The Sacramento International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival will offer plenty of ways to spend a kick-around weekend afternoon. Festival-goers can catch a film, grab some popcorn, maybe get married.

As part of its wedding-themed celebration and program next Sunday at the Crest Theatre, the festival will let couples with licenses get married on the spot. Festival sponsor Ikea will provide the arch.

Among those planning to get hitched is Kate Moore, director of "Words Matter," a documentary focused on the Sacramento weddings that followed the state Supreme Court's overturning of the ban on same-sex marriages earlier this year.

Moore and her partner, Tina Reynolds, had a ceremony last year, and although Moore says they feel married already, "actually getting a marriage license is really a big deal for us because it's something we weren't allowed to do before."

Moore works as multimedia director for Uptown Studios, a graphic and Web site design firm owned by Reynolds. When the couple heard the ban was being lifted, they decided to use their technical know-how to capture the "I do's."

"I was holding the camera and she was asking questions," Moore said. Among the newly marrieds shown in "Words Matter" are former Assemblyman Dennis Mangers and his spouse, Michael Sestak, with Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo and state Sen. Sheila Kuehl among those officiating.

"Usually, you see people in San Francisco getting married" in films or news reports about same-sex marriage, Moore said. "But people all over the state are getting married, and it's nice to celebrate with people we know here in Sacramento."

Moore's short film and two others will play at 4 p.m. Sunday, the final day of the four-day film festival. Because the festival occurs each year in October – which some years means just before election time – its content can seem especially topical. That's true this year, with a vote on anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 on tap for Nov. 4.

"We don't really politicize things, but by virtue of the fact that we are a (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) festival," political themes arise, said Patti Barcena, the festival's artistic director.

Started in 1991 at California State University, Sacramento, as a way to mark National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11), the festival routinely draws high-quality LBGT-themed films from around the world. Organizers also strive to add something new each year, whether it's a wedding arch or youth- oriented programming.

On Saturday afternoon, the festival will showcase "Who I Am," a short film about two high school girls getting to know each other via a class project, and the feature "Tru Loved," in which a teenage girl with two moms dates a star football player who might be gay himself.

"We found these two films, and we were just so excited that we built a program around them," Barcena said, adding that although the films aren't rated, they likely would carry a "PG" if they were.

The high school theme actually starts earlier, with the Friday-night feature "Were the World Mine," a fantasy-rich film in which a puckish drama adviser decides to cast two boys as romantic leads in "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

"The conceits are just wonderful," Barcena said of the film. "It's high school angst, Shakespeare, singing, magic."

Barcena, a volunteer like everyone else who works for the nonprofit festival (the proceeds of which will benefit Sacramento's Lavender Library this year), brings a keen eye but also a laywoman's enthusiasm to programming the festival.

For instance, she's as eager as anyone to see "The World Unseen," a sociologically rich, lovingly shot film that explores the budding friendship between two Indian women (Lisa Ray, from "Water," and Sheetal Sheth) living in apartheid South Africa in the 1950s.

"I love the cinematography, and I can hardly wait to see it at the Crest," says Barcena, who has seen the movie only on DVD.

Later Saturday night, the festival will revive its adult program from several years ago. The 18-and-over program features "Kiss Me Deadly," a spy thriller starring Robert Gant from "Queer as Folk" and Shannen Doherty, preceded by "The Window," a short film both breezy and briefly explicit in its nudity, and "Bramadero," a longer short that combines graphic sexuality with moments of violence.

" 'Bramadero' is very controversial, but we think it's really important," Barcena said. "We are not there just to make people happy and smile. One of our purposes is to make people think."

The festival's open-minded attitude extends even further. Or at least when it comes to Peter Paige, another "Queer as Folk" alum. Paige will appear at the festival along with "Leaving Barstow," a coming-of-age film he directed.

"It's a non-LBGT film, but (since) he is the filmmaker" the festival found a slot at 7 p.m. Sunday, just after the official event concludes, Barcena said.

And here's guessing Paige, a beloved figure to anyone who saw him play the endearing Emmett on "Queer as Folk," will inspire quite a few folks to stick around.

Call Bee movie critic Carla Meyer, (916) 321-1118. Hear her discuss the week's movies at 4:40 p.m. on Fridays on NewsTalk 1530 (KFBK).

SACRAMENTO INTERNATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN FILM FESTIVAL

WHEN: Thursday through next Sunday

TICKETS: $9 per show or $39 for a festival pass; available at the Crest, The Beat (1700 J St.) or at www.tickets.com.

INFORMATION: (916) 442-7378 or www.siglff.org

WHERE TO EAT: The gorgeously appointed new Cosmo Café is just across the street from the Crest at 1000 K St.; midtown coffee house Butch-N-Nellie's (1827 I St., 916-443-6133) serves organic fruit and gourmet chocolate along with joe.

LATE NIGHT: The Depot (2001 K St., 916-441-6823) offers a relaxed atmosphere and funny clips on its video screens; for dancing, there's Badlands (2003 K St., 916-448-8790) next door, as well as sprawling, legendary Faces (2000 K St., 916-448-0706) across the street.