Time to outline my favorite SIFF program: NW Connections! Anytime I see a bunch of local filmmakers, local locations, or really — ANY KIND OF CONNECTION to my hometown I get a little excited, so give me a minute. Because I am hyperventilating over this first one: 

Lynn Shelton's new film (YAYYYYYYY!) Touchy Feely, stars Rosemarie DeWitt (DOUBLE YAYYYYYYY!!) as a massage therapist who suddenly gets the ooks about touching other people. Whoops. That sounds like a career killer. It also has Ellen Page (TRIPLE YAYYYYYY!!!). Anyway. It sounds awesome. OBVIOUSLY. It is LYNN SHELTON. My only real complaint is that I'll be out of town when it screens. *sob* {Screens 5/23, 7pm at the Renton IKEA Performing Arts Center, and again 5/25, 1:30pm at The Egyptian} 

And you know I am ALL OVER Dead Meat Walking – A Zombie Walk Documentary, because HELLO. Awesome. Close-ups of zombie makeup, hoards of crawling living dead coming at the camera, and interviews with Zombie enthusiasts, as well as Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon! I LOVE YOU), and special F/X maestro Tom Savini!!! YES. Side note: I hope someone tells us when the Zombie invasion of the Light Rail is, because I wanna be on it when it happens. (I have just given someone that idea for free. you're welcome). {Screens 5/24, 11:55pm at the Egyptian, and again on 5/25, 8:30pm at the Renton IKEA Performing Arts Center} 

Speaking of blood and gore, you might recognize one Mr. Sean Nelson as a "sleazy" (SIFF's words, not mine!) bar owner in Shadowed, a good old-fashioned bloody slasher flick about a group of friends backpacking in the Cascade Mountains who stat getting picked off one by one, which causes all kinds of TRUST ISSUES. And other stuff. Hopefully bloody, splatter-y stuff. {Screens 5/28, 7pm and again on 5/29, 4pm at SIFF Cinema Uptown} 

Photogs and music fans alike will be excited to see Her Aim is True, about revered music photographer Jini Dellaccio (who I want to be BFFs with right now because she comes across as being SO DAMN COOL in the trailer), who started capturing bands on film in the 1960s starting with The Sonics and The Wailers. Beautiful, beautiful stuff.  {Screens 5/26, 4pm and again 5/27, 2pm at The Harvard Exit} 

You can also follow the path of Initiative 502 from its first spark (heh) through the historical moment when IT WAS ALL HAPPENING in Evergreen: The Road to Legalization in Washington. Seattle-based Director Riley Morton (Found on Everest) interviews people on both sides of the debate for an engaging look at how it all went down. Sounds like some heavy stuff to think about, Dude. {Screens 6/6, 9:30pm at The Egyptian, and again 6/8, 12pm at SIFF Cinema Uptown} 

And then there's Barzan, a documentary that probably will make you hate America. Focusing on Sam "Barzan" Malkandi, a Bothell, WA man whose name ended up on a 9/11 Commission Report, which caused his arrest for several counts of terrorism–despite no hard evidence linking him to any attacks. Or is there? I'm betting this one is going to be extra hard to watch, but I really want to see it. {Screens 5/23, 7pm at The Harvard Exit, and again 6/2, 12:30pm at the Kirkland Performance Center} 

Middleton looks like kind of your typical romantic comedy, throwing two parents touring a college with their parents and falling in love. This would normally make me feel like hurling, but it's got BOTH Vera Farmiga and his sister Taissa in it, so uh. I gotta. Because Vera Farmiga is amazing at everything she does. (PS: Tom Skerrit makes an appearance too!) {Screens 5/17, 7pm at The Harvard Exit, and again 5/19, 1pm at The Egyptian} 

Finishing out the program are films including the subject of Huntington's disease in Alive and Well, which focuses on seven different people living with it in different ways {5/22 & 5/23}; Big Joy, about experimental (and controversial) filmmaker, poet, and queer activist James Broughton {5/31 & 6/1}; Finding Hillywood, about the growing film industry in Rwanda {5/29 & 6/5}; Improvement Club, which is some kind of mockumentary/musical/comedy/dance hybrid about a Seattle performance group … and the American Revolution {6/4 & 6/5};  Scrapper, a drama about a Seattle metal scrapper who's life gets shaken up when he meets an 18-year-old runaway {5/21 & 5/22}; and Unhung Hero, about some dude who's so fixated on his girlfriend dumping him for having a small penis that he decided to make an entire documentary to see if size really matters {6/4 & 6/5}. And of course there's also the Seattle Supersonic Shorts on ShortsFest weekend {5/27}, and the Fly Filmmaking Challenge {5/27 & 6/5}. 

{Films with NW Connections that are also in the Face the Music program: The Otherside and The Punk Singer} 

So many good choices! What are you going to be lining up for?