Highlights: 30th Anniversary of Black Perspectives; Tributes to Carrie Coon, Ira Sachs, Andrew Haigh, Jordan Firstman, Sophie Okonedo, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Marlon Wayans
The Chicago International Film Festival recently announced the full lineup of films and programs included in this year’s 62nd edition of North America’s longest-running competitive film festival, unspooling October 14 – 25.
This year’s program includes 113 feature films and 57 shorts, four World Premieres, 15 North American Premieres, and 21 U.S. Premieres, and showcases cinema from more than 60 countries around the world, including Japan, Sweden, Italy, the Central African Republic, Argentina, Iran, Costa Rica, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Germany and more.
The Festival opens on Wednesday, October 14, with A24’s Cannes’ sensation “Club Kid,” about a club promoter who sees his whirlwind lifestyle upended by the arrival of the 10-year-old son he never knew he had, for which writer, director, and star Jordan Firstman will receive the Festival’s Breakthrough Award.
Opening Night After Dark brings “Victorian Psycho,” Zachary Wigon’s delightfully unhinged twist on 19th century social conventions following a psychopathic governess struggling to tamp down her murderous tendencies.
The Centerpiece presentation of “Mouse,” screening Wednesday October 21, brings Chicago filmmaking duo Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson back to the Festival with this gem following teenager Minnie, who forms a complicated relationship with her best friend’s mother and features a tribute to star Sophie Okonedo.
Closing Night presents “Behemoth!,” in which a gifted cellist (Pedro Pascal) returns home after 20 years on the road to face a personal reckoning in Tony Gilroy’s epic journey through time and music. Utilizing an unprecedented nine composers, the film is a love letter to movie scoring and the dizzying power music holds on our memories and our imaginations.
Special guests include Pulitzer-prize-winning and Oscar-shortlisted composer Michael Abels (“Get Out”) who will be in attendance for a post-screening discussion.
Tributes and Retrospectives:
In addition to Firstman and Okonedo’s Tribute events, Carrie Coon is set to be honored with the Festival’s Artistic Achievement Award, delivering one of the year’s most extraordinary performances in Guy Nattiv’s “The Liberation;” director Ira Sachs receives the Q-Hugo Artistic Achievement Award for his “The Man I Love” and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor returns to the Festival with the World Premiere of “Liz Here Now,” picking up the Tour de Force Award for her star turn, among other presentations.
Marlon Wayans is set to receive the Career Achievement Award for his body of work both in front of and behind the camera, during “An Evening with Marlon Wayans;” writer, director and star of “The Watermelon Woman,” Cheryl Dunye, will be honored with the Career Achievement Award at a special retrospective screening of the landmark New Queer Cinema film.
Special Presentations include, among others: “The Debut,” writer/director Jesse Eisenberg’s immensely clever film following an unassuming housewife (Julianne Moore) who, when cast in a community theater production, loses herself under the spell of a strong-willed director (Paul Giamatti)
Spotlight Presentations:
Highlights of this year’s Spotlight Presentations include Pete Farrelly’s “I Play Rocky,” the electrifying true story of how Sylvester Stallone bet everything on himself to play Rocky Balboa; Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney’s definitive portrait of one of the most controversial and unchecked figures of our time in “Musk;” “14th,” a thrilling exposé about the hidden architecture of a shattered America, featuring an appearance by director Ava DuVernay; and “It Will Happen Tonight,” Nanni Moretti’s seductive tale of love and its possibilities following an unforgettable meet-cute.
30th Anniversary of Black Perspectives: The Black Perspectives program, inspired by Spike Lee, celebrates three decades with various tributes.
Chicago Films and Filmmakers In Focus: Chicago and Illinois stories unspool in the Festival’s popular City & State program.
Departures: Global Cinema explores new horizons and opening windows into different worlds, gripping films invite audiences on a journey into the unexpected.
Short Films: The Festival presents 57 short films from around the world, ranging from comedies to dramas, documentaries to thrillers, in nine Shorts Programs. One highlight includes “When They’re Gone,” featuring Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs and Glynn Turman, stars of the Chicago classic “Cooley High,” screening in the “Black Perspectives: Love with No Place to Go” program.
The Chicago International Film Festival runs October 14 – 25, with film screenings and programs presented at venues across the city, including AMC NEWCITY 14, the Music Box Theatre, the Gene Siskel Film Center, the Chicago History Museum, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, as well as community screenings at pop-up locations, including Kennedy-King College and the National Museum of Mexican Art.
Tickets for Opening Night and Centerpiece presentations and for the full slate of films, and more information about the Festival, are available at Chicagofilmfestival.com
