The annual event attracts LGBT film professionals from across the globe and serves as the unofficial kickoff for San Francisco's annual LGBT Pride celebration.

The Michael J. Berg Documentary Award for excellence in documentary filmmaking went to "Red Without Blue," which followed a pair of identical twins as one transitions from male to female. The Frameline First Feature Award for first narrative feature screening at Frameline 31 went to "Glue," in which Argentine director Alexis Dos Santos delves into budding adolescent sexuality.

The festival also gave out honors and cash for the Audience Awards for Best Feature Film ("Four Minutes"), Best Documentary ("Semper Fi"), and Best Short Film ("Pariah"). Awards were presented at the closing-night party.

This year, the fest's popular opening-night gala took place at the San Francisco Design Center Galleria following the screening of "The Witnesses" at the Castro Theatre. Closing night at the Castro wrapped the 11-day festival with Jamie Babbitt's newest film, Itty Bitty Titty Committee," a fast-paced tale of love and activism starring Melonie Diaz, Nicole Vicius and "L Word" star Daniela Sea.

"Itty Bitty Titty Committee" producer Andrea Sperling was honored with the 2007 Frameline Award. Having produced more than 17 feature films, including director Babbitt's "But I'm a Cheerleader," as well as the earliest films of previous Frameline Award winner Gregg Araki, Sperling has established herself as a force in queer and independent cinema.

Other highlights

Frameline 31 welcomed back esteemed Israeli director Eytan Fox ("Yossi and Jagger") with "The Bubble," a sexy, modern and queer "Romeo and Juliet" story of two young men -- one Israeli and one Palestinian -- set among a group of hip young Tel Aviv friends.

The festival also presented the North American premiere of "The Witnesses," the latest film from French auteur Andre Techine ("Wild Reeds"), about a series of Paris relationships -- romantic and platonic -- tested by the onslaught of AIDS in the early '80s.

"Alexis Arquette: She's My Brother" tracks a member of the famed Arquette acting clan (which includes Patricia, Rosanna and David) as she transitions from male to female in the glare of the celebrity spotlight.

Queer theater and cinema superstar Alan Cumming made his solo directorial debut with "Suffering Man's Charity," a dark comedy that stars Cumming as a failed music composer with a weakness for impoverished young men with great aspirations.

"Shelter," by Jonah Markowitz, is a tale of young gay love and surfing in Southern California. Korea's daring "No Regret" is a romantic melodrama about a beautiful male prostitute and the wealthy young man who wants him. "You Belong to Me" ratchets up the sexual tension in a Hitchcockian tale of a young man who moves into his reluctant lover's building -- where no one's motivations are quite what they seem.

Frameline 31 comedies this year included a first look at Logo's upcoming animated TV series, "Rick & Steve the Happiest Gay Couple in All the World," directed by Q. Allan Brocka of "Eating Out" and "Boy Culture" fame. "The Curiosity of Chance" is like a loopy, gay, more musical "Pretty in Pink," set in an American high school in Belgium during the wacky '80s. "Outing Riley," the second feature from Project Greenlight winner Pete Jones, is a thoughtful coming-out comedy with a generous bit of heart for some heterosexist Irish Catholic characters.

Queer fun infuses "Out at the Wedding," the latest by award-winning director Lee Friedlander ("Girl Play"). Drag royalty RuPaul plays a supermodel/secret agent in the riotous, raunchy "Starrbooty."

LGBT solidarity transcended any generation gap in "Generations: Youth and Elders Making Movies Together," while young people explored the future of queer cinema in "Young, Loud and Proud." In an acknowledgement to the influential rise of viewer-created content like on YouTube, Frameline 31 presented "Queer and Current: New LGBT Films from Current TV."

Frameline has always supported short films, as evidenced this year by the nearly 155 scheduled domestic and international shorts, with its lively mini-programs, the testosterone-laden "Fun In Boys' Shorts" and the bold, sexy "Fun In Girls' Shorts."

International offerings took viewers on a $10 summer vacation to more than 25 different countries. Taiwan's "Spider Lilies" explores the intense relationship between a tattoo artist and a webcam girl. Love story "Nina's Heavenly Delights," by 1993 Frameline Award winner Pratibha Parmar, centers around an Indian restaurant in Glasgow, Scotland.

Cuba made a particularly strong showing in Frameline 31's documentary section. "Odd People Out" explores the life beloved queer Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas. "Free Havana" looks at the past and present experiences of various members of the Cuban gay community. German filmmaker Christian Liffers limned portraits of five gay men and one transwoman living in and around Havana in "Two Homelands: Cuba and the Night."

Four documentaries made their world premieres at the Festival. "2 Mums and a Dad" shows the complicated relationship between an Australian lesbian couple and the gay Englishman who supplied the sperm for their child. Queer history is resurrected in "Fall of '55," a recollection of a gay sex scandal that gripped Boise, Idaho, more than 50 years ago and still resonates today.

A real man took the stage for "Semper Fi: One Marine's Journey," about the evolution of Lance Cpl. Jeff Key, a patriotic gay U.S. Marine stationed in Iraq who begins to question both the occupation and the policy of "don't ask, don't tell." "Semper Fi" is a documentary with clips from the star's acclaimed live theater show by the same name.

A vibrant subculture received its due in "Love Man Love Woman," Nguyen Trinh Thi's film about Vietnam's Dao Mau temples, where the spiritual leaders are effeminate gay men who act as mediums for female spirits and the Mother Goddess.

"Gifted and Challenged: The Making of Shortbus" makes a worthy climax to the shorts program "Genderific!," showing the world how Frameline favorite John Cameron Mitchell and his remarkable cast gamely created the multifaceted sexual masterpiece "Shortbus."