The AFI (American Film Institute) Festival is a unique festival that has matured and become 21 this year. As I've watched it grow for nearly all of its 21 years, it has turned from an obscure place for indies to get shown to a mainstream festival that attracts the likes of Catherine Deneuve ("The Hunger") and Laura Linney ("Kinsey") who both received special tributes this year. It is also a place that you can still see small interesting foreign films and documentaries that would otherwise get missed in the multiplexes. What's great is that this year, the AFI folk urged mainstream audiences to "See a Film" as its slogan. It urged everyone to come on down and try a film for no more than the going rate, and perhaps get turned on to movies again.

So, I'll talk a bit about the obscure movies that may have some bi interest, which I sifted through at the festival.

• Solos from Singapore (the first AFI film from that country) and it is a brave film about two men exploring their sexuality in a country that condemns and outlaws same-sex attraction. Even more taboo, the attraction is between a teacher and his student. Co-directors Kan Lume and Loon Zihan seem to be thumbing their noses at their country's homophobic ideals by captioning the film with the slogan "open up." The tale is supposedly based on a real story, too. Loon plays the older man in the relationship. The film was banned in Singapore due to a threesome and a scene of a man going down on another guy through the frosted glass of a shower stall. It's not blatantly explicit, but somewhat erotic, and it explores the attraction between the two men, which is surprising to both of them, and makes them even lonelier.

'Solos' from Kan Lume and Loon Zihan

• Hollywood Chinese is Arthur Dong's fantastic compilation of 75 years of archival footage of Asian early film. The idea in the past was to emasculate the Asian male and make him seem campy and effeminate even if he was married and obviously heterosexual. The intriguing look at old Hollywood includes commentary from Ang Lee, who directed the most notable bi-themed film in modern times, "Brokeback Mountain."
• Manuela y Manuel is a Puerto Rico entry which seems like an irreverent drag farce, but is really an exploration into gender exploration and sexual identity. A fabulous drag diva (Humberto Busto) poses as a straight man for his best girl pal (Elena Iguina) who became pregnant after a meaningless one-night stand. Their feelings for each other take surprising turns as they play out their faux roles.
• Chris & Don: A Love Story is a much-anticipated documentary about the three decades that painter Don Bachardy and writer Christopher Isherwood shared. With interviews and readings from people like Michael York (who played the bisexual character in "Cabaret" that was based on Isherwood's work and life, in part), it's a telling and dramatic story.
• The Quest for the Missing Piece (Behikvot Ahatiha Ahasera) is a humorous animated film from Israel about a man questioning the practice of his own circumcision and eventually his sexuality.

'Afghan Muscles' from Andreas Mal Dalsgaard

• Afghan Muscles from Danish director Andreas Mal Dalsgaard shows the weird dichotomy of the Afghanistani populace. On the one hand they're entirely homophobic and based on religion; they are against any sort of same-sex attraction. Yet their most popular sport in recent time is the muscular homoerotic bodybuilding competitions. This has nothing to do with politics or religion or Americanism, but it still smacks of irony and hypocrisy, or at least some internalized repressed same-sex feelings.
• Smiley Face by bisexual director Gregg Araki who has a bi theme in most of his movies. This time, Anna Faris from "Scary Movie" films, gets stoned on some pot-laced brownies and has a wild day.

A scene from Anne Biller's 'Viva'

• Viva is Anna Biller's campy look at sex films from the 1960s and 1970s and of course free love and bisexuality are rampant. A kind of poorly acted "Boogie Nights" or "Caligula" wanna-be, Biller explains that the film acting she's spoofing isn't bad acting, "it's a style of acting we're no longer used to." And, we're not used to the open nudity and frank sexuality of people of all ages, which can also be disturbing for some. After two years of getting the costumes together and making the movie, Biller is finally looking to distribute her "Viva," which she also stars in and exposes all of herself in.

I also got to re-meet Phil Donahue whom I met first in 1992 when I came out on his talk show as bisexual—"Coming Out of The Second Closet." That was the headline. He and his bi-friendly co-director are touting their documentary "Body of War" at both AFI and the Toronto International Film Festival. But that's another story and another column.