Chicago Intl Film Festival

A colorful illustration depicts a floating hollow head split open to reveal landscapes, skies, and a cat

dipolar bipolar

The busy and whimsical visual world of dipolar bipolar stuffs each frame with elements to mirror the workings of an anxious mind. As the protagonist recounts their experience of bipolar disorder amid inventive transformations of animation styles, a solid metaphor of self acceptance and balance emerges.

This film screens as part of Shorts Program 2: Animation.[…]

An illustration rendered mostly in shades of green and white depicts a young girl with two braids walking through a forest.

Autokar

As eight-year-old Agata boards a full bus from Poland to Belgium by herself, she notices that those around her seem different. The magical realism of Autokar authentically recalls how strange and inscrutable the adult world can seem to children, lending the story a subtle humor and nostalgia.

This film screens as part of Shorts Program 2: Animation.[…]

An illustration rendered in muted pastels depics a woman's hand gently lifting the lip of a white dog with a black nose

Ordinary Life

Yoriko Mizushiri’s gorgeous short lulls the viewer into a dreamy tactile world. A meditation on the beauty of simplicity led by a graphic design that seems at once exacting and soft, Ordinary Life calls attention to the present moment.

This film screens as part of Shorts Program 2: Animation.[…]

Shorts 3: Black Perspectives

Close ties abound in these short films spanning Brazil, Kenya, Nigeria, and the U.S. These six shorts explore the complicated relationships between parents and children, aunts and nieces, artists and their craft, and even former lovers.
A woman and her husband, adorned in traditional formal garb, sit together under a crowded party tent.

Breastmilk

When new mother Aduke struggles to breastfeed, she encounters suggestions ranging from modern medical consultants to local folk remedies. As the women in her community rally in her corner, she gains the courage to turn an eye toward the negativity seeping into her family life.

This film screens as part of Shorts Program 3: Black Perspectives.[…]

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