October 9-18 marks ImageOut time again - the 17th year for the Rochester Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival, incidentally - and for the last five of them I've used this preamble to squawk about how the programmers scour the globe to bring this city the world's finest films about the lesbian-bisexual-gay-transgender experience. I'd usually also remind you of how ImageOut gives back with the Youth Project Film Series, a selection of films free to those under 21, as well as the subsidized ImageOutreach initiative, which works to make the festival accessible to everyone.

At about this point I would traditionally pimp the website (imageout.org) to those who would like more information, and then I'd close with something cute before I contemplated a couple handfuls of movies, which is the real reason we're all here, right? So in the interest of keeping things between us fresh and spontaneous, let's just get down to it...

"A Place To Live: The Story of Triangle Square"

Saturday, October 10, 11:45 a.m., Dryden Theatre

They romped through the anything-goes 70's, survived the AIDS epidemic of the 80's, made their voices heard in the 90's, and cheered during the aughts as a few forward-thinking lawmakers finally made it legal for same-sex couples to enjoy some of the same rights afforded their hetero brethren. Yet society hasn't given too much thought to the notion of lesbian and gay senior citizens, in desperate need of support but often lacking both the funds and the familial help, and still encountering discrimination at traditional eldercare.

Carolyn Coal's poignant documentary "A Place To Live" chronicles the evolution of LA's Triangle Square, America's first affordable housing facility for LGBT seniors, by focusing on those trying to make it happen as well as seven resilient, determined individuals, all yearning to be among those chosen to live at the elegant new building. Anyone with a beating heart will get drawn into their longing, and though their disappointment becomes our disappointment, we also feel their joy: "We got a place to go and live in now that we're old. And we get to still be gay. Yay!"

"Prodigal Sons"

Saturday, October 10, 4:15 p.m., Dryden Theatre

Kimberly Reed knew she would have great fuel for a documentary when she left New York City to return home after 20 years - camera in one hand, girlfriend in the other - to chronicle both her reunion with her family and the one with her classmates. Helena, Montana, knew Kim as Paul, star quarterback, and though her mother seems to have unconditionally accepted her new daughter, Kim's adopted brother Marc isn't quite as welcoming, his medication struggling to control the lasting repercussions of the head injury that Marc received in a car accident.

What Kim didn't know is that during the course of filming Marc would learn his biological grandparents are Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth, and the gripping "Prodigal Sons" becomes as much about Marc as it is Kim, Marc's long-buried resentments combining with his brain damage to violent effect. Marc prefers to remember his halcyon high-school days, while Kim has no desire to acknowledge her former life as a male, but each must reconcile their pasts, both separate and shared, as a way of coming to terms with their new identities.

"I Can't Think Straight"

Saturday, October 10, 7 p.m., Little Theatre

Remember last year's opening night feature "The World Unseen"? Directed by Shamim Sarif, the drama starred Sheetal Sheth and Lisa Ray as women in love in 1952 South Africa. Though extremely easy on the eyes - especially the two leads - its heavy-handedness and amateur line reading didn't exactly wow me. Well, these three ladies have reteamed for "I Can't Think Straight," with Sarif once again directing Sheth and Ray, this time in a story about a shy, aspiring writer who crosses paths with a bold, globetrotting beauty. Both are in relationships with men, but one reads Jeanette Winterson, while the other's been engaged a bunch of times. Guess what happens?

Basically if you saw the first one, you've seen the second: stunning women with very little acting talent telling a cliché-ridden story of self-discovery, familial obstacles, and eventual acceptance. The cartoonish characters surrounding them are insultingly drawn, and if "I Can't Think Straight" had anything insightful or honest to say, I totally missed it. And, really, any film that plays Jill Sobule's "I Kissed A Girl" at the end is either daringly ironic or tedious, literal, and not worth your while. Choose the latter.

"An Englishman in New York"

Saturday, October 10, 7 p.m., Dryden Theatre

In 1975 John Hurt won a BAFTA (that's the Brit equivalent to the Oscar) for his portrayal of 20th century gay icon Quentin Crisp in the adaptation of Crisp's memoir, "The Naked Civil Servant." Nearly 35 years later Hurt channels Crisp again, this companion film touching upon his later years as a resident alien in his beloved Big Apple. Settling in the Bowery at the age of 70, "An Englishman in New York" observes as Crisp immediately finds an audience among the American gay community, awed by a man so unapologetically out for so long. But conflict arises when Crisp dismisses AIDS as "a fad, nothing more" and, with characteristic defiance, refuses to admit his mistake.

