Festival Archives: Chicago Intl Film Festival

< Back to main Festival page

Four people rest in the branches of a leafy tree in a meadow. A man lies stretched across one branch, two boys perch higher up, and an older man stands at the trunk, holding on gently. The scene feels quiet, natural, and intimate.

Wind, Talk to Me Vetre, pričaj sa mnom

  Stefan Djordjevic

  Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia     100 minutes

Synopsis

Returning to his family’s country home for his grandmother’s birthday, filmmaker Stefan Djordjević brings along his camera, hoping to complete a film he’d be making about his mother—a project tragically interrupted by her passing. While en route on the rainsoaked back roads, he accidentally hits a stray dog. Guilt-ridden, he decides to bring her along and nurse her back to health.

Enlisting the help of his family to play themselves, Djordjevic blends footage of his late mother with staged, modern-day scenes of his relatives’ remembrances to create an intimate, tender tribute to her life and memory. Featuring a winning cast of characters, and an impeccable canine performance, all set against the backdrop of the bucolic Serbian backwoods, Wind, Talk to Me is a vulnerable, moving work of docufiction that reflects, remembers, and grieves through its art.

 Serbian with subtitles

Screenings & Events

Screening

Sat, Oct 18 @ 7:45pm

at AMC NEWCITY 14, Screen 04
Venue information...

Scheduled to Attend:
Director Stefan Djordjevic

Screening

Sun, Oct 19 @ 12:15pm

at Gene Siskel Film Center, Screen 2
Venue information...

Scheduled to Attend:
Director Stefan Djordjevic
Accessibility options for this screening:
  • T-Coil Devices available
Learn about accessibility options...

Media

Film Credits

  •   Stefan Ivančić, Stefan Djordjevic, Ognjen Glavonić, co-produced by: Vanja Jambrović, Jožko Rutar, Miha Černec
  •   Stefan Djordjević
  •   Tomislav Stojanović, Dragan von Petrovic
  •   Marko Brdar
  •   Negrica Djordjevic, Stefan Djordjevic, Bosko Djordjevic, Djordje Davidovic, Budimir Jovanovic, Ljiljana Jovanovic, Marina Davidovic, Ana Petrovic, Vidak Davidovic, dog Lija
  •   Ivan Judaš
  •   Non-Aligned Films (Serbia), co-produced by: Katunga (Serbia), SPOK Films (Slovenia), Restart (Croatia), Staragara (Slovenia)

Sponsors

Program Patron

Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation

< Back to main Festival page

A young woman holds a baby close to herself, resting her forehead on the baby's head.

Young Mothers Jeunes Mères

  Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne

  Belgium, France     104 minutes

Synopsis

Inside a home for young mothers in the Belgian town of Liège, five teens learn to care for their newborns, and themselves, as they navigate the challenges of early parenthood. Finding camaraderie and stability among the fellow members of their community, Jessica, Perla, Julie, Ariane, and Naïma come to rely on one another for support, finding a kind of sisterhood as they bond with their babies. Grappling with the lasting impacts of addiction or abandonment, mental illness and family strife, each girl struggles to break free from the darker aspects of her past, hoping to forge a path toward a brighter future.

Brimming with compassion and poignancy, Young Mothers earned the Best Screenplay prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the venerable writer-directors famed for films including the Palme d’Or winners Rosetta and L’Enfant. The Dardennes beautifully capture the small moments that pass between mother and child, soliciting such naturalistic performances from their young actors that the film often feels closer to documentary than fiction. Despite the difficult circumstances facing the characters, Young Mothers finds uplift and the possibility of a better tomorrow.

 French with subtitles

Screenings & Events

Screening

Fri, Oct 17 @ 5:45pm

at AMC NEWCITY 14, Screen 06
Venue information...

Scheduled to Attend:
Directors Luc Dardenne & Jean-Pierre Dardenne

Screening

Sat, Oct 18 @ 2:15pm

at AMC NEWCITY 14, Screen 04
Venue information...

