The 49th Seattle International Film Festival (May 11-21) opens next week, featuring 264 shorts, docs, and narrative films from 74 countries. As always, the looming question is – where to begin? I’ve found the trick to navigating festivals is developing a 6th sense for films in your wheelhouse (so I embrace my OCD and channel it like a cinematic dowser). (deep breath) Let’s dive in. This year’s Opening Night Gala selection is Past Lives (USA/Korea), the latest offering from A24 (Ex Machina, Ladybird, Moonlight, Everything Everywhere All at Once, et.al.). Billed as “a heartrending modern romance”, the drama was written and directed by Celine Song, who will be attending and participating in a Q&A following the screening. Always with the personal drama: Dean Kavanagh’s Hole in the Head (Ireland) is a character study about a mute projectionist who uses the tools of his trade as a conduit for coming to terms with long-repressed memories. Adolfo (Mexico, U.S. premiere) is first-time writer-director Sofia Auza’s tale of two twentysomething strangers who form a close bond over the course of one fateful evening (possible shades of Before Sunrise). Utilizing the backdrop of late-80s Thatcherism, Georgia Oakley’s debut feature Blue Jean (U.K.) concerns a P.E. teacher entering her first queer relationship just as the British government passes The Local Government Act-which (among other things) prohibited local authorities from promoting homosexuality (timely, considering recent legislation here in the colonies). Another period drama with political undercurrents is Chile ’76 (Chile/Argentine/Qatar). During Chile’s oppressive Pinochet era, an…