Fortunately, the great Hurt is here to distract from the film's broad, trite rendering of 1980's NYC. Looking very much like Vanessa Redgrave with his grey curls, he turns in an uncanny performance, his Crisp unfailingly polite even when facing his own shortcomings, including that pesky, unavoidable mortality. And when he encounters discrimination from other gay men, the world-weary Crisp learns that even he hasn't seen it all yet.

"Rivers Wash Over Me"

Sunday, October 11, 4:15 p.m., Dryden Theatre

A coming-of-age story that combines with a fish-out-of-water tale for harrowing results, "Rivers Wash Over Me" is a Southern Gothic cocktail of simmering bitterness and angry self-loathing about what happens to a young man from New York City who gets shipped off to a small Alabama town to live with relatives after his mother's death. Though the quiet and likely gay Sequan immediately attracts the unwelcome attention of his closeted cousin Michael, whose initial bullying becomes something far uglier; he's also befriended by Lori, the coke-addled girlfriend of the local drug dealer, and the two form a tentative friendship based on a shared wish for freedom and understanding.

Though he actually shot in the Catskills, director John G. Young convincingly evokes the American South, its racial tensions evident in the interactions between the black police chief and the white school principal. As Sequan, Derrick L. Middleton does the best he can with a purely symbolic martyr role, but Elizabeth Dennis's huge-hearted Lori stands out from the rest of the cast. At first glance a druggy slut, Lori personifies both the old South and the (hopefully) new, demonstrating a desire to evolve but unable to free herself from the selfish chains that help maintain the cruel status quo.

"Baby Love"

Sunday, October 11, 7 p.m., Little Theatre

No matter how many strides are made in the realms of equality and human rights, the simple truth is that two men, regardless of how hard they try, can't make a baby. For Manu (Lambert Wilson, "Flawless") it really shouldn't be a problem; his boyfriend Phillipe has made it clear he has no plans to be a father. But it's Manu's dream, so at the expense of his relationship - and possibly his homosexuality - Manu strikes a deal with a pretty Argentine immigrant to carry a baby for him, and everything goes just as planned.

Kidding! Cue complications, other complications, and a few laughs followed by some even weirder complications, and you've got "Baby Love." Despite being unabashedly formulaic, this sweet comedy earns points by virtue of the fact that the script truly seems to like its characters, allowing them to have tricky feelings and honest emotional arcs. And Wilson is lovely as Manu, perfectly capturing that 40something revelation that it was never actually all about you.

"Night Fliers"

Sunday, October 11, 7 p.m., Dryden Theatre

The winning, observant debut feature from Sara St. Martin Lynne is set in a small town in Northern California and drops in on a group of pre-teens navigating their way through the emotional pitfalls of home, school, and crushing on your friends. Tomboy Jesse is the ostensible focus of the film, while her girly little sister, a popular bully, and a trio of other outcasts all orbit around her. Jesse takes comfort in the woolly caterpillars crawling about, their metamorphosis a metaphor for her own imminent change.

And yeah, it's a clunky, obvious device to use in a film about an adolescent girl, but writer-director Lynne is forgiven, as her deft hand with a relatively inexperienced cast pays off. These kids, especially Sasha Harrison as Jesse and Reese Romagnoli as the dweeby Howie, are so natural and unaffected that at times during "Night Fliers" it almost seems as though we're eavesdropping as they puzzle out people's motives and harbor pure attractions, regardless of gender.

"Hollywood, Je T'aime"

Wednesday, October 14, 6:15 p.m., Little Theatre

Plenty of movies have begun with the hero getting a drastic change of scenery in hopes of mending a broken heart, and "Hollywood, Je T'aime" takes that conceit a step further by having an achromatic Paris give way to a vivid Hollywood once Jérôme (Eric Debets) lands in the States for his two-week vacation. Dreams of stardom dancing in his head, Jérôme encounters all the color that Tinseltown has to offer, from a friendly tranny hooker (Diarra Kilpatrick), to a crabby drag queen (Michael Airington), to a sexy, complicated weed dealer (former child star Chad Allen).

The strange thing is that "Hollywood, Je T'aime" sorta works, despite the fact that Debets' sleepy Jérôme possesses exactly zero magnetism. His ex Gilles, who keeps popping up in Jérôme's daydreams, is equally unthrilling, and at times you might wonder why you even care. The answer to that might be found in the work of talented supporting cast, especially the adorable Kilpatrick. And everyone in the film who mentions it is right: Jérôme really does look like Adrien Brody.