Scheduled to Attend:
Directors Luc Dardenne & Jean-Pierre Dardenne

Media

Film Credits

  •   Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Delphine Tomson, Denis Freyd
  •   Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
  •   Marie-Hélène Dozo
  •   Benoit Dervaux (SBC)
  •   Babette Verbeek, Elsa Houben, Janaina Halloy Fokan, Lucie Laruelle, Samia Hilmi

< Back to main Festival page

Shorts 1: After Dark

  Various

  France, Jordan, Palestine, Sweden, U.K., U.S.     92 minutes

Synopsis

Unfulfilled dreams, dark obsessions, and illicit desires take center stage in this program that transports viewers into the bold and blood-curdling world of genre film. From ventriloquist dummies to unrequited love, these shorts expose our darkest fears… and create new ones.

Blue Violet is a camcorder video compilation for Violet’s birthday that captures just how far Blue will go to prove her devotion to her beloved. While driving home alone on a deserted West Bank road, a Palestinian woman’s flat tire forces her to accept the help of a stranger with unknown intentions in Coyotes. Dummy! takes place in an alternate universe populated by ventriloquist dummies, where a human woman dreams of following in her domineering mother’s footsteps as a cabaret singer. In Earworm, an office worker seeks medical attention after being driven to madness by the notorious earworm “Cotton Eye Joe.” Between a tough-as-nails instructor, apathetic classmates more interested in partying than practicing medicine, and a lack of cadavers to help him hone his skills, Wolfe feels he has no choice but to take his dream of becoming an anesthesiologist into his own hands in Pinpoint. Following her partner’s death, a pregnant woman with a mysterious wound along her spine is visited by an old lover who wants to help her heal in Hotel Acropole.

 Arabic, English, French, Swedish 

Content Considerations

Screenings & Events

Screening

Fri, Oct 17 @ 10:45pm

at AMC NEWCITY 14, Screen 04
Venue information...

Screening

Mon, Oct 20 @ 3:00pm

at AMC NEWCITY 14, Screen 04
Venue information...

< Back to main Festival page

Distorted by a glitch effect, a blue-haired woman sits at a laptop with a messy desk and an open window in the background.

Blue Violet

  Josie Charles

  U.K.     10 minutes

Synopsis

Blue’s devotion to her beloved Violet knows no bounds, as the video compilation she’s assembled for Violet’s birthday attempts to convey. When hours pass with still no response to her many birthday well-wishes, Blue’s love transforms into violent, self-destructive obsession.

This film screens as part of Shorts Program 1: After Dark.

 

  

 English 

Content Considerations

Film Credits

  •   Archie Sinclair, Chuckie McEwan, Esme Allen, Josie Charles
  •   Esme Allen
  •   Romany Rowell
  •   Jos Bitelli
  •   Esme Allen, Talitha Wing, Saphira Wing
  •   William Smith
  •   Grey Moth
  •   https://www.josiecharles.com/portfolio/blue-violet

< Back to main Festival page

Two women, one wearing a hijab, face each other while sitting inside a dark car at night.

Coyotes

  Said Zagha

  France, Jordan, Palestine, U.K.     20 minutes

Synopsis

When Israeli soldiers interrupt her commute home, a Palestinian doctor is forced down a desolate road and her future is thrown into disarray.

This film screens as part of Shorts Program 1: After Dark.

 Arabic, English, Hebrew 

Content Considerations

Film Credits

  •   Myriam Sassine, Laura Jumel
  •   Said Zagha
  •   Mattieu Taponier
  •   Simone D'Arcangelo
  •   Maria Zreik, Ali Suliman, Yumna Marwan, Jamal Meri, Eslam El-Awadi
  •   Amin Goudarzi
  •   Ali Suliman, Sophie Heard, Flavia Zanon, Frank Barat
  •   Night Owls, The Imaginarium Films, Saffuriya & Ma'alul Productions
  •   https://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/2025/orizzonti/coyotes

Tickets on sale now!

See your most-anticipated screenings at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.

GET YOUR TICKETS
close-link