Art by Zee

Opening in Seattle Friday, May 6, at Metro Cinemas, Queen to Play is French director and screenwriter Caroline Bottaro’s debut film and features features Kevin Kline (in his first French-speaking role) and Sandrine Bonnaire (Vagabond, La Cérémonie) in the story of a quietly intelligent French chambermaid who discovers she has a knack for chess, a talent which sends her on a life-changing quest guided in part by a reclusive American doctor who becomes her tutor in the game.

Also opening locally Friday is Louder Than a Bomb, a documentary by director Jon Siskel about a unique event – a youth poetry slam based on a team model. Instead of pitting individuals against each other, “Louder Than a Bomb” uses a collaborative system which allows young poets to learn from each other and change lives, even their own. Louder Than a Bomb screens at SIFF Cinema from May 6 through May 12; director Jon Siskel and poet Lamar Jordan are expected at the Friday and Saturday screenings; also there will be local poets performing before the 7:30 showings on May 6 and May 7.

Northwest Film Forum continues its Lionel Rogosin series with Come Back, Africa, a film that combines fictional elements with facts in a story shot illicitly on the streets of Johannesberg back in 1960 about a family struggling to survive the racism of their daily lives in the big city slums. The film marks the onscreen debut of African singer Miriam Makebu. Screens May 6 through May 12.

The Grand Illusion offers up Breath (Soom), a Korean love story between a death row inmate played by Chang Chen (Eros, Red Cliff) and the woman who decorates his prison cell (Park ji-Ah).

Late night at the Grand Illusion: Get Crazy

Midnight at The Egyptian: Back to the Future.