Rose Kuo, the Film Society's executive director, offered the invitation after she met with NewFest's executive director at the time, Lesli Klainberg, who has since become the Film Society's managing director.
Another major development is NewFest's coming merger with its more financially robust Los Angeles counterpart, Outfest, which this month celebrated its 30th anniversary.
The Film Society paved the way for this official welcome last year when it presented NewFest's opening- and closing-night selections.
But sex, in all its variety, some of it explicit, is the main subject of NewFest, the New York L.G.B.T. Festival.
One thing that hasn't changed about NewFest, however, is the centrality of sexuality in the work and the willingness to confront taboos without hysteria.
For Ms. Klainberg, NewFest and Outfest (for which she also worked) are as vital as ever.
"Concussion" has pride of place in NewFest, indicating the dearth of lesbian movies in the marketplace.
The pooling of resources, the details of which have yet to be worked out, will be especially helpful to NewFest because Outfest, located at the center of the film industry, has a higher media profile and more generous donors.
That is reason enough for the existence of gay cultural seeding grounds like the annual NewFest.
NewFest, which runs through Wednesday and includes 15 narrative features, 4 documentaries and 31 shorts and other special events, offers many acute reminders that history doesn't suddenly disappear into the mist because laws have changed.
