For the Love of Dolly and Camp Michael Jackson, which played on a shared bill June 17 at the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, share nothing except genre and subject matter: both are documentaries about fans.

For the Love of Dolly is a largely respectful look at the most impassioned of country singer Dolly Parton's fans, those whose lives and free time are largely devoted to all things Dolly. Not that the respectful approach means Dolly director Tai Uhlmann pulls her punches when fans disturbingly cross the line into obsession.

Jeanette Williams not only lives in a replica of Dolly's childhood home on a lot in California, she has a Dolly Parton tattoo on her rear end, which the audience sees in a clip from The Tonight Show.

Probably the most extreme of Dolly's fans is Melisa Rastellini, who tells a chilling story of using her Parton obsession to help her deal with childhood abuse. She used to hope to get cancer, she tells the camera, so she could beome a “Make a Wish” kid and meet her idol that way.

Patric Parkey and Harrell Gabehart are a Texas gay couple whose lives revolve around their Dolly fandom. They express how her message of self-acceptance led them to accept themselves as gay men and as a couple, and are filmed during a meeting with the star herself. Not only is Parton extremely gracious and charming with Parkey and Gabehart, she introduces them to her “lifetime friend and associate,” Judy Ogle, a moment that raises the “gay interest” alert level substantially.

That sub-textual moment becomes a bit more overt later on when Williams and Ratellini head for a used car lot to look at a vehicle once owned by Ogle. In between snatching every stray hair they can pluck out of the upholstery and licking the seatbelt (yes, you read that correctly), they find the insurance cards for the vehicle, which indicate it is registered to both Ogle and Parton.

For the Love of Dolly easily earns its place on the roster of gay film fests. In addition to Parton's status as gay icon and her rumored relationship with Judy Ogle, its portrayal of her gay fans is extremely sympathetic.

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