Fatih Akin (Head-On, Soul Kitchen) is on the short list of the

Fatih Akin (Head-On, Soul Kitchen) is on the short list of the most intriguing 21st-century directors, and his latest effort, The Cut, travels into the realm of historical epic—namely the slaughter of Armenians by Turks during World War I. A Prophet star Tahir Rahim plays a survivor searching for family members. Adding intrigue is that Akin, a German of Turkish heritage, collaborates here with Raging Bull screenwriter Mardik Martin, an American of Armenian heritage. (SIFF Cinema Egyptian, 4 p.m. Mon., May 25 & 9:30 p.m. Wed., June 3)

The Great War remains a deservedly compelling subject during these centenary years, which might bring extra attention to experimental filmmaker Bill Morrison’s Beyond Zero: 1914–1918. Morrison (his Decasia was the first 21st-century film named to the Library of Congress Film Registry) makes hypnotic imagery from decayed film stock, and this 39-minute offering uses original WWI footage that has apparently never been shown. Music by the Kronos Quartet accompanies the images. (SIFF Film Center, 6 p.m. Sat., May 16 & 7 p.m. Sun., May 17)

One of the great ongoing duels of the counterculture era was the intellectual swordsmanship between William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal—the multisyllabic prince of conservatism and the erudite lefty born of political royalty. Sometimes the sparring wasn’t so much intellectual as nasty and low, as we will presumably witness in Best of Enemies, a documentary chronicle of the duo’s Crossfire-style set-tos. It’s very difficult to imagine this not being a hoot. (SIFF Cinema Uptown, 6 p.m. Sat., May 16. Pacific Place, 1:30 p.m. Sun., May 17)

This should be the grindhouse double-bill of the season: A recently rediscovered Chinese silent from 1927, Cave of the Spider Woman, will be followed by its 1973 kung fu remake, Cave of the Silken Web. The story follows a Buddhist monk and his companions who are lured into a cave, where . . . well, spider women. Expert practitioner Donald Sosin provides live piano accompaniment for the silent. (Uptown, 6:30 p.m. Wed., June 3)

And speaking of the grindhouse, anybody who survived ’80s cinema should be curious about Electric Boogaloo: The Wild Untold Story of Cannon Films, a documentary look at a film company that appeared—at the time and in retrospect—to be certifiably insane. Cannon, run by the tireless Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, churned out yards of dreck featuring Chuck Norris and martial-arts nonentities (I have never really recovered from Ninja III: The Domination), but also bankrolled John Cassavetes and Jean-Luc Godard. Hear it all explained in 105 almost-certainly entertaining minutes. (Lincoln Square, 3:30 p.m. Thurs., May 28. Egyptian, 11:55 p.m. Sat., May 30. Uptown, 9:30 p.m. Tues., June 2)

At some point Hungarian filmmaker Gyorgy Palfi is going to score a real international hit. Based on advance word, it sounds like Free Fall might not be it, but the director of the whimsical Hukkle and the outrageous Taxidermia can be counted on for something diverting. The movie is a collection of vignettes about the denizens of an apartment building, tied together by the efforts of a woman to climb back up the stairs of the place after throwing herself off the roof. (Harvard Exit, 11 a.m. Sun., May 17 & 6:30 p.m. Fri., May 22. Lincoln Square, 8 p.m. Tues., May 26)

David Gulpilil is one of the most fascinating stars in world cinema, and his great project—since debuting at 17 in the 1971 classic Walkabout—has been tracking the complexities of Aboriginal life in the modern era. Charlie’s Country is his third collaboration with director Rolf de Heer (Ten Canoes), and it won Gulpilil a special acting prize at Cannes last year. Here he plays an old-timer who claims affinity with traditional ways but is stuck in the 21st century. (Harvard Exit, 4 p.m. Fri., May 15 & 9:30 p.m. Sat., May 16)

In his films Kitchen Stories and O’Horten, Bent Hamer stretched his Scandinavian deadpan to the point of almost cracking a smile. Those very droll outings are reason enough to take a shot with 1001 Grams, which sounds a little softer in tone: It’s about a Norwegian scientist (Ane Dahl Torp) who must retain her northern reserve while attending a conference to establish the absolute weight of a single kilo. (Uptown, 4:30 p.m. Fri., May 15. Harvard Exit, 9:30 p.m. Sun., May 17)

The electronic-dance-music boom in 1992 Paris may or may not be your thing, but Mia Hansen-Løve (Father of My Children) has quietly established a distinctive voice as a filmmaker. Therefore Eden holds some interest, and it might be a footnote to music-biopic history by being the first film to include characters based on the musicians who would become Daft Punk. (Uptown, 9:30 p.m. Thurs., June 4. Egyptian, 4 p.m. Fri., June 5)

There are true stories that make one curious about what the hell, exactly, might have been going on behind the headlines. The bizarre theft of Charlie Chaplin’s body from its gravesite in 1978 is one of those stories. The Price of Fame seeks to dramatize this tawdry little event, with a cast that includes Chiara Mastroianni and Benoit Poelvoorde. It’s directed by Xavier Beauvois, whose 2010 Of Gods and Men was a surprise arthouse smash. (Uptown, 7 p.m. Wed., May 27 & 4 p.m. Fri., May 29. Kirkland Performance Center, 8:30 p.m. Fri., June 5)

Peter Greenaway has been working in increasingly obscure margins of world cinema for 20 years, but it sounds as if Eisenstein in Guanajuato is his wildest work in some time. The film looks at the great Sergei Eisenstein’s interlude in Mexico in the early 1930s, evidently served up with flamboyant sex and jarring stylistic flourishes. Eisenstein never completed his Mexican film—nor ever recaptured the good graces of Soviet authorities. (Egyptian, 7 p.m. Sat., June 6. Uptown, 5 p.m. Sun., June 7) SIFF will also screen the 1979 compilation of Eisenstein’s footage, Que Viva Mexico!—a stunning artifact in its own right. (Uptown, 2:30 p.m. Sun., June 7)

Heaven Knows What looks at junkie culture in Manhattan, observed at the micro-budget level. This is the new film by Josh and Ben Safdie, whose previous work, including Daddy Longlegs, has been distinctively not-quite-what-you’d-expect from their downtown indie pedigree. (Uptown, 9 p.m. Fri., May 22 & 2 p.m. Sun., May 24)

SIFF’s bulked-up survey of African films in recent years has been a welcome thing, and this year’s slate sounds strong. While looking at the new work, save time for archival restorations. One is Ousmane Sembene’s Black Girl (1966), a film long since afforded classic status. (Harvard Exit, 7 p.m. Mon., June 1) Much rarer is Alyam, Alyam, a restored 1978 drama by Moroccan director Ahmed El-Maanouni about a young Moroccan who plans to escape his dreary rural existence by emigrating to France. (Harvard Exit, 4:30 p.m. Mon., May 25)

film@seattleweekly.com

Read the rest of Seattle Weekly’s coverage of SIFF here.