First off, I'm thrilled to congratulate all who are planning to exercise the rights guaranteed by this summer's passage of the Marriage Equality Act. But you're gonna have to quit daydreaming about your wedding for a minute, because it's ImageOut time again! October 7-16 will see the 19th installment of the Rochester Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival, which this year features 82 narratives, documentaries, and short films from around the globe that shine a light on the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender experience.

Of course, ImageOut continues to offer programs like the Youth Project Film Series, a selection of films free to the under-21 set, along with the donation-fueled ImageOutreach, which provides senior discounts, sign-language interpreting, and other services to make the festival accessible to everyone. And don't forget about the ImageArt exhibition called "rochesterLGBTQcollects," on display at Visual Studies Workshop through October 23. But you know by now that you can get more information about such things, as well as ticket availability and party particulars, at imageout.org or by calling the festival office at 271-2640.

Anyway, I hope you registered for 14 fun-sized movie reviews, because that's just what I got you!

One of those carefully designed literary adaptations that the BBC seems to excel at, the melancholy ensemble drama "The Night Watch" untangles the intertwined romances of various troubled souls in WWII-era London. At the story's center are two co-workers at what was quaintly referred to back then as an introduction agency. Through Helen (Claire Foy) and Viv (Jodie Whittaker) we meet, among others, Helen's former paramour Kay (Anna Maxwell Martin) as well as Viv's brother Duncan (Harry Treadaway, unrecognizable from "Fish Tank"), a skittish young man whose circumstances reveal themselves slowly.

Directed by Richard Laxton (he also helmed the 2009 ImageOut selection "An Englishman In New York") from the acclaimed 2006 novel by Sarah Waters, "The Night Watch" develops in a nonlinear fashion, first stopping in on 1947, then 1944, then 1941, and that configuration may inhibit some emotional involvement as your brain tries to maintain order. But it shouldn't prevent you from appreciating the heartfelt performances, especially the gorgeously sad-eyed Martin as one of those passionate sorts unable to love anything less than utterly. (Friday, October 7, 7 p.m., Little Theatre)

Here's an interesting tidbit: in 1995 Sweden became the third country on the planet to legally recognize same-sex unions. Nonetheless, when David (Bjorn Kellman) falls in love with Martin (Eric Ericson) in the cliched but adorable Swedish comedy "Four More Years," there's a scandal brewing. But it's not because David is an ambitious politician (which he is), or because he's already married to a woman (he is that, too). It's because David belongs to the political party that was just shellacked by Martin's Socialist Democrats, a resounding defeat that catches David at a time when he was already reassessing his life.

Co-starring as David's no-nonsense wife Fia is Tova Magnusson-Norling, and she's in charge behind the camera as well. Magnusson-Norling is fortunate that the flirty, screwball banter and palpable chemistry between her two charming leads compensates for the fact that she deploys every rom-com chestnut available, with no dating montage, wacky coincidence, easily avoidable misunderstanding or last-minute dash off-limits. On the other hand, so what? If it ain't broke... (Friday, October 7, 9:30 p.m., Little Theatre)

"The Tents" is not an in-depth portrait of the circus, nor is it an expose on the dangers of sleeping outside. For more than 15 springs and autumns these temporary structures went up in Manhattan's Bryant Park, providing a centralized location for the designers to present their collections during New York Fashion Week. "The Tents" takes a look back at what Stan Herman, former president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, calls "arguably, maybe, in the last 40 years the most important single thing that ever happened to fashion."

Subjective hyperbole aside, "The Tents" is a fertile subject, enabling director James Belzer to hear from a Who's Who of Fashion, including the always entertaining Betsey Johnson and the elegant Carolina Herrera, on NYC's journey from rag-trade outpost to a mecca of style. Most fascinating are the peek-behind-the-runway scenes where we get to see all the backbreaking toil in the name of effortless beauty. Fashion Week now has a new home at Lincoln Center, and "The Tents" is a fine, fitting elegy. (Saturday, October 8, 11 a.m., Dryden Theatre)

Ah, the hallowed boxing film: typically an eloquent metaphor for second chances and dreaming big, but not a genre often represented at an LGBT film festival. But "My Last Round," the debut feature from Chilean writer-director Julio Jorquera Arriagada, uses the sweet science as a backdrop for the alternately gritty and gentle love story between Hugo (Hector Morales) and Octavio (Roberto Farias), one of those fast-moving hothouse romances that encounter trouble when the real world interferes. And it always does.

Arriagada's handheld camerawork follows Hugo and Octavio as they relocate from their small town to the capital city of Santiago, with Hugo hiding his crush on a girl who works with him, and Octavio training on the sly for a fight that could do irreparable physical damage to him. Morales does what he can with the wishy-washy Hugo, but Farias is a magnetic screen presence. With his sexy, banged-up mug, he looks like a fighter, and he deftly illustrates the individual's struggle to define just what makes a man a man. (Saturday, October 8, 1:30 p.m., Little Theatre)

Who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to reinvent themselves in a fresh place? That's what Laure does in Celine Sciamma's "Tomboy," a lovely French tale of acceptance that unfurls over one idyllic summer. 10-year-old Laure prefers to dress in traditional boywear, so the androgynous young lady introduces herself as Mikael to the other neighborhood children. Laure's parents are distracted by the imminent birth of their third child, and her buddies, especially the cute Lisa, have welcomed the new kid with open arms. Should be smooth sailing!

