Jonathan Groff and Karan Soni helped kick off NewFest, New Yorks LGBTQ+ film festival , Thursday with the East Coast premiere of their new romantic comedy, A Nice Indian Boy .

Directed by Roshan Sethi, the film is a tender cross-cultural love story between an Indian American doctor, Naveen (Soni), and Jay (Groff), a white photographer who was raised by Indian parents. A Nice Indian Boy marks Groffs much-anticipated return to the big screen following his Tony-winning run in the smash Broadway revival of Merrily We Roll Along.

NewFests closing night film, Emilia Prez , is drawing similar levels of buzz ahead of its Oct. 22 screening. The dark comedy-musical hybrid stars Karla Sofa Gascn, Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaa and is considered an awards season frontrunner .

Such starry screenings, however, are just a fragment of NewFests lineup. The 2024 festival includes a total of 143 feature films, documentaries and shorts, representing 30 countries from around the world.

HuffPost spoke to NewFest organizers about this years highlights and their personal recommendations.