How often do you get the chance to attend the opening night party of a film festival? If you've daydreamed of swanning down the red carpet at Cannes while braving the flashes of paparazzi, here's your chance. MIXNYC, the 21st New York Queer Experimental Film and Video Festival, opens Wednesday, October 15, and the opening night celebration is open to all. The party starts at 9:30 pm and will take place at Julius, NYC's oldest gay bar, located at 159 West 10th Street at Waverly Place (just east of Seventh Avenue). In fact, the Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night parties are all open to the public, so if you miss opening night you've got four more chances to party with the filmmakers. The film festival itself takes place from October 15-19 at MixFactory at Seaport, 217 Water Street at Beekman close by the Fulton Street Station (trains 2,3,4,5, J, M and Z) or the A/C trains to Broadway/Nassau. The festival's opening night gala is called "Buried Treasure" and features a wide array of experimental films including a new print of All Women are Equal, a 1971 exploration of transgender identity. The program also includes a short, silent film called "Five Haikus for the New York City Subway". How can you resist a title like that? The most enticing-soundng program is easily Friday, October 17's "Give to Me Your Pleather, Take From Me My Lace", which sounds like catnip to an unreconstructed Stevie Nicks fan such as myself. The program promises boundary-crossing artistic collaborations, which sounds like a lot of fun for a Friday Night.