THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

Highlights of the 20th Annual Festival include:

-; The Chicago premiere of Stranger Inside, the long-awaited second feature from acclaimed lesbian director Cheryl Dunye ( The Watermelon Woman ) , with a special reception to meet Dunye and her producers, March 17. Based on four years of research into the lives of incarcerated women, Stranger Inside is a remarkably intelligent, unflinching study of life on the inside of a women's prison. Screenplay co-written by Chicago screenwriter Catherine Crouch.

-; Two rare screenings of the groundbreaking documentaries of Colombian filmmaker Marta Rodriguez, whose career recording human rights and labor struggles in South America has spanned over three decades. On March 17, she will preview and discuss her latest film, May It Never Happen Again, an exposé on the massive forced displacement of indigenous communities due to the armed conflict raging in Colombia. On March 20, Rodriguez will screen and discuss Chircales/The Brickmakers, her 1971 anthropological investigation into the lives of displaced workers south of Bogota, and Amor, mujeres y flores/Love, Women and Flowers, her 1984 investigation into the hazardous labor conditions of the 70,000 women who work in the Colombian flower industry.

-; The 20th Anniversary Retrospective Series of important, rarely screened films of the last 20 years: Bedevil ( 1993 ) , the stunning debut feature from Tracy Moffatt, and the first feature directed by an Australian Aboriginal woman ( March 20 ) ; Madame X ( 1977 ) , the campy first feature directed by distinctive German filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger ( March 24 ) ; and Marianne and Juliane ( 1981 ) , feminist filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta's remarkable bio-pic of the Baader-Meinhof group in 1970s Germany.

-; Two panel discussions exploring the subject of recent documentaries: Out: The Making of a Revolutionary, the story of activist and former political prisoner Laura Whitehorn, will be followed by a panel discussion on the role of militancy in U.S. political movements, with Whitehorn and local historians and activists; Macho and The Day You Love Me, two documentaries about the ground-breaking strategies to combat domestic violence being developed in Nicaragua, will be followed by a panel of domestic violence counselors, advocates and researchers discussing new plans for the Chicago area.

Annual Festival programs such as Homegirls ( March 16, featuring Chicago-area media artists ) , Media Grrrls ( March 21, new videos by young women from around the country ) , and Dyke Night ( March 17, a showcase of short pieces by lesbian and transgendered directors ) reach sold-out audiences, and feature film premieres and special panel discussions offer viewers unique opportunities to experience rare films and videos and meet women directors in a intimate and informal setting.

The 2001 Festival will take place at the WIDC Theater on Lawrence, the Gene Siskel Film Center downtown, The Preston Bradley Center, and the South Shore Cultural Center.

Call ( 773 ) 907-0610, or see www.widc.org