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Perhaps the clearest sign of how gay and lesbian film festivals continue to distinguish themselves from the mainstream is by including films that touch on the vanguard of gay life -- the true outsiders such as sex workers and transsexuals struggling for acceptance, often even within the gay community.

For new IMAGE festival director Dan Krovich, Out on Film is still aligned with the gay vanguard for dealing with these transgender themes: "As the mainstream becomes more comfortable with gay and lesbian themes, transgender may become the next frontier."

The perfect example is this year's closing-night film, the raw, Hedwig-esque musical 20 Centimeters, about a narcoleptic Spanish transsexual prostitute whose fondest dream is to get his "problem" lopped off and become a woman.