The drama, of course, lies in what will happen once Laure is found out, because cramming a tiny tube of clay down the front of your swim trunks will only fool people for so long. "Tomboy" is anchored by Zoe Heran's brave performance as Laure, who is simply living the way she wants and crushing on who she fancies, gender be damned. But the film is nearly stolen by the feisty Malonn Levana as Laure's 6-year-old sister, resisting the basic urge to tattle on Laure and instead devotedly respecting her sister's choices. (Saturday, October 8, 4 p.m., Dryden Theatre)

Two very different young men on the brink of adulthood, and all the responsibility that it entails, are drawn together in "Harvest," filmmaker Benjamin Cantu's exquisitely crafted coming-of-age story set on the grounds of an agricultural school in the German countryside. Marco (Lucas Steltner) is a brooding loner, keeping to himself as he prepares for his final exams. It's perhaps his stillness that catches the attention of the delicately handsome Jakob (Kai-Michael Muller), and their mutual efforts to communicate are as endearing as they are frustrating.

Steltner and Muller are actually the only performers in the film; the rest of the cast is made up of instructors and students on the farm where "Harvest" was shot, which gives things an organic neorealism that's not easy to come by. Also adding to the authenticity is Cantu's deft use of natural light, his long and leisurely takes depicting what it's like to work the land, and, most notably, the trust he shows in his actors. They don't talk when words are unnecessary, recognizing that silence can speak volumes. (Saturday, October 8, 6:45 p.m., Little Theatre)

You should know off the bat that the gay thread might be the least interesting aspect of Baldvin Zophoniasson's "Jitters," an uneven teen melodrama from Iceland that succeeds in other satisfying ways. Gabriel (the excellent Atli Oskar Fjalarsson) is the one around whom all of the characters orbit, and when he bonds with Markus (Haraldur Ari Stefansson, so dull) during an educational trip to England, his new pal immediately pegs him as "the cuddly one," the person to whom his female friends run for comfort. Soon after, Gabriel and Markus share a kiss. Big deal.

The way-too-busy narrative amps up back in Reykjavik when Gabriel's friends enter the picture, each with a problem that contains only the tiniest kernel of truth. But "Jitters" works as a loving example of how tight-knit clans will form among non-related people looking out for each other, and the cast does its very best. The standouts are Birna Run Eiriksdottir as the level-headed Greta and Fjalarsson as Gabriel, who visibly blooms when the possibilities of life open up to him. (Sunday, October 9, 1:30 p.m., Little Theatre)

Maybe my favorite of the films I got to preview for ImageOut 2011, the rousing documentary "Wish Me Away" recounts the painful but ultimately exhilarating journey of Chely Wright. (Her first name is pronounced like Shelley, in case you were wondering). Last year Wright became the first major country music star to publicly declare her homosexuality, a major step when your fan base is largely made up of conservative Christians. "I love how much they love me," Wright says wistfully, and though you can clearly see how it would devastate her to disappoint her fans, neither can she continue on without total honesty.

Co-directors Bobbie Berleffi and Beverly Kopf speak to Wright's nearest and dearest as well as the gutsy lady herself, who kept a raw video diary as she planned to come out on her own terms. Wright tells of a confusing childhood marked by pleas to God ("Please make me not gay"), followed by an adulthood during which she deprived herself of any real intimacy. But as much as I appreciated Wright's courage and resilience, I am also truly sweet on her sister and dad, whose only problem with Wright's sexual orientation - spoiler alert! - is that it made her forget that they love her unconditionally. (Sunday, October 9, 4 p.m., Dryden Theatre)

The Queer Noir double feature kicks off with the delightfully nasty "Recipe For A Killing," which stars the great French actor Niels Arestrup (you gotta see Jacques Audiard's "A Prophet") as Gerard, a brutal vintner who kills his wife over her subpar celeriac remoulade, then hires a young woman (Julie-Marie Parmentier) to cook for him, thinking he can control her, too. But Aline has her own cruel streak as well as a wild fixation on her bodacious girlfriend, and she's not about to be bullied by some violent old misogynist.

The plot of "Queen Bitch" is classic pulp, as a pretty woman stumbles upon get-rich-quick scheme that seems too good to be true. Well, almost a woman: Emma (Clement Hervieu-Leger) was born Emmanuel, but she's been saving money for sex reassignment in Bangkok, and a little counterfeit money can go a long way. "Queen Bitch" time-hops as it demonstrates the unlucky Emma's various predicaments, with all the twists and double-crosses you might expect. (Sunday, October 9, 9:30 p.m., Dryden Theatre)

Documentaries often make the mistake of incorporating too many voices, making it tough for a viewer to get properly invested in personal stories. But the bittersweet and insightful "We Were Here: The AIDS Years In San Francisco" gets it exactly right, with reminisces from just five eloquent people who came to the City by the Bay in search of a place to belong and enjoyed the freedom they had always dreamed of, until a mysterious form of cancer began claiming the lives of almost everyone around them.

