Not being George Clooney, it's a rare event to talk about going to a movie premiere of a film that I actually appear in, so this column is the rare exception.

A few years ago, a car full of long-legged beautiful giddy gals led by Brittany Blockman and Josephine Decker, and two cute camera guys Nils Benson and Wilmot Kidd, and their level-headed producer Martha Sherman, knocked at my door in the Hollywood Hills and interviewed me to talk about bisexuality.

A year later they came back to ask me to repeat a few lines because the original footage wasn't good, and then I met them at the International Bisexual Conference in Toronto in 2006 where they took some great footage of the events, but their rental car was broken into and all their camera equipment and film footage was stolen. I never thought this documentary of theirs would come out, and for a while I think they didn't think so either.

So, it was with great delight that Brittany told me about the world premiere at the prestigious South by Southwest Film Festival in March. Brittany emailed me that I was in at least three cameo appearances and that I get a "big laugh at all the test screenings." (Hmm, well, OK, I thought I was supposed to be a serious "talking head" that lends credibility to their doc, but I'll settle for laughter.) My partner John and I flew out for the event.

Opening of "Bi the Way" photo credit: John Sylla

I'm in good company though, as far as the "talking head experts. “ They include columnist Dan Savage, whom I've been on two panels with, and Village Voice's Michael Musto, whom I've been in three docs with now but never met. We're the "talking heads" along with the guy from Roswell, New Mexico who says he doesn't think bisexuality has anything to do with aliens.

What Bi the Way has blossomed into is perhaps the truest and hippest (if I'm not being uncool by using "hippest") portrayal of bisexuality done so far this century. It's a raw rare look at some emotional family dynamics, unbridled sexuality, personal confessions, youthful angst and relationship pressures that are never covered in reality shows or more impersonal docs. The directors make their subjects seem comfortable (I know this from first-hand experience) and they almost forget that the camera is on them.

I guess I'm lucky that I even made the cut in the doc because they had great footage that wasn't even used from people like Boston-based activist Robyn Ochs, Chicago scientist Michael Bailey and the last footage ever shot of author and psychiatrist Fritz Klein. They just couldn't put it all in, I was told. Then, they had more great footage from people like singer Ani DiFranco, author Jennifer Baumgardner, musician Jen Sincero and politician and the film's own producer Mike Huffington that had to be cut, so gosh, I was grateful that my few lines made it in.

Brittany Blockman who appears in "Bi the Way"

I was quoted as saying that bisexuality was akin to: "You want lasagna one day and Thai food the next" which is what I've written about a lot and repeated in my book with Nicole Kristal, The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe. And, I was quoted as saying that I call these young people "the Whatever Generation" (which is not something that I coined, by the way). But, perhaps the biggest laugh I get is when I chastise the Michael Bailey study long before I met and befriended and understood the often-vilified scientist. I said, "What kind of porn did they show [the guys who didn't register as bisexual in their study], I mean, did they show them Bi Back Mountain?" (And that title, by the way, is an award-winning bisexual porn title!)

Bi the Way movie starts off with the co-directors packing and getting in their car to cross America in search of the truth of bisexuality. With strains of the song "We're on the Road to Nowhere" playing in the background they are candid and funny, but the directors soon fade into the background as their half-dozen main subjects emerge as the real stars of the film, and the rest of us become almost irritating distractions to these fascinating stories.

There's 16-year-old cheerleader-turned-runaway named Pam, from Brittany's home state of Tennessee, who likes girls and guys just fine, but is afraid of letting her strict conservative father know. Then, there's Taryn and Rage, a sometimes-scary swinger couple from Los Angeles who invite women home for threesomes and participate in orgies. And, there's the handsome African-American 18-year-old dancer from New York who's just starting in his first relationship with a guy. There's bi playwright David Champan (who wrote Planet of the Bisexuals) from Chicago who discusses his sexuality openly with his liberal parents and breaks up with his girlfriend during the course of the doc only to find a cute and crazy young stud named Thomas (who was at the premiere, too).

One of the most charming sections is with Josh Caouette, the 11-year-old son of budding super-filmmaker Jonathan Caouette who came out in a big way as gay with his dramatic personal 2003 doc Tarnation. Living in Texas with his mom, Josh talks about maybe keeping his options open and realizing he may be bisexual even before puberty sets in and long before he's active in any way. Josh's candid commentary, along with frank interviews from both his mom and dad, add a family aspect to this that shows how these feelings can happen in any kind of family anywhere in the country.

Josh Caouette in "Bi the Way"

Quick snippets from ordinary folks from around the country are also priceless. They go to the heart of Salt Lake City to find a bisexual Mormon; they interview truck drivers, sexologists, religious leaders and even the guy at a Burger King drive-thru. From an African American woman at a beauty shop who says, "I don't need to smell your vagina" to a guy with a girl on his shoulder on the street who says "A tongue is a tongue, I don't care," this collection of quotes from real Americans reflect both the perceptual misconceptions and eventual acceptance of being bisexual.

The world premiere was held appropriately at the Alamo Draft house in a mini-mall in Austin where you can order beer and chicken wings at your seat. I was worried about the guy next to me saying a few times "Ain't that you?" when I was on the big screen, fearing that once we were on the way to the car in the parking lot we'd get beat up. (I was, after all, about Josh's age when I grew up not far away in a redneck suburb of Dallas.)

Then, it was equally appropriate that the cast and friends of the film met in an outdoor art park called the Enchanted Forest not far away and watched burlesque, magic and body painting among the larger-than-life sculptures and tents. It was there that a big Texan guy came up to me and recognized me from the movie. I hesitated to acknowledge my identity, but then he opened up in a way I never expected. "Yeah, I've been thinking I might be that way, too," he grunted rather unabashedly. That ended up in a long conversation that uncorked my own stereotypes and preconceived ideas.

It also made me realize that what Bi the Way captures is truly the conversation of the future.

To find out where the movie is playing, or what film festival it will be next shown at, visit: bithewaymovie.com.