DVD picks.

THE DVD MARKET MAY BE SLOWING DOWN, but in the LGBT sector business is booming. With so many gay films being released to DVD after playing a couple of art houses--or, like most, with no theatrical run at all-one has to wonder: If films like Trick and Go Fish had been released a decade later, would they have skipped a theatrical release completely?

"It's a hard question," acknowledges Marcus Hu, copresident of Strand Releasing. 'We're one of the unique distributors that try to give all of our films a theatrical life, but l have noticed that there are more straight-to-video GLBT titles that have been hitting the marketplace lately."

However, Hu attributes this trend to a glut of content in general and praises the evolution of a new business model--one where Gus Van Sant's latest film, the Cannes entry Paranoid Park, will be broadcast by IFC at the same time it's released in theaters.

'To me, that's a pretty thrilling thing and something that speaks volumes about where the technology is headed," Hu says.

Some of this season's most noteworthy titles are:

PUNISH ME (Picture This!) September 11 Out actress Maren Kroymann stars as a middleaged probation officer who's enticed into a sadomasochistic relationship with one of her charges, a hunky 16-year-old (Kostja Ullman, from the gay-themed Summer Storm).

THE GYMNAST (Wolfe Video) September 18 Former Olympic gymnast Jane is stuck in a dead-end marriage and job, bur things start looking up for her when she resumes athletic training along with sexy dancer Serena.

ETERNAL SUMMER (Picture This!) September 23 Jonathan and Shane are boyhood friends who've grown into good-looking high school students, but it's not until new girl Carrie propositions them that they finally acknowledge their simmering feelings for one another.

TIMES HAVE BEEN BETTER (Picture This!] September 25 Jeremy's parents always prided themselves on being liberal and tolerant, but when he finally comes out to them, a farce ensues that sees Jeremy and his younger brother jockeying for position off "favorite son."

ONE TO ANOTHER (Strand) October 2 When her bisexual brother is found dead, Lucie begins to interview his friends and lovers in an attempt to find out whodunit. Of course, since this is a French film, Lucie does most of her investigating in the bedroom.

OUTING RILEY (Wolfe Video) October 23 Pete Jones was the winner of the original Project Greenlight contest, and he's back with his second film, in which he stars as a man whose boyfriend (MadTV's Michael McDonald) pressures him to come out as gay to his close-knit Irish Catholic family.

A VERY SERIOUS PERSON (Wolfe Video/November 20 Charles Busch may be known for his drag performances (including Die, Mommie, Die!), bur he dials down the outrageousness for this quiet tale he wrote of a budding gay teen who's spending the summer with his dying grandmother (Polly Bergen) and her male caretaker (Busch).

I DON'T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE (Strand) November Acclaimed director Tsai Ming-Liang tells the story of a homeless man who, after a robbery, falls into a Iove triangle with a gay migrant worker and a young teahouse waitress.

BOYS LIFE 6 (Strand) December The redoubtable series of gay shorts continues, this rime including Bugcrush, the much buzzedabout film that won the Best Short award at 2006's Sundance Film Festival.--K.B.