Most affecting is Daniel, himself HIV positive, who lost two long-term partners to AIDS but turned his grief into action, founding a pair of nonprofits to raise money for the fight. As a matter of fact, each of the interviewees, from the soft-spoken Ed, who became a counselor to those stricken with the disease, to Eileen, a tireless nurse, rolled up their shirtsleeves and began caring for the makeshift families that embraced them after being rejected by their blood ties. Incorporating a trove of archival images, co-directors David Weissman and Bill Weber have documented a significant part of gay history, part somber memory, part galvanizing moment. (Monday, October 10, 6:30 p.m., Little Theatre)

Dennis Gansel's German vampire flick "We Are The Night" has nothing to say about the current state of lesbianism, so you may as well just appreciate it for the dazzlingly trashy diversion that it is. But the opening shot is rather slick: the camera swirls through a plane full of dead people as furry, hot-pink boots kick sassily in the background. The footwear belongs to Nora (Anna Fischer), part of a bloodsucking trio who we will get to know better after their leader Louise (Nina Hoss) becomes obsessed with a grungy urchin named Lena (Karoline Herfurth, "The Reader").

Lena cleans up quite well once she's been turned, but the newest vampire still has a conscience along with a soft spot for the enticing cop investigating their trail of bodies. The third vampire, Charlotte (Jennifer Ulrich), actually has a heartbreaking backstory that would probably make a compelling movie. But until that day comes, you'll have to be happy with swanky clothes, fast cars, and savagely hot women embracing their killer id. (Monday, October 10, 9:30 p.m., Little Theatre)

Discussing a Spanish film about a cross-dresser without using the A word is next to impossible, but the sudsy "Anything You Want" is kind of in Almodovar's three-hankie wheelhouse. After a young mother suddenly dies (remember: no one in films so much as sneezes without a dire reason), her busy lawyer husband Leo (Juan Diego Botto) tries to act as both father and mother to their young daughter, Dafne (the doll-faced Lucia Fernandez Ramos). But what was merely figurative becomes literal, as Dafne convinces her father to use a wig, then lipstick, and before long he's making himself up to look like his late wife.

Naturally, Leo's homophobia had reared its ugly head in front of the drag performer whose cosmetic help he solicits, enabling writer-director Achero Manas to lay on the lessons with a trowel, even subjecting Leo to a random hate crime. What's best here is the scenes between Botto and little Ramos; I don't know how a director gets such a small child to give such a wise performance, but that's the heart of the film. Leo thinks he's helping his daughter cope, but she might be the one who caused the healing. (Wednesday, October 12, 9 p.m., Little Theatre)

It's hard not to adore a low-budget labor of love like Madeleine Olnek's "Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same," which blends cheesy 50's sci-fi with a contemporary romantic comedy about a woman looking for a relationship. The darling Lisa Haas plays Jane, a store clerk who we first meet during a therapy session as she's describing a possible alien encounter, which her therapist dismisses as a dream. But sometimes dreams do come true, and Jane falls hard for Zoinx (Susan Ziegler), who came from the planet Zots to get her heart permanently broken because "big feelings" can damage the Zotsian ozone - oh, never mind.

The science is merely a plot device to get Zoinx and her friends Zylar and Barr to Earth so they too can experience delirious romance and wanton nose-touching, and we can revel in their Conehead-like outfits along with some very DIY special effects. Watch for busy indie-film mainstay Alex Karpovsky as a strange "Men In Black"-type agent, but this film belongs to the ladies. They're hilarious, and often quite affecting in their simple desire to love and be loved. (Friday, October 14, 7:45 p.m., Cinema Theater)

ImageOut's Closing Night selection is Ferzan Ozpetek's lovingly broad comedy of manners entitled "Loose Cannons," which drops in on a noisy Italian family in upheaval. Vincenzo Cantone (Ennio Fantastichini) is looking to retire as the head of his pasta company, and he's got two capable sons on deck. But Tommaso (distractingly green-eyed Riccardo Scamarcio, "The Best Of Youth") is not interested; an aspiring writer, he enjoys a full life back in Rome with his partner, Marco. Tommaso knows his dad will freak out once he learns that he has a gay son, so why not announce his homosexuality at dinner and saddle his older brother, Antonio (Alessandro Preziosi), with the job?

Not so fast; Antonio has some dealbreaking news of his own, and "Loose Cannons" unfolds as Tommaso reluctantly takes over the factory, counsels a family distraught over Antonio's revelations, and tries to tend to his now long-distance relationship with Marco while keeping the secret he had hoped to get off his chest. It's really nothing you haven't seen before, but there are worse ways to pass the time than with an attractive cast, lush Mediterranean scenery, and a message summed up by Tommaso's savvy nonna: "If you always do what others want, life's not worth living." (Saturday, October 15, 7:30 p.m., Dryden Theatre)