For Your Consideration: This Week at SIFF

SIFF continues, and since the weather has reverted to form, you might as well drop in at a movie or sixteen this week. For all film screenings, the general/member ticket prices are $11/$9 (matinees, $8/$7), except for gala screenings and other special events, which cost more. For those of you without a well-thumbed and starred SIFF schedule on hand, Seattlest presents this cheat sheet for this week's (Monday through Thursday) showings:

· Today's films of note include The Children of Huang Shi (which, okay, you can skip because it's opening in Seattle soon anyway), the locally produced and likely tedious My Effortless Brilliance, and Dust, a documentary about dust. Because this is a German film, a simple thing like dust becomes a metaphor for life and death. But it all wraps up in 90 minutes, and when are you likely--be honest--to go see a film about dust again? That's right, never. Also, everyone loves Mermaid, the slightly too-long fable about life in the New Russia.

· This Tuesday, his story can finally be told! Mongol gives you the boyhood, homelife, and romance of Genghis Khan in this thrilling behind-the-scenes peek at the making of a world dominator. For a slightly less macho evening, drop in at the film that launched a thousand drama majors: Zeffirelli's 1968 Romeo and Juliet, introduced here by Seattle Shakespeare Co.'s Stephanie Shine. Art of Negative Thinking is our wild card for the day--it's a Norwegian dark comedy about a therapy group that learns the power of negative thinking. If you've ever had someone buttonhole you about The Secret, this film may be your richly deserved payback.

· Wednesday brings the bio-doc Patti Smith, shot over eleven years by photographer Steven Sebring, and Katyn, the dramatic exposé from Poland's Andrzej Wajda of the Soviet's post-WWII slaughter of Poland's intellectuals. Taboo! Cover-up! Subtitles! Or you can go another way with the story of the Sudanese child soldier who became a hip-hop star: Emmanuel Jal: War Child. We're not under the impression this is the best movie ever, but if you're interested, it should be worth it.

· Thursday offers the pathos, glamor, and despair of Sing Song Blue, the music doc about the Milwaukee-based duo Lightning & Thunder, who impersonate Neil Diamond Patsy Cline. Or you can doc it up with the steroid exposé, Bigger Stronger Faster, which will comfort you regarding that competitive body-building path not taken. This year SIFF's Gay-La extravaganza features the comedy Kiss the Bride, which just as naturally features Tori Spelling. After the movie, there's a 21-and-over party at Neighbor's.