produced by Daniel Brooks, founder of New Hope Celebrates and New Hope Celebrates History, along with TRAVERSE32’s VP of Development, Nic
Cory. All films are dedicated to the memory of New Hope Celebrates’ former Creative Director, Gordon Pulaski.

Kevin Gilmore (aka Phoebe Manntrappe), left, and Dan Brooks. (Courtesy of Dan Brooks)

"These shorts continue to shed a positive light, using contemporary LGBTQ+ issues, on the long welcoming, diverse history that New Hope and its neighbors have enjoyed for years," said Brooks. "It is our collective hope that the docs inspire and enlighten new generations of queer culture."

Some of the movies are currently streamable, and two will be presented by New Hope Celebrates History to the public once again in 2025. For further viewing information, contact DanBrooks@newhopecelebrates.com.