A radical revisitation.
In this world premiere, held on October 10, 2025 at BAM, director Stephen Winter revisits the ghosts of Jason Holliday and Shirley Clarke, unveiling new footage and reframing the original shoot through a fresh and radical gaze.
This updated version of Winter’s 2015 film unearths the ghosts of Jason and Shirley, restaging the volatile 12-hour shoot of the 1967 documentary Portrait of Jason. Filmed at the Chelsea Hotel, the documentary blurred the line between subject and storyteller.
Jason Holliday (Jack Waters), a sharp-witted Black gay man, whose identity splits between personas–performer, hustler, muse, provocateur–is once again in the room with Shirley Clarke (queer pioneer Sarah Schulman), the Oscar-winning filmmaker who insisted on framing his life.
With newly unearthed footage, Winter returns 10 years later not to resolve the contradictions, but to reopen them. What was once a document becomes a haunting, a conversation with what was left outside the frame. Time folds. Power shifts. And Jason, still impossible to contain, speaks back.
See the World Premiere of Jason and Shirley Revisited, followed by a Q&A with Stephen Winter, at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 10 at BAM. BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) is located at 30 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn. Purchase tickets for the screening at newfest.org/events/jasonandshirleyrevisited.
Watch Films. Push Back.
Experience 130+ films at the 37th Annual New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival (NewFest). Explore the full lineup at newfest.org/festival. NewFest takes place October 9-21, 2025 at venues throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. Virtual All-Access Streaming Passes for the festival are available at newfest.org/passes.
