The Chicago International Film Festival recently announced the full lineup of films and programs included in this year’s 59th edition of North America’s longest-running competitive film festival.
This year’s Festival unspools films across the city, with screenings at 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, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and pop-up screenings at the Hamilton Park Cultural Center in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood and Harrison Park in Pilsen, as well as a curated selection of films available virtually via the Festival’s streaming platform.
The program includes 99 feature films and 58 shorts, three World Premieres, an International Premiere, 19 North American Premieres, and 19 U.S. Premieres, and showcases cinema from countries around the world, including Ukraine, South Korea, Spain, Georgia, China, France, Mexico, Japan, Iran, Argentina, and more.
The 59th Chicago International Film Festival opens October 11, 2023 with celebrated Chicago filmmaker Minhail Baig’s “We Grown Now,” the heartfelt story of two ten-year-old boys as they revel in the freedoms of boyhood and the joys of friendship growing up in Cabrini-Green in 1992 Chicago. The projects are their playground, and every stairway, roof and stretch of blacktop is just another place for adventure.
But when violence comes to their neighborhood, their safe haven is fractured, and Malik’s mother Dolores (Jurnee Smollett) must decide whether to stay or move away.
Take a look at the trailer: https://youtu.be/0MOBXD1ItjI?si=vRVoBuc24M-qpo-f.
Closing Night on October 22 sees writer-director Jeff Nichols receiving the Festival’s Artistic Achievement Award with his “The Bikeriders,” a furious drama following the rise of a fictional 1960s Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members.
The Festival’s Centerpiece presentation is “Saltburn,” in which Academy Award-winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell brings us a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire screening October 19 with Fennell in attendance to receive the Festival’s Visionary Award.
Special Presentations include “The Boy and the Heron” from animation maestro Hayao Miyazaki; “The Holdovers” from Alexander Payne, seeing Paul Giamatti’s curmudgeonly instructor babysitting a handful of prep school students over Christmas break; and Michael Shannon’s directorial debut “Eric Larue, among others.
International Competitions
Films include Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist;” Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves;” and “Goodbye Julia,” Mohamed Kordofani’s look at two women from different class and racial backgrounds forming a dangerous bond against the backdrop of South Sudan’s impending secession.
Local Stories
The Chicago and Illinois production communities take center stage in the Festival’s City & State program, featuring the World Premiere of Haroula Rose’s delightfully dysfunctional family comedy “All Happy Families;” Clare Cooney’s update on the teen slasher “Departing Seniors;” holding its North American premiere at the Music Box Theatre on Opening Night; and “Food Roots;” from Michele Josue, charting Chicago restaurateur Billy Dec’s journey to reconnect with his Filipino heritage.
There are also Short Film and Architecture slates.
Black Perspectives
The 2023 Black Perspectives program boasts fascinating and powerful documentary stories with special guests in attendance, including Raoul Peck(“I Am Not Your Negro”) in person, presenting his shocking story of a Black family who fought to keep their ancestral land, “Silver Dollar Road;” Roger Ross WIlliams’ “Stamped From The Beginning,” narrated by bestselling author Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, who will be on hand for a post-screening discussion.
“The Space Race,” the as-yet-untold story of the Black astronauts who boldly go where no Black Americans had gone before, featuring Chicago’s own Dr. Mae Jemison and directed by attending filmmakers Lisa Cortés and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza; and the World Premiere of local filmmaker Eric D. Seals’ “Bike Vessel,” in which father and son embark on an epic bike ride from St. Louis to Chicago, taking a hard look at health disparities in the Black community are scheduled.
Narrative feature highlights include Raven Jackson’s lyrical, decades-spanning exploration of a woman’s life in Mississippi, “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” playing in the International Feature Film Competition; and Colman Domingo’s towering and electrifying performance as the architect of 1963’s momentous March on Washington in George C. Wolfe’s “Rustin.”
Bayard Rustin was one of the greatest activists and organizers the world has ever known. He challenged authority, never apologized for who he was, what he believed, or who he desired. And he did not back down. He made history, and in turn, he was forgotten.
Take a look at the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lBqMhZ3NBg
The Chicago International Film Festival runs October 11 – 22, 2023 with film screenings and programs presented at venues across the city.
All tickets and membership subscription purchases, and a full schedule are available at https://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/.
