The Kansas City Gay and Lesbian Film and Video Festival has announced the lineup for this year's event, beginning Friday at the Tivoli theater in Westport.

•(7 p.m. Friday): Maria Maggenti ("The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love") directs the opening night film. Elizabeth Reaser ("The Family Stone") is an opera-loving lesbian so self-absorbed that she has sent her latest lover (Julianne Nicholson) fleeing to heterosexuality. Quite unexpectedly this hard case finds herself being romanced by both a man (Justin Kirk of "Angels in America") and a woman (Gretchen Mol of "The Notorious Bettie Page").

•(1:30 p.m. Saturday): St. Louis-based filmmaker Erin Greenwell has directed what some are calling the first lesbian "buddy movie." "Mom" follows a straight-laced careerist TV reporter and her butch camerawoman on a cross country journey that finds them sharing accommodations in a youth hostel.

•(7 p.m. Saturday): Sir Ian McKellen narrates this documentary about the Rev. Mychal Judge, an NYPD chaplain and gay man who died during rescue efforts at the World Trade Center. It's a memorable portrait of a humble parish priest, Irish-American balladeer and restless iconoclast who wrestled with his own demons while serving others.

•(9 p.m. Saturday): Another gay fantasy from Julian Hernandez ("A Thousand Clouds of Peace"). Awash in romanticism, sexual abandon and the despair of longing, the film is a bravura technical accomplishment that brilliantly weaves subtle cinematography and superb sound.

•(1:30 p.m. Sept. 24): In this romantic comedy a battered but still hopeful gay man answers a personal ad and discovers his soul mate. Except that his soul mate is a Republican and the sex is something less than wonderful.

•(7 p.m. Sept. 24): This Sundance doc offers an honest look at gay life in a small town, where a bar offers gays and lesbians a place to meet and celebrate lives that often are spent in hiding. The film is both a tribute to these environments and a look at the repressive attention they often draw. Director Malcolm Ingram will attend and answer questions from the audience.

•(8 p.m. Sept. 26): A college student who hasn't yet come out to his parents is chosen as the "poster boy" for the re-election campaign of his father, a legendary right-wing senator. It was inspired by the real-life story of lesbian Mary Cheney, daughter of the vice president.

•(8 p.m. Sept. 28): Four lesbian comics take the stage for a weekend engagement in Long Beach, Calif. Director Andrea Meyerson captures the performances of Rene Hicks (the first African-American woman nominated for best female stand-up at the American Comedy Awards), Elvira Kurt (a Second City alum who has been doing stand-up for 15 years), Sabrina Matthews (she has had her own Comedy Central special) and Vickie Shaw (a Southern Baptist lesbian mom from Texas). Director Meyerson will attend the fest's closing night screening.

Tickets can be ordered online at kcgayFilmFest.org or purchased at the Tivoli box office. Admission is $6.50 for matinees, $8.50 for evening screenings.

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