The Seattle International Film Festival kicked off last night with a film and gala at Seattle Center last night and rides the champagne and sugar high of so many mini-cupcakes and waffles into opening weekend proper. In addition to loads of regular screenings, this weekend also shines a New American Cinema spotlight on Miranda July on Saturday and pays tribute to Ewan McGregor by presenting him with a Golden Space Needle award on Sunday.

Below, we’ve scourced the schedule and found plenty of films to consider seeing this weekend. Individual tickets for most films cost $11 for the public and $9 for SIFF members; note that matinees are a bit cheaper ($8/$7), and “stimulus matinees” (first two shows of the day before 2:30 p.m. on Fridays) are cheaper still ($6). For the more committed, there are all sorts of passes still for sale as well as slightly discounted packs of tickets in bundles of 6 or 20. All afternoon, you can pick up a free ticket for selected SIFF films at better Starbucks stores around the city.

First screenings tonight, Friday May 20

• How to Die in Oregon an allegedly uplifiting documentary on the subject of Death With Dignity laws told through the lens of Cody Curtis and her struggle with the debilitating symptoms of liver cancer. (4:15 p.m. @ Harvard Exit; also showing May 21, 2 p.m. @ Pacific Place; May 22, 3:30 p.m. @ Renton)
• Submarine One of those movies that seems to exist to remind boys that carrying a briefcase to class is a bad idea, but not an insurmountable obstacle to finding love. Shot in hipstamatic tones and accompanied by new songs from Alex Turner, Richard Ayoade’s story of a boy’s courtship of an eczema-stricken pyromaniac and his covert efforts to derail his mother (Sally Hawkins!) from having an affair with a mystic is a total charmer that wears its Wes Anderson affections on its sleeve. (7 p.m. @ the Egyptian; May 22, 11 a.m. @ the Neptune)
• Hermano already mentioned in our Sports Guide, this has two Venezuelan brothers going out for a soccer team; look out for sinister developments and a reason for this being classified in the Love Me, Do pathway. (7 p.m. @ Harvard Exit; May 22, 3 p.m. @ the Admiral)
• 3 Improbabilities abound in Tom Tykwer’s latest, a fantastical and occasionally comedic take on a heterosexual couple inadvertently conducting separate affairs with the same scientist. Existing in a slightly parallel Berlin universe where a television host sits on bioethics panels, angels appear on sidewalks before flying off to heaven, health care experimentalists perform psychologically traumatic testicle removals under local anesthesia, and a surprise handjob after a race in a sexy sexy swimming pool in the Spree River can have all sorts of repercussions, the director’s keen eye for style keeps the whole thing interesting. (7 p.m.; May 21, 1:30 p.m. @ the Neptune)

• High Road a partially improvized slacker farce about what happens to a pothead philosopher when everyone quits his band in favor of paying work. (9:30 p.m. @ the Neptune; also May 21, 8:30 p.m. @ the Admiral; June 7, 9:30 p.m. @ the Egyptian)

• Trollhunter Norwegian students uncovering a government troll conspiracy in midnight movie mix of the Blair Witch Project and Scooby Doo? Sold. (11:59 p.m. @ the Egyptian; May 24, 9:30 p.m. @ the Neptune)

Saturday May 21

• Nuummioq At long last, a feature film produced entirely in Greenland! (11 a.m. @ the Neptune; May 26, 9 p.m. @ the Admiral)
  
• The Trip We can only expect hijinks when Michael Winterbottom directs Steve Coogan on a slightly autobiographical story about two friends touring England’s Lake District to review fancy restaurants. (Saturday, 3:30 p.m. @ Harvard Exit; May 23, 9:15 p.m. @ the Admiral)
  
• Natural Selection this big winner at SXSW finds Rachel Harris as a Christian housewife hitting the road to track down her sperm-donating husband’s drug-addled ex-convict son. (4 p.m. @ Renton IKEA; and May 25, 7 p.m.; May 27, 4 p.m. @ the Egyptian)
  
• Another Earth Our planet’s long-secret twin surprisingly shows up one night, triggering a personal tragedy and serving as a source of inspiration for people wondering if their doubles on the mysterious other planet have less troubled lives. Looks dreamy and moving. (6:30 p.m. @ the Egyptian; also screening May 23, 4:30 p.m. @ the Neptune)
• Kosmos “What Erdem has created here is positively hypnotic,” says Twitch about this visceral fantasy straight out of Turkey, featuring a mysterious, miraculous stranger and a small village that first welcomes him, though their hospitality becomes hostility. (6:15 pm; Sunday, 1:30 p.m. @ Harvard Exit)
  
• The Future A new film from Miranda “Me and You and Everyone We Know” July that’s narrated by a talking cat swims in magic realism as a couple plays with time and figures out their relationship. Apparently audiences find it divisive–which makes it a great choice for SIFF’s New American Cinema Spotlight. Engage the director in a Q&A following the screening or after a few drinks at the subsequent party. (7:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place; May 23, 4:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema)
• LOVE a dreamlike time-tripping fantasy inspired by the music of Angels & Airwaves. (10 p.m. @ Pacific Place;  May 22, 1:30 p.m. @ SIFF Cinema; June 11, 9:30 p.m. @ the Egyptian)

Sunday May 22

• Beginners Pay tribute to Ewan McGregor’s lifetime of acting achievements–one hopes that this award from SIFF doesn’t mark the end of his life or career–with a screening of Mike Mills’s story of a son who talks to dogs (that don’t talk back) and his recently out-of-the closet father played by Christopher Plummer. The film will be followed by a retrospective of young Obi Wan’s career along with a Q&A with the actor and director. (Sunday, 4 p.m. @ the Egyptian)
• If you didn’t have the cash to dine with Ewan, stick around and sing along with Moulin Rouge all over again. (9 p.m. @ the Egyptian)
• 22nd of May Belgian director Koen Mortier examines the destabilized life of a security guard in the aftermath of a terrorist attack. Twitch calls it “a dark cousin to Wings of Desire-era Wim Wenders,” but IMDB only gives it 6 stars. Who is correct?! (11 a.m.; Tuesday, 9:30 p.m. @ Pacific Place)
• Four More Years SIFF loves the bisexual love triangle! This one has a married Swedish politician falling for a high-ranking government official from the party that just beat him in the election for Prime Minister! Talk about shadow cabinets. (1:30 p.m.  & May 23, 9:30 p.m. @ the Egyptian; May 28, 1 p.m. @ Pacific Place)
• Happy, Happy Make it a double-feature of comedic films about secretly/surprisingly gay Swedish guys with this one peering under the surface a disintegrating sexless marriage, complete with affairs and out-of-control kids. (6:45 p.m. @ the Neptune; May 24, 8:30 p.m. @ Renton IKEA)
• Without Shot on Whidbey Island, this story about a young woman taking care of a man in a vegetative state while confronting powerful truths about herself looks awfully heavy. (Sunday, 9:30 p.m. @ Harvard Exit; May 23, 4:30 p.m. @ the Egyptian)