San Francisco, CA - Frameline annually presents the oldest and largest LGBT film festival in world. This year Frameline29 will screen hundreds of features and shorts from June 16-26 at the historic Castro Theatre, Victoria Theatre, and Roxie Cinema in San Francisco, and at Oakland's Parkway Theater. Frameline29 is partic-ularly enriched with films made by and for the transgender and intersex communities. More than 40 films explore the fluidity of gender identity and how it has impacted the LGBT community and the world.

The Festival's most notable inclusion of transgender-related films is the Closing Night screening of TRANSAMERICA at the Castro Theatre on June 26. Director Duncan Tucker's laugh-out-loud funny yet extraordinarily touching feature debut will bring Frameline29 to a close following a stellar 11-day run. The film stars Felicity Huffman ( "Desperate Housewives") in a role laced with humor and poignant moments. Huffman recently nabbed Best Actress honors at the fourth annual Tribeca Film Festival in New York City for her performance as pre-op transsexual, a group she describes as, "the bravest people I've ever known."

Another highlight of Frameline29 is the Special Presentation of the Sundance Channel's TRANSGENERATION-a world premiere of an eight-episode documentary series airing on the Sundance Channel in September 2005. Directed by Jeremy Simmons and executive produced by 2003 Frame-line Award recipients Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, the series follows four transgender college students who share their struggles and triumphs over the course of an academic year.

Features that courageously delve into the real world of oft-misunderstood transgender and intersex communities illustrate a far-ranging scope of personal hurdles, both in terms of emotion and geography. The German/Austrian UNVEILED is Angelina Maccarone's story about Fariba who flees lesbian persecution in Iran by escaping to Germany, where she is forced to assume a male identity. Local filmmaker Lisset Barcellos feature debut BOTH is one of the first narrative films to deal with the issues that affect intersex individuals. The film is about a fearless stuntwoman who begins to question her history and her identity when she receives a package from her Aunt in Peru that reveals she was born as a boy in her native country.

YO SOY ASÍ, by Joui Turandot, takes viewers to Santiago, Chile, where Karina, a MTF transgender, works as a hair salon owner and struggles with the hardships her gender identity raises. Scotland's FUNNY KINDA GUY, by Travis Reeves, captures how singer-songwriter Simon de Voil finds his masculinity at the price of losing his female voice to hormone treatment. 100% HUMAN is Norwegian filmmaker Trond Winterkjær's musical documentary about true identity.

From the Netherlands comes Walter Stokman's BASED ON A TRUE STORY, a documentary on the incident that would later become the subject matter for Sidney Lumet's DOG DAY AFTERNOON, (with Al Pacino), about a man who performs a bank heist to pay for his lover's gender-reassignment surgery. PUSZTA COWBOY is Katrin Kremmier's Hungarian lesbian/transgender western parody, and Israel's Nadav Gal brings A DIFF-ERENT WAR, in which a youth is selected to portray King David in a play.

Two additional films highlight the importance of family in the transgender community: the German film TRANSFAMILY, directed by Sabine Bernardi, takes an intimate and humorous look at both the uncomfortable and joyous aspect of life before and after transitioning for two FTMs and their partners. TRANSPARENT is filmmaker Jules Rosskum's documentary about 18 FTMs, all of whom have given birth to children either before or during their transition from female to male.

Several films explore the issues affecting transgender individuals living their lives openly in a still very transphobic world. Daniel Peddle's THE AGGRESSIVES affords an insight into a private society and the impact it has on gender identity in the modern world. CALL ME MALCOM, by Joseph Parlagreco, is a documentary about a 27-year-old transgender seminary student who struggles with faith and love. Karen Duthrie's 100% WOMAN chronicles reigning downhill mountain-bike champion and transwoman Michelle Dumaresq's battle to fit into the world of professional sports. WALK IN THE LIGHT, by M.R. Stiff, is about a grassroots church movement to accept openly LGBT persons into the church.

Films by local filmmakers who tapped into the Bay Area's richly diverse community to provide their unique perspectives on gender issues include Victor Silverman and Susan Stryker's SCREAMING QUEENS: THE RIOT AT COMPTON'S CAFETERIA, which documents the pre-Stonewall San Francisco riots transgender prostitutes and gay hustlers waged against police harassment; ENOUGH MAN, by Luke Woodward, combines documentary with pornography in this groundbreaking film about body image, relationships, sex and sexuality from the perspectives of nine FTM transmen and their partners.

Several shorts also capture the unique perspectives of the transgender community. AUDREY'S BEARD, by Alec Butler, is a journey from butch dyke to transman. This same director provides the animated yet socially complex three-part MISADVENTURES OF PUSSY BOY: FIRST LOVE/FIRST PERIOD/ SICK, which highlight the complexities of gender identity at an early age. IN MY SHOES- STORIES OF YOUTH is Jen Gilomen's youth-developed film about youth with LGBT parents. CALLING NATE, by Pamela Gawn, is an irreverent twist on parental roles, particularly those that transition. Daniël Lamberts' GENDER is a transgender comedy in which a wacky plastic surgeon finally meets her "gay" biological father. Maria Trénor's WITH WHAT SHALL I WASH is an animated short about a character who works and lives in the red light district of a city in Spain.

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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.