Lawrence.com

The characters in Tim DePaepe's film aren't any different from anyone else in real life.

"It's a perspective of life," the Lawrence filmmaker says. "It's very all-encompassing. We're not dealing with sexuality, as such. These people just happen to have a same-sex identity. It does factor into the issues of the story, but it's not the main idea. It's really just about life."

The documentary explores the lives of five ordinary Lawrence residents who happen to be gay. DePaepe details their lives in middle America, showing how much of the discrimination against gays and lesbians arise from people's fear that homosexuality will erode the moral values synonymous with the Midwest.

But the film, "Shades of Gray," attempts to teach that these five individuals are a vital part of that moral fabric.

DePaepe's film will be featured at the Miranda Film Festival, a fund-raiser organized by Kansas University's women's studies program.

Organizers hope to raise money to aid in the recovery of a Lawrence woman's daughter, who was abducted more than two years ago. Donations will be accepted at the door. The money will go toward the effort to find Miranda Budiman, who was abducted when she was 4 years old from her home in Dallas, Ga.

Her mother, now a Lawrence resident, had been sharing custody of Miranda with ex-husband Iwan Budiman when he allegedly abducted Miranda and escaped to Indonesia. Budiman was charged in July 1999 with international parental kidnapping. Miranda will be 7 years old in May.

According to Department of Justice statistics, more than 350,000 children are abducted each year by family members.

"We'd like to raise awareness and make the community more aware of these types of crimes," says Christine Robinson, a graduate instructor in women's studies and festival organizer. "We wanted to help out this cause because it illustrates some of the issues we're founded on."

The festival's thrust is the social context of women's sexuality, and the films were chosen for their varying takes on gay and lesbian life.

Also included on the schedule are Kimberly Peirce's "Boys Don't Cry," which secured Hilary Swank a Best Actress Oscar two years ago; the Mike Binder comedy "Sex Monster," concerning a man who convinces his wife to join him in a menage-a-trois � but then she starts to enjoy it too much; the lesbian love story "Chutney Popcorn," about a New York photographer and her lover who attempt to have a baby; and the mock documentary "Watermelon Woman," which follows a black lesbian filmmaker's obsession with completing a project on an actress who might have led a double life.

"We haven't seen a film festival focusing on this topic before," says Sharon Sullivan, another festival organizer. "We tried to have each film address something different.