A woman with blonde hair and bangs walks away from stone ruins on a hill. She wears a blue button-up shirt and has a backpack slung over her shoulder. Dry hills and a dirt road expand beyond her, a dusty sky over the horizon.

The Dreamed Adventure wins Gold Hugo, other winners announced at 62nd Festival

Festival News

The Chicago International Film Festival announced the award winners from its 62nd edition, with Valeska Griesbach’s The Dreamed Adventure taking home the Gold Hugo for Best Film in the International Feature Competition.

“This film carries the western to the far eastern edge of Europe and gives us one of the most unforgettable heroines in years, a woman whose quiet strength and independence become an act of resistance in a world ruled by men,” the jury wrote. “We were deeply moved by a filmmaking rooted in observation, whose patient attention to every face and every encounter is what makes the adventure possible.”

Other notable winners include La Gradiva taking home Silver Hugos for Best Director (Marine Atlan) and Best Ensemble Performance, Everytime winning Silver Hugos for the Jury Prize and Best Supporting Performance (Lotte Shirin Keiling), and All of a Sudden, which took home the Silver Hugo for Best Screenplay (Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Léa Le Dimna).

The Dreamed Adventure also won the Silver Hugo for Best Lead Performance (Yana Radeva), while Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Look Back won for Best Cinematography (Senzo Ueno) and The Spiral won Best Visual Effects.

Gessica Généus’s Marie Madeline won the Gold Hugo in the New Directors Competition, Alessandra Sanguinetti’s The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer took home the Gold Hugo in the International Documentary Competition, Summer Drift won the Gold Q-Hugo in the Outlook Competition, and Finding Your Laughter was recognized with the Chicago Award in the City & State Competition.

See the full list of winners below.

International Feature Film Competition

Gold Hugo: Best Film
A woman with blonde hair and bangs walks away from stone ruins on a hill. She wears a blue button-up shirt and has a backpack slung over her shoulder. Dry hills and a dirt road expand beyond her, a dusty sky over the horizon.

The Dreamed Adventure

 Valeska Grisebach | Germany, France, Bulgaria, Austria

Silver Hugo: Jury Prize
A woman and two young people sit on a mountian overlook above a rugged coastline, gazing at the landscape as the young girl hugs the woman from behind.

Everytime

 Sandra Wollner | Austria, Germany

Silver Hugo: Best Director
A young man stands alone in a large museum, he wears a white graphic tee and blue joggers and stands in front of a large classical marble statue and green marble pillars.

Marine Atlan (La Gradiva)

 Marine Atlan | France, Italy

Silver Hugo: Best Lead Performance
A woman with blonde hair and bangs walks away from stone ruins on a hill. She wears a blue button-up shirt and has a backpack slung over her shoulder. Dry hills and a dirt road expand beyond her, a dusty sky over the horizon.

Yana Radeva (The Dreamed Adventure)

 Valeska Grisebach | Germany, France, Bulgaria, Austria

Silver Hugo: Best Supporting Performance
A woman and two young people sit on a mountian overlook above a rugged coastline, gazing at the landscape as the young girl hugs the woman from behind.

Lotte Shirin Keiling (Everytime)

 Sandra Wollner | Austria, Germany

Silver Hugo: Best Ensemble Performance
A young man stands alone in a large museum, he wears a white graphic tee and blue joggers and stands in front of a large classical marble statue and green marble pillars.

The cast of La Gradiva

 Marine Atlan | France, Italy

Silver Hugo: Best Screenplay
Two women sit at water's edge in a bustling city at night. A woman with long blonde hair looks over her shoulder tensely as a woman with a black pixie cut looks mindfully to the sky.

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi & Léa Le Dimna (All of a Sudden)

 Ryûsuke Hamaguchi | France, Japan, Germany, Belgium

Silver Hugo: Best Cinematography
Two young women in close up sit at a table on the floor, they draw with dip ink pens as warm sunlight spills into the room through the windows behind them.

