Two decades ago, when the Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival was launched, a prevailing AIDS crisis here and abroad imposed some AIDS-themed films as part of the slate, however minimal.

Made sense then.

While the festival — originally called the Honolulu Adam Baran Gay Video/ Film Festival, named for an AIDS victim who was a deejay/veejay at Hula's Bar & Lei Stand -  kicks off  Thursday with a screening of "Clapham Junction," a big community issue has been civil union rights.

Not surprisingly, this concern — along with themes of gay adoption, lesbian alliances, gay-bashing, sexting — could well be from today's headlines.

Thus, the plate is richer and fuller with a palate of films that reflect life and define the challenges and changes on today's gaydar.

Some films are told with unmerciful honesty, unsettling brutality, explicit sexuality. Not to shock or entertain, but to enlighten. Curiously, cell phones are part of the landscape in the story-sharing.

I imagine it would be somewhat daring for commercial cinema to show some titles, particularly since we don't have a free-standing art house for a select audience.

Enter, the Rainbow Film Festival.

"We are vigilant about being true to our mission statement, which includes 'raising awareness of the community at large about gay and lesbian culture, arts and lifestyle through film,' " said Jeffrey L. Davis, executive director of the festival.

"Tolerance and discrimination has ebbed and flowed through the years, and in today's society, that is not enough," said Connie Florez, veteran film fest organizer and now a board member of  the HGLCF — the Honolulu Gay and Lesbian Cultural Foundation, which is dedicated to educate and enlighten about the gay and lesbian culture and instill pride and respect among the gay community.

"The struggle for 100 percent equality is within reach and the final destiny."

Florez feels cinema and the performing arts have a universal theme — "to search for peace and equality for all."

Where other film fests attract traditional audiences, the Rainbow blends hues and choices suitable for everyone, but aims to depict relevant storytelling concentrating on alternative lifestyles often dismissed in the mainstream.

Thus, some entries could easily divide, disturb and delight viewers — both gay and straight — and would not likely to be exhibited without festival sponsorship.

How has the festival matured and grown, now that it leaps into its third decade? We asked Florez and Davis:

Q: Has the underlying goal of the festival changed from the launch 20 years ago?

Florez: "Over the years, we have brought indie films that have become Academy Award-winning titles such as 'Gods and Monsters,' 'Transamerica' 'Red Without Blue.' In recent years, the digital world of filmmaking has increased the quantity and quality of films in many areas, such as transgender everyday lives, youth education, civil unions and the history of gay rights activism with major films like 'Milk' (the closing feature, at 5 p.m. May 24)."

Q: Does the festival play to a homogeneous audience of both gays and straights?

Lewis: "The festival has attracted an increased cross section of the community, and we welcome everyone."

Q: How do you select titles for the Rainbow Film Festival — and how did you land Dustin Lance Black for an appearance?

Lewis: "We are vigilant about being true to our mission statement. We were recently offered a cash sponsorship to screen a strongly political film that did not fit ... and did not address any LGBTQ message, so we turned the offer down ... Our goal is to maintain integrity and a clear focus.

"Working closely with Chris Lee (a Honolulu-born Hollywood producer and founder of the Academy for Creative Media at the University of Hawai'i) as a consultant to this year's festival, we took a-four step approach to reaching out to Dustin Lance Black. (Lee asked Lance, through his agent; Gregory House's Jonathan Berliner asked Cleve Jones, who worked with Black on 'Milk,' a HereTV! source here knew Lance, and dialogue with Black directly sealed the deal). 

Q: The LGBTQ community here just suffered a setback with the civil unions issue at the Legislature. Amid the films scheduled, there are documentaries that put a face on this plight. What's your take on art imitating life?

Florez: When you reflect where the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Transgender and Queer) community was 20 years ago to today ... the present-day setback with the Hawai'i civil unions issue is only temporary. 

Reach Wayne Harada at 266-0926. Read his blog at http://showandtellhawaii.honadvblogs.com. His Show Biz column runs Sundays in Island Life.