It has been a long (but rewarding!) three weeks, but even the seemingly never-ending Seattle International Film Festival must eventually come to an end. Before closing up shop on the 40th SIFF and saying a fond farewell to #SIFForty, the little hashtag that could, the biggest North American festival closes its twenty-five day run with a series of parties and special events.

Throughout the festival, SIFF has put together a strong lineup of films from Africa. To celebrate this year’s African Pictures program, Friday’s screening of Finding Fela (Alex Gibney’s documentary of the Afrobeat pioneer) is followed by a party at the Northwest African American Museum.

On Saturday night, David Wain’s They Came Together Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd skewering all of the New York City romantic comedy cliches. Fellow The State alum Michael Showalter co-wrote the screenplay and a dozen other hilarious comedians from NBC lineups past and present co-star. Wain will be in attendance for the Saturday screening, which is followed by a party at the W Hotel. (Encore screening Sunday at 2:00 PM at the Egyptian).

Sunday starts with the Golden Space Needle Awards, in which the people’s choices and jury’s selections are announced and various pieces of glass and prizes are handed out over a brunch with a view. Tickets aren’t available to the general public, but if you have a spare “plus one”, call me?

The festival closes with The One I Love which has Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss (who will be in attendance at the screening) on a therapist-advised weekend getaway that the SIFF guide describes as “a sophisticated blend of romantic drama and science fiction”. If nothing else, SIFF’s track record with closing films is far better than with the opening night selections and the gala is at MOHAI, a genuinely excellent place for a party. At this point, all tickets are on standby, but an encore presentation of the film plays at 9:30 PM at Cinerama.

Amid all of the fancy events, though, there are still a ton of movies to fill your weekend including screenings of previously-recommended Fly Colt Fly: the Legend of the Barefoot Bandit (Sunday June 8th, 11:00 AM, SIFF Cinema Uptown) and much-anticipated midnight kid creeper the Babadook (Friday June 6th, 11:55 PM, The Egyptian; Saturday June 7th, 9:30 PM, SIFF Cinema Uptown).

Tony’s Picks:

Life Feels Good  Yeah, on paper it reads like a Polish My Left Foot, but Dawid Ogrodnik’s performance in the lead has received huzzahs by the bushel, and without going into roundtable-length detail, it’s really, really worth seeing. Really.

• June 06, 2014 Friday 7:00 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown
• June 07, 2014 Saturday 10:30 AM Harvard Exit
• June 08, 2014 Sunday  6:15 PM Pacific Place

Black Coal, Thin Ice  This Chinese film noir won a Best Picture Award at the 2014 Berlinale, and it’s reputedly a fresh, gut-level take on that timeless movie sub-genre.

• June 07, 2014 Saturday 9:00 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown
• June 08, 2014 Sunday 1:30 PM Pacific Place

Late Phases  Director Adrian Garcia Bogliano’s 2013 horror flick Here Comes the Devil (a 2013 SIFF alumni) mixed technical/visual brilliance with an unhealthy dose of stupid. This time out, Bogliano’s got some good actors (Ethan Embry and Tom Noonan among them), and a fun pulp-cinema gimmick (werewolves vs. retirees in assisted living). If the script’s good, this will be a kick and three-quarters.

• June 07, 2014 Saturday Midnight Egyptian
• June 08, 2014 Sunday  9:00 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown

To Be Takei It’s hard to resist a doc about Star Trek institution George Takei, even if you’re don’t own an ‘I grok Spock’ T-shirt. Jennifer Kroot’s feature covers Takei’s childhood in a Japanese internment camp, his attainment of nerd iconography as Lt. Sulu, his admission (and celebration) of his homosexuality, and his ubiquitous presence on the interwebs.

• June 06, 2014 Friday 7:00 PM Egyptian
• June 07, 2014 Saturday 4:00 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown

Josh’s Picks, Game of Thrones Edition
Calvary has Brendan Gleeson and Aidan “Littlefinger” Gillen in a “metaphysical murder mystery” about a priest ministering to his flock despite the prophesy of an untimely demise hanging over his head. It’s set in Ireland; so maybe we’ll get a little break for whatever tortured accent scheming Baelish has been putting on for the last few years while playing the game of thrones.

• June 7, 2014 Saturday 7:00 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown
• June 8, 2014 Sunday 11:00 AM Harvard Exit

Gold has Maisie “Arya Stark” Williams as a teenaged star of track and field, being raised by her mother and an overly ambitious P.E. teacher. When her biological father returns to patch things up, the synopsis promises “comedic catastrophe”. Really, though, wouldn’t it be nice to see Maisie Williams on a little vacation from dirty, soggy, depressing Westeros and in a role other than her increasingly dead-inside displaced instrument of pure vengeance?Director Niall Heery scheduled to attend both screenings.

• June 6, 2014
  Friday 6:00 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown
• June 7, 2014 Saturday 12:00 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown

Chris’s Picks: 

Alex of Venice: Actor Chris Messina’s directorial debut sounds intriguing. It’s said to be a character study about a woman putting her life together after her husband leaves her. There are a lot of possibilities, and I’m interested in post-love stories, so I’m intrigued. (Chris Messina scheduled to attend.)

• June 06, 2014 Friday 7:00 PM Harvard Exit
• June 07, 2014 Saturday 1:30 PM Harvard Exit

Creep: It wouldn’t quite be a SIFF without at least one movie starring Mark Duplass, would it? There’s actually two, including closing night film The One I Love. This is a horror-comedy from a producer of the Paranormal Activity series where Duplass plays a terminally ill man with some deeper issues who hires a videographer to record his last testament. Sounds interesting! (Mark Duplass and producer/actor Patrick Brice scheduled to attend Saturday screening.)

• June 07, 2014 Saturday 9:45 PM Egyptian Theater
• June 08, 2014 Sunday 2:00 PM SIFF Cinema Uptown

Keep track of the SunBreak’s SIFF coverage on our SIFF 2014 page, plus news updates and micro-reviews on Twitter @theSunBreak.