Best of the Fest

After idealistic law student Luisa is convinced by her best friend to move into an Antifa commune in Berlin, she falls under the sway of charismatic radical Alfa and is soon surprised by the changing nature of her own convictions. This urgent drama details the many faces of activism and dissects the nature of justice in the face of extremism.

As an amnesia-inducing pandemic rages across the globe, solitary Aris finds himself in a rehabilitation program for the afflicted. His treatment: performing tasks mimicking life’s milestones and capturing these new memories on Polaroid. Through images deadpan, strange, and surreal, the film posits a beguiling reflection on memory, identity, and loss.

A group of four men in modern-day Iran plot to burn down a movie theater, an act that replicates a historical tragedy that occurred 40 years prior, as society was teetering on revolution. The cinema in their crosshairs is premiering a film about an unexploded missile—a crowd gathers outside the theater in anticipation. Past and [...]

Special Mention, Berlin Film Festival Isolated and lonely, Kang drifts through an urban landscape searching for relief from an unknown ailment. Shut off from the outside world, Non lives in a sparse apartment, meticulously going through the motions of his daily routine. The two meet in an anonymous hotel room with hopes of finding consolation [...]

In 1962, when a strike at a local factory catches ardent Communist Party official Lyudmila and her colleagues off guard, Moscow steps in. Left searching for her missing daughter, who joined the strike, Lyudmilla’s eyes are opened to the human toll of state-sanctioned violence. Filmed in arresting black and white, this historic tale bristles with immediacy.

In this beautifully crafted gem of a film about the joys and pain of living your truth, seven-year-old Sasha works to realize her lifelong dream of being accepted as a girl by her peers, by her parents and by her extended family.

In southern Brazil—in a strange Austrian colony of sorts lost in time—indigenous-Black man Cristovam has arrived from the north to take a job at a milk factory. In the face of unrelenting xenophobia and racism, he finds refuge in an abandoned house filled with art objects and folkloric memorabilia that connect him back to his [...]

A young man is sent to "La Maca,” a prison in the middle of the Ivorian forest ruled by its inmates. As tradition goes with the rising of the red moon, he is designated by the Boss to be the new “Roman” and must tell a story to the other prisoners. Learning what fate awaits [...]

After building a successful career in the U.S., gifted neurosurgeon Márta impulsively returns home to Hungary in pursuit of the man of her dreams, but when she tracks him down in Budapest, he claims they’ve never met. Is he spinning an elaborate deception or has her obsession trapped her in a world of illusions?

Otherworldly. Transcendent. Heartwarming. Insightful. Powerful. These six Hugo Award-winning short films have been selected by our juries as the best of the 56th Chicago International Film Festival.

In this deftly told and uplifting debut, a profoundly charming young man must navigate the challenges of early adulthood with Down Syndrome as he seeks to build a life of independence from his troubled father. Long separated by an ocean of silence and shame, will the two men be able to assemble a common future?

Loneliness and insecurity in the digital age are on full display in this candy-colored chronicle of three days in the life of social media celebrity Sylwia Zajac, a fitness instructor who documents her every move for her 600,000 followers. Will the sudden appearance of a stalker prompt Sylwia to reconsider her life lived fully online?

In the small town of El Roblito, 16-year-old Ñoño has a secret that runs counter to the local culture defined by machismo; he loves to dress in women’s clothes. This gorgeously photographed snapshot of rural Mexico tells the exquisite story of an individual who bravely defies the gender norms of their society.

Hirokazu Kore-eda protégée Miwa Nishikawa (Dear Doctor) returns to the Festival with her compassionate yet pointed chronicle of an ex-con’s rough re-entry into society. Koji Yakusho (13 Assassins, Shall We Dance?) delivers a nuanced lead performance as former Yakuza Mikami, who struggles to secure both employment and a new sense of self after years of incarceration.