SIFF is wrapping up this weekend and there are only a few more days before it’s all done. Eight films are in the Documentary Competition and I’ve seen them all.

The in-person portion of the 51st Seattle International Film Festival is past its halfway point and is barreling toward closing weekend. Featuring 245 films playing in theaters around town until May 25th (and several making online encores the week after), there’s still plenty of time to catch our city’s biggest film festival in the company of other cinemaniacs.

We share some film’s we’ve seen and are eager to recommend as well as a few that are still at the top of our watchlists.

I grouped these three films together as they have one key factor in common, incredibly strong female characters. While each lead is completely different from the other two, they all have a power that captivates you on screen and keeps you invested in the story from beginning to end. I recommend seeking out all three as you make your way through SIFF.

Boong (Gugun Kipgen) is a precocious kid that lives for getting into playful trouble, more annoying than harmful, with his best friend Raju (Angom Sanamatum). He’s too smart for his own good sometimes, but he knows what’s important.

SIFF prides itself on its selection of offbeat films and for that, I am thankful. Man cannot subsist on documentaries about indigenous water rights and unfairness in the Mexican penal system alone. I don’t know if these are going to be the weirdest movies at SIFF (Fucktoys and Spermageddon issue some promises in their respective titles I expect them to deliver on), these are some of the notable, uhh, unique offerings so far.