San Francisco, CA - Frameline29, the 29th San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, the largest and oldest LGBT film festival in the world, is scheduled to run June 16-26 at the historic Castro Theatre, Victoria Theatre, and Roxie Cinema in San Francisco, as well as at the Parkway Theater in Oakland (June 20-24).

This year's selection of films made by and/or about the Asian LGBT communityÑ10 features and 13 shortsÑis a resounding testament to the enriching contributions that make the Festival a true melting pot of multiculturalism, not to mention a mirror image of the Bay Area itself.

Two powerful Indian films add cultural depth to the already impressive lineup of features. The first is filmmaker Onir's MY BROTHER NIKHIL, a must-see movie of 2005 from India's booming film industry that is the first Hindu movie to explore the twin taboos of homosexuality and HIV. The other is Ligy J. Pullappally's THE JOURNEY, an enchanting love story between two young women in rural South India that has caused remarkably fewer protestations in her native home than in 1998 when Deepa Mehta's film FIRE, the first lesbian feature to come out of South India, was released and sparked a national backlash.

Gifted filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's mysterious TROPICAL MALADY, winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, is a fascinating trip into the darkness of the human heart and Thai legend. Julian Lee's NIGHT CORRIDOR is about an artist in Hong Kong who investigates the bizarre death of his twin, leading to irreversible fatal consequences. Taiwanese filmmaker DJ Chen's FORMULA 17 features a whole new side of TaipeiÑone with hopping gay clubs filled with cute boys determined to find love.

(Also from Taiwan is director Pei Ying Lee's animated short DREAMING IS FOR MOONRISE that depicts how feelings lurk in the moonlight.) Activist/director Cui Zi'en's NIGHT SCENE portrays one of China's most notorious taboosÑmale prostitutionÑin a deeply layered and intriguing script. Canadian director and activist Noam Gonick (HEY, HAPPY!) explores the Aboriginal and Asian gang problems in his native city of Winnipeg, in STRYKER, a deeply serious film in which Stryker endeavors to purge the Natives of the white man's diseases: poverty, crime, and addiction. Also from Canada, director Desiree Lim has multiple contributions: SOME REAL FANGS and FLOORED BY LOVE. The former is a hilarious send-up of a traditional vampire tale, while the latter film is a sweet and heartwarming slice-of-life family comedy in which we visit a lesbian couple contemplating marriage and a Jewish family dealing with their just-out-of-the-closet gay son.

Ruth Gumnit's DON'T FENCE ME IN: MAJOR MARY AND THE KAREN REFUGEES FROM BURMA introduces audiences to 70-year-old guerilla freedom fighter Major Mary, who lives and fights the Burmese military junta along the Thai border. Mark V. Reyes' THE LAST SHOW is about a teenage boy and an older man who learn a painful lesson in forbidden love after meeting at an underground Manila movie theater. Laurie Koh's BETWEEN THE LINES introduces a freelance writer who goes to unorthodox methods to meet online her single lesbian editor, and Michael Wallin's TO HOLD A HEART is about an emerging sense of trust and intimacy between two men separated by decades in age. QUID PRO QUO and HOW FLUTTERING, by respective filmmakers Natasha Brinkso and Ji Sung Kim, are additional Asian-themed shorts with long-lasting effect.

Sigrid Andrea P. Bernado's BABAE (Women) is a coming-of-age story about two poor girls who grow up in a Philippines slum. From Singapore and Malaysia is Dawn Khoo's SEARCH FOR HER about a closeted Malaysian Chinese lesbian's emotional sojourn toward self-acceptance. And Kai Ling Xue's short film A GIRL NAMED KAI is a brave and honest autobiography.

Asian culture-appreciative audiences have plenty to feast on in this year's Festival with its copious depictions by and/or about Eastern LGBT culture and communitiesÑa celebrated trademark of the Bay Area's remarkable diversity.

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Frameline29 -- the 29th San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival -- is the oldest and largest event of its kind in the world, and will screen June 16-26, 2005. Frameline29 screens in San Francisco at the Castro Theatre (429 Castro St.), the Roxie Cinema (3117 16th St.), the Victoria Theatre (2961 16th St.) and in Oakland at the Parkway Theater (1834 Park Blvd). Festival passes are currently on sale to Frameline members. Tickets go on sale to Frameline members on Friday, May 27, 2005. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, June 3, 2005. For more information, please call 925.866.9559 or visit www.Frameline.org.

Frameline29 is presented by Frameline, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening the diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community and furthering its visibility by supporting and promoting a broad array of cultural representations and artistic expression in film, video, and other media art.