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Writer-director-star Desiree Akhavan in a scene from "Appropriate Behavior."

The 18th edition of the Portland Queer Film Festival, but the first with its new name, kicks off Friday, October 3. The former Portland Lesbian and Gay Film Festival's rebranding manages to be more inclusive and edgier at the same time, and the films being screened reflect that to a degree.

Two of the festival's highlights, and probably its two most entertaining films, focus on American characters from immigrant families dealing with issues of both sexual and cultural identity. "Appropriate Behavior" is about a young, female Brooklyn hipster trying to figure out a career while dealing with loving but clueless parents and a turbulent sexual relationship. Shirin is basically an Iranian-American, bisexual version of Hannah Horvath, and writer-director-star Desiree Akhavan has in fact been signed by Lena Dunham to appear in the upcoming season of "Girls." Akhavan's performance is too self-conscious at times, but her wide-eyed energy, convincing awkwardness, and strong jawline give her sort of a Lake Bell vibe, and her screenplay is quotably hilarious.

PQFF2014Trailer from PDX Queer Film on Vimeo.

Less pleasant, but more fascinating, and oddly funny, "The Wife Master" is a bizarre hybrid of reality and fiction in which a bizarre, annoying Cambodian-American (Bora Soth) plays himself, recreating events from his own life. Gay but apparently celibate, he spends his days photographing the shirtless hunks of Venice Beach. When the family he's been sponging off kicks him out, he weds, for money, a Cambodian woman needing a green card. And then another. And another.

As movies with gay characters or subject matter become more acceptable to mainstream pop culture, it's nice to see opportunities for more diverse stories to see the light of day. Other festival entries, while more conventional in this context, still satisfy. The opening night film, "Back on Board: Greg Louganis," provides an intimate look at the champion diver who was one of the first prominent athletes to come out of the closet, and an unfiltered look at his modest present-day circumstances. Louganis will be in attendance for the screening.

There's still room, of course, for campy comedy ("First Period," a spoof on John Hughes-style high school movies), coming-of-age dramas (the Brazilian "The Way He Looks" and the Dutch "Boys"), and inspirational documentaries ("Born to Fly," about choreographer Elizabeth Streb, and "One Zero One," about a memorable pair of German drag queens). But it's a pleasure to see lives from outside the gay-movie comfort zone getting the spotlight, too.

(The Portland Queer Film Festival runs Friday, October 3 through Thursday, October 9 at Cinema 21. For a full schedule, visit www.pdxqueerfilm.com.)