SARASOTA -- Michelle Clunie is as eager to see Sunday's episode of "Queer as Folk" as the hundreds of people who bought tickets to the Sarasota Film Festival party celebrating the groundbreaking cable TV series. Clunie, who plays Melanie on the Showtime series, wants to see what happened to the "raunchy and hot" love scene she filmed with co-star Thea Gill, who plays her partner, Lindsay. "It was so spicy they might have to cut it down. I'm really curious to see how it came out," Clunie said in a telephone interview from Toronto, where the series is filmed. "Queer as Folk," which airs Sundays at 10 p.m., is about a group of gay men and women in Pittsburgh, whose lives are depicted in ways rarely seen on television. Clunie will attend the film festival's "A Night in Babylon" party, which begins at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Michael's Mediterranean Grille at the downtown Sarasota Quay. The restaurant will be transformed into a replica of the disco that the characters frequent, complete with male dancers. Clunie is the lone cast member who was able to travel from the show's Toronto set. Festival Coordinator Mark Marvell said, "We've had commitments on and off from just about everyone in the cast over the last couple of months. But the production company determines who is available and they said they need these people" this weekend. It might seem strange that a TV show is being saluted during a film festival, but Marvell said, "We wanted to reach out to the gay community and let them know that the festival has something for everyone." Also, Showtime has been an integral part of the festival since the beginning and is providing numerous giveaways during the party. Clunie said she's often overwhelmed by the response the show, now in its second season, has generated. "I get letters from young gay people, 14, 15, 16 years old, some of them are suicidal because they live in small towns where they hardly know any other gay people. They see our show and they know they are not alone."