KSanders writesHighlights From the 60th Annual Chicago International Film Festival

by Kyle Sanders

As the 60th Chicago International Film Festival settles to its conclusion, I find myself feeling a tad overwhelmed. I've just spent a week visiting family in my home state of Kentucky and returned with a nasty sinus infection.

Those circumstances certainly affected my festival-covering abilities, but that shouldn't suggest I wasn't able to watch some really great international films while away from the Windy City!

I started off with a drama about that irascible plot device known as the generation gap...between gay street hustlers. In the film Baby (Brazil/France/Netherlands), we meet Wellington, an 18-year-old gay man released from juvie who crosses paths with 42-year-old Ronaldo.

Their attraction to one another is palpable, but there's also a master/apprentice relationship brewing as well. Ronaldo teaches Wellington how to survive on the streets using his wits as much as his body. It's also the chance for Ronaldo to become a better father figure--a role that hasn't been easy with his actual son.

Baby

An attempt to define the role of museums, memorials, and monuments is what drives the fictional documentary film crew in Alberta Number One (Canada). The rag tag team travels across Alberta, Canada, stopping off at every roadside attraction they stumble upon to document a place meant for documenting, a place that exists to prove existence.

While trying to investigate the role of such places in culture, the directors and cameramen must also contemplate their own purpose--what their lives will leave behind as well as what they'll take with them.

Alberta Number One

For Samid, participating in the culture of cinema was never a coincidental experience, it was simply passion. In The Return of the Projectionist (France/Germany), we are introduced to this former movie theater projectionist who now lives in rural Azerbaijan. He befriends young teen Ayaz, an aspiring filmmaker who gets recruited to help Samid bring movies back to their small village.

With a little tenacity, these two film lovers prove that the power of cinema can overcome any obstacle--including the approval of wary villagers, the timely delivery of a new projector bulb, and bad wi-fi connections. 

The Return of the Projectionist

In Life and Other Problems (Denmark/UK/Sweden), a Copenhagen zoo must deal with a species surplus issue involving their giraffe population. The solution: the euthanasia of Marius, a teenage giraffe. The decision sends shockwaves around the world, inspiring protests from animal rights activists and blank checks from wildlife reserves.

Marius' fate is just the tip of the iceberg in this provocative documentary--a sort of jumping off point that extends into philosophies about life and death and how consciousness exists within all species. As this wry documentary says, our likeness in other materials is what sparks our outrage.

Life and Other Problems

Outrage is the underlying theme in The Last Republican (US). In this biographical spotlight on former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, we witness his final year in office after not seeking re-election.

From the backlash he received after criticizing Donald Trump's false election claims, to the harrowing experience he faced at the Capitol on January 6th, this documentary details how courage can define us for who we are in the moment as well as for how we live out the rest of our lives. It also sheds light on a political party that is no longer recognizable.

The Last Republican

The power of transformation is the theme of Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts (US). In this delectable documentary, we meet an inclusive LGBTQ+ church, a communal karaoke bar, a progressive marijuana dispensary and an independent BBQ restaurant, all connected by one simple detail: they're located in former Pizza Hut parlors.

While the evolution of the once popular pizza chain is reheated, we travel cross country to these small businesses that have transformed the once recognizable buildings into newly successful establishments. In doing so, we see how the power of change can provide something new and fresh to a community's economy, as well as the ominous influence of corporations that can lead a thriving business to a slow death.

Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts

Transformation is something the protagonist of Thesis on a Domestication (Argentina/Mexico) knows all too well. She's an actress who is not only successful in her career, but trans. Perhaps even more surprising is this (not-so) former sex worker's next project involves settling down as a wife and mother.

This domestic life, however, is anything but traditional, as she marries a gay lawyer with plans to adopt a child with HIV. The demands placed upon a performer can be extreme, but new roles involving wife and mother could put anyone through the ringer. It's a question of whether or not she can pull off all three at once.

Thesis on a Domestication

The demanding pressures of being a model can be especially overwhelming for those starting out. That is the premise of Toxic (Lithuania). Two teen girls from a poverty-stricken village attend a modeling school as a chance for an escape to something better.

What they end up learning about are eating disorders, drug experimentation, and the lecherous gaze of much older men. It's a harrowing journey of girlhood that's one part Thirteen with a dash of The Neon Demon.

Toxic

The relationship between father and son is one of the strongest bonds there is, but what happens when that bond is tested by the rise of fascism? In The Quiet Son (France), a father of two is proud of the way his sons have turned out despite not having a mother. Yet as one prepares to attend university, the other has fallen into a bad crowd--attending protests with skinheads and viewing Nazi-related content online. It's a gripping drama that tests the bounds of love and questions the influence of parenthood.

The Quiet Son

In the documentary Wishing on a Star (Italy/Slovakia/Czech Republic/Austria/Croatia), an astrologer helps clients pursue their desires by sending them to an exotic destination coinciding with their birthdays. While they cannot change their date of birth, they can at least attempt to be reborn in a new locale.

Such clients profiled in the doc are a funeral director attempting to find love to please his controlling mother, a pair of twins so identical they can't decide who is desperate to become a mother, and a lovelorn mother of two who yearns for more passion from her butcher husband. It's a poignant film that is surprisingly captivating. 

Wishing on a Star

Matthias is an employee at MyCompanion, a company that provides you with a--well, "companion" for any event or assistance you might need. The trouble is, no one seems to be there for him. In Peacock (Austria/Germany), Matthias experiences a moment of crisis: his partner leaves the relationship and a stalker begins terrorizing him.

No, it's not a horror film, but a satirical comedy about the breakdown of communication, technology, and performance vs. reality.

Peacock

Sucuarana (Brazil) is the homeland of Dora's mother. But is it real or fictional? Dora sets out on a road trip--with her loyal dog companion in tow--in search of this place, uncertain if she'll ever find it. She ultimately discovers an abandoned factory, befriending the workers who live there. It's like a South American version of Agnes Varda's Vagabond, and just as majestic. 

Suçuarana

The last film I was able to screen was the only festival title I managed to see in theaters: On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (Zambia). After discovering her uncle dead on the side of the road, Shula must follow the customary tradition of a funeral, where she finds herself surrounded by her aunties and mother, plus the young widow of the deceased.

As the women gather, secrets begin spilling out regarding the abuse they experienced from the newly departed. But will these secrets lead to healing, or will they be considered irrelevant with the uncle's passing? And what of this "guinea fowl"--known for their alerting call--in the title? All of this is answered by the film's end.

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

On Becoming a Guinea Fowl received special mention for the film's female ensemble at the Chicago International Film Festival's award ceremony, where it was described as "a collective that illuminates, challenges, and shapes a community's expectation of what it means to properly grieve."

Other award winners were Vermiglio (Italy/France/Belgium), which won the Gold Hugo Award, while the Silver Hugo went to All We Imagine Is Light (France/India/The Netherlands/Luxembourg). Best Director went to Miguel Gomes for Grand Tour (Portugal/Italy/France/Germany/Japan/China), and the Best Male and Female Performances went to Benjamin Voisin for The Quiet Son and Elin Hall for When the Light Breaks (Iceland/The Netherlands/Croatia/France).

To be in its 60th year, the Chicago International Film Festival continues to out-do itself with incredible films from across the globe. Until next year!