"The purpose of any film festival", says Nodi Murphy of the Out In Africa (OIA) Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, "is to entertain, to inform and to empower."
This year's OIA Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is at the V & A Nouveau cinema complex from tomorrow until April 16.
"No one should feel alone, frightened or misinformed," she adds. The films this year are a great mix of mainstream and "arty" ones, offering gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered and intersex people the opportunity to see their sexualities, lifestyles and stories being portrayed on the big screen.
The festival arrives in the midst of mainstream debate, as the Oscars this year quite strongly featured movies like Brokeback Mountain and TransAmerica.
Five of the films, says Murphy, are wholly dedicated to transgenders. One of them is American film Call Me Malcolm, with a focus on a male-to-female transition, while another is Scottish production Funny Kinda Guy about a singer's female-to-male transition.
"This year's festival has something for everyone and attempts to bring together the range from serious to funny, from dark to light, but always entertaining and informative,"reiterates Murphy
the films on offer include 10 Attitudes starring Jason Stuart, David Faustino and J M J Bullock.
It tells the story of Josh who catches his long-term boyfriend cheating on him. His best friend bets that he will find the man of his dreams in 10 dates.
After an extreme make-over and while attending "looking for love" therapy sessions, Josh proceeds to flail through 10 hapless dates with West Hollywood's finest specimens.
Director Michael Gallant and Jason Stuart (who has featured in TV series like Will & Grace and The Drew Carey Show) are guests of the festival.
The Aggressives is director Daniel Peddle's take on New York's inner-city lesbian scene where a sub-culture of unapologetically butch women live by a code of ethics that defies male-female categorisation. In this fascinating and warm portrait that spans five years, six Aggressive members live, love and strike a "superstar" pose at The Ball.
Cockles and Muscles (from France) takes a light-hearted look at simmering desire, family duty, love and the freedom of choice.
Marc, Beatrix and their gorgeous 17-year-old son, Charly, decamp to Marc's childhood house on the Riviera for the summer holidays.
Beatrix suspects shy, quiet Charly is gay - a suspicion he does not refute. Charly's cute, gay friend Martin arrives and when Charly rebuffs his advances, he decides to cruise the town's many possibilities. Cockles and Muscles directors Jacques Martineau and Olivier Ducastel are also guests of the festival.
multi-award-winning two-part cowboy fantasy BuckleRoos tells of 39 buffed and fluffed men and one woman setting out for a ranch in Sacramento, California, to make an all-male adult film.
As the stars frolic on set over the 17-day shoot, Mr Pam captures the action, the mishaps and the interviews with the sexy stars about their "day jobs", asking questions like whether their parents knew what they did, and how they got into the industry.
Funny Kinda Guy tells the story of good-natured, sensitive and successful singer/ songwriter Simon de Voil. He is aware that his female-to-male transition will not only impact on his parents, but that as it advances his female voice will be sacrificed.
Dark, wayward and smouldering, Harry is a boy band idol trying to make a go of his solo career.
Angelically blonde and not so innocent, Max has just featured on his first teen magazine cover.
Max and Harry is the disturbing story exploring the boundaries of brotherly love - where security and familiarity are confused with longing and sexual desire.
The boys of Noah's Arc are also back this year. With the pilot debuting at OIA 2005, the first nine episodes of TV's first black gay series, Noah's Arc, will be screened this year. In this intelligent insight into gay black Los Angeles, Noah, Alex, Ricky and Chance are a close-knit supportive group of friends.
A struggling screenwriter and incurable romantic, Noah lusts after the delectable but straight Wade. But Wade will only contemplate a threesome. Noah's Arc will be screened in two parts: part 1 is episodes one to four and part 2 will feature episodes five to nine. Series director Patrik-Ian Polk is also a guest of the Festival.
Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer Prize-winning popular revolutionary rock opera, Rent, tells the story of a group of bohemians struggling to express themselves through their art and "measuring their lives in love".
- For full screening details and synopses of films see www.oia.co.za