Senzo Ueno (Look Back)

 Hirokazu Kore-eda | Japan

Silver Hugo: Best Visual Effects
A family of four and a dog gather around an elegant table in a front lawn. The small table is set perfectly, food set out, and they pose smiling in warm sunlight. Behind them ivy, stairs, and a mansion frame the yard.

The Spiral

 Paolo Strippoli | Italy, France, Belgium

New Directors Competition

Gold Hugo
A woman sits in the back of a truck smoking a cigarette with her eyes closed, she has bright red hair and wears a light pink tank in the early evening framed by a tree and a stone wall.

Marie Madeleine

 Gessica Généus | France, Haiti, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada

Silver Hugo
A somber woman stands before a gray, red, and orange train at an outdoor station platform. She wears a dark coat and scarf as blurred passengers pass behind her on a dull cloudy day.

What Belongs to Others

 Grzegorz Debowski | Poland

Documentary Competition

Gold Hugo
Two young girls play dress-up. One girl in a cropped red shirt wears earrings and necklaces, she looks into the distance. The other girl in a blue floral shirt examines one of the necklaces; she wears beaded bracelets, earrings, and a necklace of her own.

The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer

 Alessandra Sanguinetti | Argentina, U.S.

Silver Hugo
Black-and-white close up of Michèle Firk, a woman with a dark pixie cut with defined eyebrows gazing at the camera. She wears a knowing expression, lips slightly parted, in defining lighting.

Tricontinental: Letter to Open in Case of...

 Laura Cazador | Switzerland, Cuba

OutLook Competition

Gold Q-Hugo
A woman and man relax in pool floats on a large body of water. The woman wears glasses and a bikini, a hat resting in her float as she lets her head fall into the water, a drink resting between her knees. The man is shirtless and has a beard, he lies on his back, head in his hands, a drink in his floaty.

Summer Drift

 Céline Carridroit, Aline Suter | Switzerland, France

Silver Hugo
In a cozy home with pink walls, many friends gather around a table with drinks and cigarettes, some chat and enjoy each others' comany while a few of the guests wear solemn expressions. The room is warmly lit by a lamp, as the night is visible through the large windows.

The Man I Love

 Ira Sachs | U.S.

Special Mention
In a cozy home with pink walls, many friends gather around a table with drinks and cigarettes, some chat and enjoy each others' comany while a few of the guests wear solemn expressions. The room is warmly lit by a lamp, as the night is visible through the large windows.

Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building

 Bruno Santamaría Razo | Mexico, Brazil, Denmark

City & State Competition

Chicago Award
A woman in a ruffled white blouse and braids with hair jewelry performs into a microphone on stage, she stands before a brick wall and a poster that says Riddles Comedy Club.

Finding Your Laughter

 Arlieta Hall & Brittany Alsot | U.S.

Live Action Short Film Competition

Gold Hugo
Two women in scrubs and scrub caps have a thoughtful disscussion outside against a weathered building, both lean against the building.

Gill

 Manu Zilveti | Cuba, Brazil

Silver Hugo

Ãshegetham

 Filmsaaz | France, Switzerland, Iran

Documentary Short Film Competition

Gold Hugo
A split screen with the caption "U.S. Border Patrol." One half is a hand opening a black car door, the other, a person being detained by ICE in a residental neighborhood.

Sawyer Avenue, Sunday Afternoon

 Bill Morrison | U.S.

Silver Hugo
An older man in a baseball cap in close up stands outside with his lips pursed and brows knitted as he looks into the distance.

Buckskin

 Mars Verrone | U.S.

Animated Short Film Competition

Gold Hugo
Black-and-white illustration in a yellow tone of a dark haired person standing among foliage, gazing across barren land towards a jagged castle beneath clouds.

Fingerbang

 Kim Yeonwoo | South Korea

Silver Hugo
Black-and-white illustration of a grim reaper with a scythe, standing with him is a much smaller child reaper, they stand on a cliff looking into the distance.

A Little Death

 Leto Meade & Jonathan Rockefeller | U.K., U.S..

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