53rd Festival Films, Events, Special Guests Announced!

A Letter from Mimi Plauché, Artistic Director:

Welcome to the 53rd Chicago International Film Festival. It is an honor to serve as the new Artistic Director of Cinema/Chicago and the Chicago International Film Festival. Following the tradition pioneered by Michael Kutza, this year’s program is electrifying, challenging, and entertaining. We continue our passion for presenting highly anticipated awards-season contenders side by side with indie treasures and exciting new discoveries.

It’s another great year for film. This year’s program has an eclectic mix of genres and styles from dark comedies that will make you laugh in spite of yourself to intense psychological thrillers that will keep you on the edge of your seat and insightful documentaries that will dare you to engage with the world in deeper ways. From Brazil to Iran, Senegal to Chicago, we are welcoming back Festival favorites, distinguished masters, and rising talents. Come see for yourselves!

Mimi Plauché, Artistic Director
Michael Kutza, Founder & CEO

View the 53rd Festival Guide

Festival Key Dates:
(53rd Festival – October 12-26)

• October 12 – Opening Night Celebration; Opening Night film: Marshall; Opening Night talent in attendance: director Reginald Hudlin; actors Chadwick Boseman​, Josh Gad​, and Sterling K. Brown; and producer Paula Wagner
• October 16 – Tribute: Vanessa Redgrave 
• October 18 – Centerpiece film: Lady Bird
• October 19-22 – Industry Days
• October 20 – Awards Night
• October 21 – Tribute: Alfre Woodard
• October 25 – Tribute: Sir Patrick Stewart
• October 26 – Closing Night Ceremony; Closing Night film: The Shape of Water; Tribute: Michael Shannon 

Special Guests in Attendance:
(Check film pages for dates.)