"Training Rules"

Wednesday, October 14, 6:30 p.m., Ingle Auditorium

Former women's college basketball coach Rene Portland wouldn't consent to being interviewed for this absorbing documentary about her shocking coaching practices, and it's no surprise since "Training Rules" essentially exposes Coach Portland for the bigot that she was during her time leading Penn State's Lady Lions. Their post-college lives still stinging from the experience of placing trust in a woman who forbade them from being a lesbian or associating with one, interviewees tell stories of intimidation, harassment, even overt threat: "I will take your scholarship and you will never play basketball again," one woman recounts Portland saying.

Co-directors Dee Mosbacher and Fawn Yacker use the words of Portland's former players to illustrate a cycle of psychological abuse that went on with the seeming endorsement of the Penn State administration until one brave young woman took her case to court. And though she was a successful coach, Portland never won college hoops' highest honor. As one of her victims puts it: "Does she really think she's gonna win a national title without a lesbian on her team?"

"ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction"

Wednesday, October 14, 8:45 p.m., Little Theatre

Confessing anything to your parents is difficult enough, but coming out to your mom as she's trying to bite your face off is...well, it's actually rather funny. ("OK; she did NOT just eat her own eyeball!") The debut film from writer-director Kevin Hamedani, "ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction" is a goofy, ultra-gruesome horror comedy that puts the "gory" in "allegory." Taking place on an island off the coast of Washington state, "ZMD" introduces us to various members of the community, including an Iranian-American college student and a gay couple visiting from NYC, before feeding a few of them to the undead currently rampaging through the neighborhood.

Some believe it's a terrorist act, leading to an oddly protracted scene of torture, while others figure that as long as the gays are hiding out in the church, why not straighten them out in the name of "history's greatest zombie: Jesus Christ"? With necessary nods to Romero and Raimi, Hamedani breathes new life into the genre by couching his zombie paranoia in homophobia and extreme patriotism. These colors may not bleed, but in "ZMD," everything else sure as hell does.

"Hannah Free"

Thursday, October 15, 6:15 p.m., Little Theatre

Emmy-winning TV icon Sharon Gless ("Cagney & Lacey," "Queer as Folk") unglams as the title character in "Hannah Free," a moving drama about a proud lesbian whose anger at being confined to a nursing home following an accident pales in comparison to a separate fury. Rachel, her lifelong love, is just down the hall and being kept alive by machines, but without the consent of Rachel's bitter daughter, Hannah can't be with her. "Hannah Free" uses flashbacks and reminiscences to recall the warm, hot union of Hannah and Rachel, which flourished despite Hannah's wanderlust and Rachel's Christian propriety.

Based on the play by Claudia Allen, "Hannah Free" doesn't make the smoothest of transitions to the screen, its pacing and dialogue coming off as a bit stagey. But if you can get past that - and you can - you'll be treated to another fierce performance by Gless, her grumpy, rebellious Hannah unable to hide the twinkle in her eyes or the break in her heart. "Hannah Free" touches upon some LBGT topics not often addressed in film, namely the rights of the partner in medical situations, as well as sexuality among the aging. Or: they've still got it.

"Drool"

Friday, October 16, 6:30 p.m., Cinema Theatre

Tabby believes that your hometown is "where you get stuck until something sets you free upon the world," and it's no wonder. Her meek mother (Laura Harring, "Mulholland Drive") kowtows to her abusive father (Oded Fehr, nearly unrecognizable from "The Mummy"), while her sycophantic little brother kisses Dad's ass. But when Mom finally finds a friend - and maybe a little more - in her foxy new neighbor (Jill Marie Jones, "Girlfriends") and Dad the Racist objects, things turn tragic, and then completely wacky.

Directed by Nancy Kissam (she co-wrote 2003's "The Fluffer"), "Drool" is one of those surreal, madcap comedies where tongue is planted so firmly in cheek that it all feels rather detached, and when the time comes to get serious, it's tough to engage the audience's emotions. The characters are underdeveloped and broadly drawn, though Daniels is a certifiable charmer. There definitely are, however, some laugh-out-loud moments, as well as one of ImageOut 2009's best lines: "In case you're wonderin', beltin' your best friend for suckin' off your boyfriend makes you feel like a fuckin' rock star."

