KSanders writesHighlights From the 2023 Chicago International Film Festival

by Kyle Sanders

I hope our CHIRP Music Film Festival (co-programmed by yours truly, no less) gave you a taste for more celebrations of cinema, because Chicago's got another heap of films for your viewing pleasure--this time spanning from around the globe.

That's right, it's time for the 59th Annual Chicago International Film Festival! With 99 feature films, 58 shorts, 19 U.S. premieres, and 1 international premiere spread out across eight venues, it might just be the biggest one yet!

It's also a special milestone for me, because this will be my tenth attended festival. I moved to Chicago in August of 2013, so this particular film festival was one of the very first citywide events I ever experienced after moving here, and I've been coming back ever since.

That first year only provided me one title to see (Italy's Salvo, which reminded me of Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive--sans the scorpion bomber jacket), but every year since, I've added more and more to my must-see list, and if I'm able to chew what I've bitten off for this year's lineup, I'll have seen over thirty films (as I'm writing this, I've already crossed off TWENTY titles)!

That includes this year's Opening Night flick, Minhal Biag's We Grown Now, as well as Special Presentations of Michael Shannon's Eric LaRue (October 13), Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron (October 15), Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers (October 19), and Yorgos Lanthimos' upcoming release Poor Things (October 21). Other high profile films featured are David Fincher's The Killer (October 17), Todd Haynes' May December (October 18), and Alexander Payne's The Holdovers (October 20). 

This year's Visionary Award will be given to Emerald Fennell, whose follow-up to her Oscar-winning Promising Young Woman, Saltburn, will be screened on October 19th. If you recall, last year's recipient of this award was Sarah Polley, who won the Adapted Screenplay Oscar this past year for Women Talking, which was included in last year's lineup. Jeff Nichols, whose film The Bikeriders will be closing out the fest on October 22nd, will receive the Artistic Achievement Award.

As always, the films are programmed by categories. There are fifteen films in the International Competition, including Germany's Black Box, Argentina's The Delinquents, Romania's Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, Japan's Evil Does Not Exist, Hungary's Explanation for Everything, and Norway's A Happy Day.

Fourteen titles are competing in the New Director's race, such as Banel and Adama (France, Senegal, Mali), The Battle (Brazil), The Bride (Rwanda), Family Portrait (U.S.), The Hypnosis (Sweden), Lost Country (Serbia), and Solitude (Iceland). There are also several in the running for International Documentary, like After Work (Sweden, Italy, Norway), Alien Island (Chile), Bye Bye Tiberius (France, Belgium, Qatar, Palestine), In the Rearview (Poland, France, Ukraine), and Pictures of Ghosts (Brazil). 

Other programs at the festival include spine-tingling midnight films ("After Dark"), diverse and rich narratives about African-American and Black experiences ("Black Perspectives"), superb films about the LGBTQ+ community ("Outlook"), as well as films involving Chicago, Comedy, and Women in Cinema. And don't forget about the Shorts program!

So many titles, so little time!

The 59th Chicago International Film Fest runs from October 11-22, and films will be screening at NEW locations this year, including AMC NewCity 14, The Music Box Theater, The Gene Siskel Film Center, The Chicago History Museum, and The Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, the Hamilton Park Cultural Center, and the Harrison Park Field House. Get your tickets and more information at chicagofilmfestival.com.