• 1945
  Director Ferenc Török
• ’63 BoyCott
  Director Gordon Quinn, Producers Rachel Dickson and Tracye A. Matthews
• Ali’s Wedding
  Director Jeffrey Walker
• Aurora Borealis
  Director Márta Mészáros
• The Ballad of Lefty Brown
  Director Jared Moshé and actor Bill Pullman
• Barrage
  Director Laura Schroeder
• Before Summer Ends
  Director Maryam Goormaghtigh
• BIG Time
  Director Kaspar Astrup Schröder
• Birds are Singing in Kigali
  Director Joanna Kos-Krauze
• Bitter Flowers
  Director Olivier Meys
• Black Cop
  Director Cory Bowles, Producer Aaron Horton
• Blow Up
  Actress Vanessa Redgrave
• The Blue Years
  Director Sofía Gómez-Córdova, Actors Luis Velázquez and Natalia Gómez
• Blueprint
  Director Daryl Wein; Actors Jerod Haynes, Edgar Sanchez, Tai Davis, Shanesia Davis, Sandra Adams-Monegain
• Budapest Noir
  Director Éva Gárdos
• The Cakemaker
  Director Ofir Raul Graizer
• Charleston
  Director Andreï Cretulescu
• The Charmer
  Director Milad Alami
• Chasing the Blues
  Director Scott Smith; Producers Aria DeBenny, John Fromstien, J.J. Ingram; Actors Jon Lovitz and Grant Rosenmeyer
• Chateau
  Directors Barry Modi and Cedric Ido
• Conditioner (short)
  Director Shane Beam
• The Confession
  Director Zaza Urushadze, Producer Ivo Felt
• Control
  Director Jan Verheyen
• Creep 2
  Director Patrick Brice
• Custody
  Director Xavier Legrand
• The Divine Order
  Director Petra Volpe
• Edith + Eddie
  Director Laura Checkoway, Editor/Co-Producer Corwin Lamm
• El Mar la Mar
  Director J.P. Sniadecki
• The Endless
  Directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead
• The Experimental City
  Director Chad Freidrichs
• La Familia
  Director Gustavo Rondón Córdova
• For Akheem
  Executive Producer Jeff Truesdell, Producer Iyabo Boyd, Doc Subject Daje Shelton
• Four Hands
  Director Oliver Kienle, Producer Markus Reinecke
• Hannah
  Director Andrea Pallaoro
• Harpoon
  Director Tom Espinoza
• Hunting Season
  Director Natalia Garagiola
• In the Intense Now
  Director João Moreira Salles
• In the Shadows
  Director Dipesh Jain
• Innards (short)
  Director Tyler Rubenfeld
• Jane
  Director Brett Morgen
• Killing Jesus
  Director Laura Mora
• Lady Bird
  Actor Tracy Letts
• Life and Nothing More
  Director Antonio Mendez Esparza
• Life Guidance
  Director Ruth Mader
• Liquid Truth
  Director Carolina Jabor, Actor Daniel de Oliveira
• The Line 
  Actor Andy Hryc
• Lover for a Day
  Actor Esther Garrel
• Macho (short)
  Director Faren Humes
• Maktub
  Producer Adar Shafran, Writers/Actors Hanan Savyon and Guy Amir
• Men Don’t Cry
  Director Alen Drljevic
• The Merciless
  Director Byun Sung-hyun
• Miami
  Actor Sonja Kuittinen
• Mishka (short)
  Director Eszter Janka
• A Moon of Nickel and Ice
  Director François Jacob
• Mr. Gay Syria
  Director Ayse Peker
• Mudbound
  Screenwriter Virgil Williams
• Mutafukaz
  Director Guillaume “Run” Renard
• Never Here
  Director Camille Thoman
• Never Steady, Never Still
  Director Kathleen Hepburn, Producer Tyler Hagan
• Oblivion Verses
  Director Alireza Khatami
• Offenders
  Director Dejan Zecevic
• Oh, Lucy!
  Director Atsuko Hirayanagi
• Las Olas
  Director Adrián Biniez
• The Other Side of the Wall
  Director Pau Ortiz
• Paris Square
  Producer Gabriela Amadei, Actor Digão Ribeiro
• Pre-Crime
  Director Matthias Heeder
• Princess Cyd
  Director Stephen Cone, Producers Grace Hahn and Madison Ginsberg
• The Rape of Recy Taylor
  Director Nancy Buirski, Producer Claire Chandler
• The Reconciliation
  Director Maciej Sobieszczanski
• The Replacement (short)
  Director Sean Miller
• Rogers Park
  Director Kyle Henry
• Roman J. Israel, Esq.
  Director Dan Gilroy
• Sammy Davis, Jr.: I’ve Gotta Be Me
  Director Sam Pollard
• Scary Mother
  Director Ana Urushadze
• Sea Sorrow
  Director Vanessa Redgrave, Producer Carlo Gabriel Sparanero
• Sicilian Ghost Story
  Director Antonio Piazza
• Sighted Eyes, Feeling Heart
  Director Tracy Strain, Producer Randall MacLowry, Narrator LaTanya Richardson Jackson
• Sketch (short)
  Director Mariama Diallo, Valerie Steinberg
• Sollers Point
  Director Matt Porterfield
• Solo (short)
  Director Terrian Williams
• A Sort of Family
  Director Diego Lerman
• The Square
  Actor Terry Notary
• Standing Nymph and Man (short)
  Director Milad Hosseini-Mozari
• The Streets Are Ours (short)
  Director Michelle Fiordaliso
• Taksim Square (short)
  Director Alexander Girav
• They
  Director Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, Actor Rhys Fehrenbacher
• Thoroughbreds
  Director Cory Finley
• Tiger Girl
  Director Jakob Lass
• Tulipani: Love, Honour and a Bicycle
  Director Mike van Diem
• Under the Tree
  Director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson
• Wandervogel (short)
  Director Mina Fitzpatrick
• The Whiskey Bandit
  Director Nimród Antal
• Wind Traces
  Director Jimena Montemayor
• Winter Brothers
  Actor Simon Sears
• The Work
  Directors Gethin Aldous and Jairus McLeary
• Younger Days
  Director Paula van der Oest, Actor Thijs Boermans
• Zoo
  Director Colin McIvor, Producers Katy Jackson and Tom Vencelides, Designer John Leslie