Jennifer Kroot's Orwellian tale Sirens Of The 23rd Century and Jeffrey Schwarz's documentary People Like Us: Making Philadelphia, are among five world premieres at the upcoming 27th San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.

With notable emphasis on queer youth and AIDS, the festival will screen 77 films and 194 shorts from 32 countries when it runs from Jun 12-29. Other world premieres include Sascha Rice's love romp Mango Kiss, Cecelia Neant-Faulk's Swedish coming out documentary Don't You Worry It Will Probably Pass, and Andrea Meyerson and Nancy Rosenblum's documentary Laughing Matters, about the experiences of four lesbian stand-up comics.

Among a roster of 11 US premieres are Christophe Honore's French AIDS drama Close To Leo and Straight Out, a series of coming out testimonials from queer youth in Iceland by Hrafnhildur Gunnarsdottir and Thorvaldur Kristinsson.

The festival will open at the Castro Theatre with Mark Rucker's Die Mommie Die, a murderous relationship saga that was written by and stars Charles Busch.

The festival closes with Alex Steyermark's Prey For Rock And Roll, starring Gina Gershon as the leader of a band with a shot at the big time. In addition two films will receive special presentations: Gender Bias, Francis Girod's French detective thriller, and Suddenly, Diego Lerman's award-winning road movie from Argentina.

Director-producers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato will receive the 2003 Frameline Award for their contribution to gay and lesbian arts. The tribute will accompany a screening of their latest film, the crime drama Party Monster starring Macauley Culkin.

Two new documentaries from the pair will also screen: School's Out: The Life Of A Gay High School In Texas and Dark Roots: The Unauthorised Anna Nicole.