Movies: Recommended

Film by UT alum, BBC series kick off festival

Time, serendipity and lust collude and collide in University of Texas alum Craig Chester's romantic comedy "Adam & Steve," one of two kick-off films at the 18th annual Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, running Friday through Oct. 8 at the Arbor Cinema.

Chester wrote, directed and stars in the film, playing a guy who falls for a dancer (Malcolm Gets), has a one-night stand and doesn't see him again until 15 years later. That's when his friends — Parker Posey and "Saturday Night Live's" Chris Kattan — meddle to get the men back together. Chester will present "Adam & Steve" at 7:30 p.m. Friday with producers Kirkland Tibbels and George Bendele, who is also a UT graduate.

Also showing Friday (at 7 p.m.) is "Fingersmith," the tangly 1996 BBC miniseries about love and fortune. This is the series' regional premiere.

AGLIFF is the oldest and biggest festival of its kind in the Southwest and, at almost one score old, going strong.

All screenings are at the Arbor (9828 Great Hills Trail). Opening night film and party admission is $21-$29. Single tickets are $6-$9.

Tickets are at agliff.frontgatetickets.com or the Arbor box office. Or call 302-9889. Go to www.agliff.org for the full schedule.

We've picked one highlight for each day of the festival:

• "Unveiled" (7:15 p.m. Saturday) — AGLIFF's centerpiece film follows an Iranian woman who seeks asylum in Germany, where she assumes the identity of a man and falls in love with a German woman.

• "Dorian Blues" (7 p.m. Sunday) — A coming-out, coming-of-age comedy starring winsome Michael McMillian of the WB's "What I Like About You."

• "Not Straight Forward" (9 p.m. Monday) — Sort of a gay version of TV's "Elimidate," this documentary follows "butch virgin" Tan Vo through 10 blind dates with Seattle women. The result has been called a "primer for lesbian dating."

• "Lesbian Grandmothers from Mars" (7:10 p.m. Tuesday) — In this inspiring doc, a pair of lesbian grandmothers from Mars, Pa., bike 3,800 miles cross-country, weaving through hate, protests and other struggles.

• "Little Man" (7 p.m. Wednesday) — Nicole Conn's award-winning doc chronicles the wrenching drama she and her partner endure when their son is born prematurely.

• "Butterfly" ("Hu Die") (9:15 p.m. Oct. 6) -- A wife and mother falls for a younger woman, triggering a welter of memories and roiling the pleasures and pain of the heart. By Hong Kong filmmaker Yan Yan Mak.

• "Hellbent" (11:30 p.m. Oct. 7) — A homosexual horror film with lots of guts, guffaws and gayness.

• "We Are Dad" (2:45 p.m. Oct. 8) — Gay parenthood is the timely subject of Michel Horvat's dramatic doc about two men who raise HIV-positive children and the harsh struggle they face when the State of Florida wants to take away one of their kids.