For Your Consideration: This Weekend at SIFF

As a wise man once said: "Ohhhh, we're half-way there / Ohhh-oh, living on a prayer." On Wednesday, SIFF officially reached the half-way mark. But it's by no means all downhill from here. There's still tons more great films to see before the fest is through.

Seattlest applies our well-honed knowledge of all things cinema to the SIFF catalogue in order to point out some notable films playing this weekend:

· Maxed Out Got debt? Most Americans do. In this documentary, director James Scurlock explores the true costs of the credit card lifestyle. (tonight, 4:45pm Broadway Performance Hall)

· The Iceberg An off-beat Belgian comedy in which an unhappy housewife has a life-changing experience after spending the night in an industrial freezer. (tonight, 6:45pm @ Pacific Place; Tuesday June 13th, 4:30pm @ Pacific Place)

· Who Killed the Electric Car? Before hybrids and biodiesel became all the rage, there were designs for another kind of car, one that ran entirely on electricity. What ever happened to that? (tonight, 7pm @ the Egyptian; Saturday, 11am @ the Neptune)

· Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man One of the films in SIFF's great, bigger-than-ever Face the Music program, which includes all movies with music themes. This doc features both interviews with singer-songwriter Cohen and performances of his songs by Nick Cave, Rufus Wainright, and Beth Orton, amongst others. (tonight, 7pm @ the Neptune; tomorrow, 1:30pm @ the Neptune)

· The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear Earlier this week, an associate asked us to name the one film we'd recommend out of everything at SIFF, and this was our choice. Adam Curtis' BBC documentary is for anyone who is at all interested in what's going on in the world today. It's a scales-falling-from-the-eyes examination of the parallel rise of neoconservatism and fundamentalist Islam, the similarities between the two movements, and the ways in which each feeds off the other. There's a lot of great footage in the film (a young Donald Rumsfeld, a young Ayman al-Zawahiri), which will probably keep it from ever getting a proper theater release or even a release on DVD, since footage rights cost mucho dinero. Only rush tickets are available for both of the film's showings, so show up early. It'll be worth it. (tonight, 9:15pm @ Broadway Performance Hall; tomorrow, 1:15pm @ Broadway Performance Hall)

· Wild Tigers I Have Known The screening of this film on Thursday night was cancelled, so this is your only chance at the fest to see this tender, quirky coming-of-age film about a gay thirteen-year-old boy and his first crush. (tomorrow, 11am @ Broadway Performance Hall)

· The World According to Sesame Street There's versions of Sesame Street tailor-made for countries all over the globe. This documentary explores how the show treats troubling issues for children in nations like South Africa (with their HIV+ muppet) and Kosovo. (tomorrow, 4:15pm @ Pacific Place; Tuesday June 13th, 2pm @ Broadway Performance Hall)

· The Century of the Self This is Adam Curtis' other documentary at the fest. We're really interested in seeing his treatment of Freud's theories and how they've influenced everything from advertising to politics, but we don't think we can sit through a four-hour film in the BPH theater. If you're up for it, a few tickets are still available. (tomorrow, 4:45pm @ Broadway Performance Hall)

· Perhaps Love This Hong Kong musical about a musical is supposed to have some stunning visuals, thanks to cinematographer Christopher Doyle. (tomorrow, 6:30pm @ the Egyptian; Tuesday June 13th, 2pm @ Pacific Place)

· Small Town Gay Bar Apparently, even rural Mississippi's got a few fags. Check out our review of this doc from Sundance. (tomorrow, 9:30pm @ Broadway Performance Hall; Tuesday June 13th, 4:30pm @ Broadway Performance Hall)

· loudQUIETloud: A Film about The Pixies Everything you need to know about the film is contained in its title. (tomorrow, 9:30pm @ the Neptune; Sunday, 11am @ Broadway Performance Hall)

· Only God Knows Diego Luna is no Gael Garcia Bernal, but we wouldn't kick him out of the bed either. (Sunday, 9:30pm @ the Neptune; Thursday June 15th, 4pm @ the Neptune)