ImageOut 2009 Schedule

For additional information visit imageout.org.

Friday, October 9

7 p.m.: "And Then Came Lola" (Little, $12-$15, inc. admission to Opening Night Party)

9 p.m.-2 a.m.: Opening Night Party (Eros Restaurant, Free/with ticket)

9:30 p.m.: "The Big Gay Musical" (Little, $12-$15, inc. admission to Opening Night Party)

Saturday, October 10

11:45 a.m.: "A Place to Live: The Story of Triangle Square" (Dryden, $6-$7)

1:45 p.m.: "Out in the Silence" (Little, $6-$7)

2 p.m.: "Misconceptions" (Dryden, $6-$7)

4 p.m.: "Family" (Little, $8-$9)

4:15 p.m.: "Prodigal Sons" (Dryden, $8-$9)

7 p.m.: "I Can't Think Straight" (Little, $8-$9)

7 p.m.: "An Englishman in New York" (Dryden, $8-$9)

9:30 p.m.: Quick Licks Short Program (Little, $8-$9)

9:30 p.m.: "Eating Out: All You Can Eat" (Dryden, $8-$9)

Sunday, October 11

11:30 a.m.: "Swimming with Lesbians" (Dryden, $6-$7)

1:45 p.m.: "Diagnosing Difference" (Little, $6-$7)

2 p.m.: "The Butch Factor" (Dryden, $6-$7)

4 p.m.: "Out of the Blue" (Little, $8-$9)

4:15 p.m.: "Rivers Wash Over Me" (Dryden, $8-$9)

7 p.m.: "Baby Love" (Little, $8-$9)

7 p.m.: "Night Fliers" (Dryden, $8-$9)

9:15 p.m.: Oh, Hell No! Shorts Program (Little, $8-$9)

9:15 p.m.: "Girl Seeks Girl" (Dryden, $8-$9)

Monday, October 12

6:15 p.m.: "Ferron: Girl on the Road" (Little, $8-$9)

6:30 p.m.: Zombie Prom Shorts Program (Ingle Auditorium, $8-$9)

8:45 p.m.: "Not Fade Away" (Little, $8-$9)

8:45 p.m.: "Watercolors" (Ingle Auditorium, $8-$9)

Tuesday, October 13

6:15 p.m.: "Boy" (Little, $8-$9)

6:30 p.m.: "Amancio: Two Faces on a Tombstone" (Ingle Auditorium, $8-$9)

7:30 p.m.: "Dracula's Daughter/Daughters of Darkness" (Dryden, $8-$9)

8:45 p.m.: "Chef's Special" (Little, $8-$9)

8:45 p.m.: "Showgirls (Provincetown, MA)" (Ingle Auditorium, $8-$9)

Wednesday, October 14

6:15 p.m.: "Hollywood Je T'aime" (Little, $8-$9)

6:30 p.m.: "Training Rules" (Ingle Auditorium, $8-$9)

8:45 p.m.: "ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction" (Little, $8-$9)

8:45 p.m.: "For My Wife..." (Ingle Auditorium, $8-$9)

Thursday, October 15

6:15 p.m.: "Hannah Free" (Little, $10-$11)

8:45 p.m.: I Like Men Shorts Program (Little, $8-$9)

Friday, October 16

6:30 p.m.: "Drool" (Cinema, $10-$11)

9 p.m.: "Make the Yuletide Gay" (Cinema, $10-$11)

Saturday, October 17

11:45 a.m.: "Standing-N-Truth: Breaking the Silence" (Cinema, $6-$7)

2 p.m.: "College Boys Live" (Cinema, $6-$7)

4:30 p.m.: "Edie & Thea: A Very Long Engagement" (Cinema, $6-$7)

8 p.m.: "Patrik Age 1.5" (Dryden, $12-$30)

10 p.m.: Closing Night Party (Tribeca, $15-$20)

Sunday, October 18

1 p.m.: "Stronghold: In the Grip of Wrestling" (Little, $6-$7)

4 p.m.: "Mr. Right" (Little, $8-$9)

6:30 p.m.: "Baby Formula" (Little, $8-$9)

8:45 p.m.: "Just Say Love" (Little, $8-$9)

Venues: Cinema, 957 S Clinton Ave. | Dryden Theatre, George Eastman House, 900 East Ave. | Eros Restaurant, 37 Charlotte St. | Ingle Auditorium, RIT | Little Theatre, 240 East Ave. | Tribeca, 233 Mill St.