PARK CITY, UT  --  The Sundance Film Festival opened Friday in Park City, Utah, and after a slow year for queer film last year, this year promises a resurgence for the genre with more than 40 gay-related films to be shown at the festival.

"We're seeing that some of the queer filmmakers that started the whole queer film new wave in the '90s, they've come back and matured into real powerhouses in themselves," says Ellen Huang to Washington Blade. Huang is the founder of Queer Lounge, a queer film networking organization that is now a part of gay media watchdog group GLAAD.

Alan Ball, one of the creators of "Six Feet Under" and the writer of "American Beauty," will be showing "Towelhead," about a young Arab-American girl who gets involved with an army reservist living in her neighborhood, Washinton Blade reports.

Criag Lucas, the director behind "Longtime Companion" and "The Dying Gaul" is back with "Birds of America," starring Matthew Perry and Hillary Swank. His new film focuses on three siblings who are suddenly reunited and working through various identity issues.

Director Tom Kalin returns to Sundance after 16 years with "Savage Grace," starring Julianne Moore as a mother who tries to cure her son of being gay. The film is produced by "Boys Don't Cry" producer Christine Vachon, whom Huang says has a special knack for bringing outsider queer films into the mainstream.

"[Savage Grace] is about a psychosexual relationship between a boy and his mother that results in a murder," Huang says. "[Vachon] is really able to explore the dark side of these stories while still avoiding the stigmas of saying that gay people are always like this. She's able to show all kinds of different layers of society."

One of the stronger gay documentaries at Sundance this year is "Be Like Others." Set in the virulently homophobic Iran, the filmmakers show how many young gay men and lesbians choose gender reassignment surgery rather than live in gay relationships — an important topic given the reports and rumors coming out of Iran about the executions of gay youth.

"We're hearing from insiders that this is going to be the breakout documentary," Huang says. "To me that means that something's going to crossover into the mainstream consciousness."

Visit www.queerlounge.org to read more about this years festival.

Last update: 01-18-2008 15:52