The 59th Chicago International Film Festival happens October 11-22. For information visit chicagofllmfestival.com.
North America’s longest-running competitive film festival presents more than 100 feature films and 60 short films from around the world. Everything from the made-in-Chicago Opening Night film We Grown from festival alum Minhal Baig to director Raven Jackson’s lyrical and haunting All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt in the International Competition, Black Perspectives and Women in Cinema categories, the festival seeks to inspire, cajole and even frighten film lovers of every genre.
This year’s festival includes tributes to Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominated writer, director, actress and author Emerald Fennell and her film Saltburn and the Visionary Award Presentation at the Music Box Theatre on Thursday, October 19 and the Artistic Achievement Award presentation Sunday, October 22 to director Jeff Nichols of Little Rock, Arkansas and his hard-hitting Closing Night Film The Bikeriders, also at the Music Box.
Black Perspectives celebrates the cultural and historical impact of African-American directors and the Black experience. In-person director appearances and screenings of their films will feature Raven Jackson’s All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, Senegal’s Ramata-Toulaye Sy and her film Banel and Adama and Rwanda’s Myriam U. Birara’s The Bride, among others.
This year’s festival is All New with a new set of venues for screenings including an Opening Night Block Party Wednesday, October 11 at the Music Box Theatre. Other venues spread far and wide across the city include the main screenings at AMC New City 14 on the near North Side in the Clybourn Corridor, the North Side’s Music Box Theater Gene Siskel Film Center in The Loop, the Chicago History Museum in Lincoln Park, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago near Woodlawn, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Streeterville off the Magnificent Mile and pop-up screenings in Chicago’s communities, including Hamilton Park Field House in Englewood and Harrison Park in Pilsen. A selection of films will also be available on your home computer via the festival’s streaming platform. With premieres of films from the U.S., Ukraine, South Korea, Spain, Georgia, China, France, Mexico, Japan, Iran, Argentina and more, there is something for everyone from everywhere on the planet. Visit chicagofilmfestival.com.
2023 Community Cinema is already underway with a Free Screening this Friday, September 22 at Harrison Park Filed House, 1824 S. Wood St. Chicago at 6:30pm. For info on this and other screenings, visit chicagofilmfestival.com.