Author name: Kasey Martin

The Chicago International Film Festival is very excited to welcome the director of Clean Up, Kwon Man-ki. Clean Up follows grief-ridden Jung-Ju as she passively toils at her cleaning job until the arrival of a newly hired ex-con shakes her out of her complacency. Although the young man doesn’t recognize her, Jung-Ju perpetrated a crime against him and his family when he was a boy. The ripple effects of this act slowly play out in their fraught relationship, gradually building into waves of guilt, confusion and anger that threaten to consume them both.[…]

The Chicago International Film Festival is very excited to welcome the director of the closing night film The Front Runner, Jason Reitman. The film follows the rise and fall of Senator Hart (Hugh Jackman), who was considered the overwhelming front runner for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination until the story of an extramarital relationship forced him to drop out of the race—events that left a lasting impact on American politics and the world stage.

The Front Runner

“The Front Runner encourages audiences to contemplate huge changes in attitudes about politicians’ sexual dalliances. […]

The Chicago International Film Festival is very excited to welcome the director and star of The Road Not Taken, Gaopeng Tang and Qi Xiaojing. The film’s protagonist is a bumbling ostrich farmer, indebted to the local mob. He agrees to take care of a sullen kidnapped boy until his father pays his ransom. The odd pair impulsively hits the road, and antics abound as they link up with other transient souls who inhabit the expansive plains of China’s Gobi Desert.[…]

The Chicago International Film Festival is very excited to welcome the director of Facing the Wind, Meritxell Colell Aparicio. The film begins when choreographer Mónica returns to the small Spanish village where she was born to visit her father on his deathbed. Arriving too late, she is left to help her grieving mother sell the family home and to confront her own feelings of loss and remorse. Movement and dance give powerful emotion to newcomer Aparicio’s elegant drama about coming to terms with the past and pressing on.[…]