Bloglander

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No whining that you have nothing to do this weekend, people! For 49 hours, beginning at 5 pm tonight, there are nearly 20 different sessions you could attend at the Spokane International Film Festival (at the Magic Lantern and/or at the AMC 20 River Park Square).

Check the SpIFFy schedule and  study our "Get SpIFFed" cover package, but here's a quick overview of what's up this weekend:

Friday night, catch movies about French pastry chefs, a Dutch man wooing a Thai woman via online videogaming, a love triangle shot on the shores of Priest Lake, Two Indians Talking (which consists, heh-heh, of two Indians talking). and a French comedy about a woman achieving self-empowerment by playing chess (and with Kevin Kline in his first French-speaking role). (The photo at right shows Kline and Sandrine Bonnaire in Queen To Play.)

On Saturday, nearly all day, you can learn about a Canadian anthropologist, a Mexican father who takes his son fishing, the daughters of an Australian cancer victim, and a little boy who loses his soccer ball in a very dangerous part of Colombia.

Also on Saturday: A half-dozen directors will discuss their craft in a Filmmakers Forum. The evening's films include an Israeli coming-of-age movie and a documentary about burying nuclear waste deep beneath Finland — and the debate over how to label a facility that is supposed to last for 100,000 years (or else not to label it at all).

Sunday, the final day of SpIFF, brings a documentary about the people who live atop a huge Brazilian landfill, a Czech drama about a man exposed as a Communist sympathizer, that Finnish nuke doc again — and the festival ends with a heart-wrenching doc about a man who filmed his daughter from birth to adulthood, and a Chinese absurdist dramedy.

And after all that, SpIFF won't be back until next year. Do your movie-watching now!