Vámonos de Fiesta de Nuevo Ciné Español (at SIFF)

The Festival of New Spanish Cinema has returned to SIFF Cinema with a new catalog of eight films, showing from September 23 to 26. So you have to act quickly if you want to see them all; a full series pass is $40, which looks like a very good deal.

Actress Patricia Campo is to attend tonight's kickoff--there's a party afterward at Belltown’s Taberna del Alabardero, which I recommend if you like mingling with people who look like the hot extras from a Pedro Almodóvar film while stuffing yourself with paella and red wine. The Opening Night Fiesta ticket, $25 ($20 for SIFF members), includes the film The Island Inside and the after-party.

Dunia Ayaso and Félix Sabroso bring you the story of three siblings thrust into confronting life by the death of their father. Variety says this adds a new "emotional complexity" to the filmmakers' gift for comedy, which in turn means more Almodóvar comparisons.

Bill White gives you thumbnail reviews of the rest of the fest--quite a few of which zipped past earlier during SIFF. There's Garbo the Spy, about the true story of a double agent during World War II that Audrey says is "downright fun," and Stigmata, a morose fable about a man who wakes up with bleeding palms--it's a mood-altering, black-and-white pilgrimage for the viewer, too.

Making its Seattle debut is Me Too, which despite having Tambien in the title is not about two Mexican boys coming of age. Instead, it's about a man with Down Syndrome falling in love as an adult, and the difficulty society has taking him seriously as a sexual person. Pablo Pineda stars.