Celebrating its 59th edition October 11 – 22, 2023, the Chicago International Film Festival is North America’s longest-running competitive international film festival. Showcasing acclaimed and exciting new films from around the world, the 59th edition will be held in person in theaters and venues around the city and virtually, featuring select films with closed captions. From dramas and thrillers to documentaries and comedies, the Festival presents a vast diversity of offerings, featuring competitive categories and programs including Black Perspectives, International Comedy, Women in Cinema, OutLook, After Dark, and the City & State program, showcasing films made in Chicago and throughout Illinois.

The 59th Chicago International Film Festival will be held October 11-22, 2023.

The 59th Chicago International Film Festival will take place in multiple theaters in Chicago: AMC NEWCITY 14 (1500 N Clybourn Ave), Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N State St), the Music Box Theatre (3733 N Southport Ave), the Chicago History Museum (1601 N Clark St), Museum of Contemporary Art (220 E Chicago Ave), Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago (915 E 60th St), and at Harrison Park Field House (1824 S Wood St) and Hamilton Park Cultural Center (513 W. 72nd St.) for free community screenings.

Masks are not required.

Explore all announced films. Sign up for our newsletter to be the first to get updates.

Elevent is the ticketing platform for this year’s Chicago International Film Festival. When you purchase tickets through the Festival website, you will receive a confirmation email from Elevent with the subject line: “Order Confirmation # – Chicago International Film Festival”. You will also receive an activation email which will take you to the viewing platform, CineSend. More information can be found here.

Cinesend is the video streaming platform for the virtual component of this year’s Festival. CineSend gives viewers a high quality in-home cinematic experience while also providing MPAA-accedited DRM protection for our filmmakers.

• Take a chance on some of our international films: this may be one of your only opportunities available to watch it if it doesn’t get U.S. distribution.
• Please stay throughout the Q&A if the filmmaker is present.
• Dress warmly – the theaters can be chilly!
• Make sure your devices are all properly connected.
• Remember the 48 hour watch window. If you pause a film, remember to come back to it within 48 hours, otherwise you will no longer be available to you.

September 19-21
Exclusive Members-Only Pre-Sale: Individual Tickets and Pass Redemption

September 21
General Public: Festival Pass redemption opens

September 22
General Public: Individual tickets on sale

Tickets for in-person screenings will be available until 30 minutes before the showtime. Tickets for virtual screenings will be available until 30 minutes before the virtual streaming period expires (October 22 at 11:59pm).

Tickets will be available on individual film pages. To view the film pages, you can visit our full films list or view films organized by program. Instructions on how to purchase tickets and/or redeem tickets with a pass are available in our How To Guide.

In-Theater Box Office Hours
October 11-22, 2023
Each venue’s Festival box office opens one hour before the start of the first screening, and closes at the start of the last screening.

Note: We highly encourage you to purchase  your tickets online and in advance.

Students and seniors can purchase individual tickets for regular screenings in-person only at the Festival Box Office for $18 ($4 discount). A photo ID must be presented at the time of purchase. Starting October 12 through October 22, each venue’s Festival box office opens one hour before the start of the first screening, and closes at the start of the last screening.

All fees are included in ticket prices.

When a screening is labeled RUSH only, this means that advance tickets are currently no longer available. Please check the website frequently to see if tickets become available. Rush lines open one hour prior to showtime. Rush Cards are available on a first-come, first-served basis and subject to availability. Regular ticket pricing applies. Limit one ticket per person. Open seats will be made available to Rush Card holders 15 minutes prior to showtime. CASH ONLY.

You can! When you add an item to your cart, it will stay in your cart until you remove it. This way, you can visit both membership and pass pages without losing your progress. Log into your Festival ticketing (Elevent) account (or register for one) and add both items before completing the purchase.

An individual/student/senior membership allows one ticket purchase at the member price for each screening, while dual and producer memberships allow two, and founder memberships allow four. Please note that this applies to individual ticket purchases, not ticket redemptions for multi-film passes.

You should have received an email with the subject line: “Order Confirmation # – Chicago International Film Festival.” If you do not see this in your inbox, please check your spam folder. You can also check your Elevent order history page. Log in, and you will see a view button displayed with your order details. If you’re still experiencing issues, please contact us.

You can check your Festival’s Elevent order history page. Log in, and you will see a view button displayed with your order details.

Please double check that your film selections listed on your order confirmation email are correct. Then, look out for a Virtual Access email, which will provide a VIEW link. This will take you to the watch portal (if the film is not immediately available to watch, this access email will be sent out 1hr prior to each film’s watch window). In addition to the link, you will also receive a VOUCHER CODE, which can be used to access the film via our dedicated apps on Apple TV or Roku devices, if that is your preferred viewing method. Alternatively, you can access the link from your Elevent virtual history page. Log in, and you will see a VIEW NOW displayed with your order details.

Please double check that your film selections listed on your order confirmation email are correct and carefully review the time and venue of each screening. On the day of the screening, please take traffic and parking time into consideration and plan to enter the theater at least 15-30 minutes prior to the showtime.  Please have your ticket ready (on your device or printed out); there will be a volunteer present to scan your tickets before entering the auditorium.

You can check your Festival’s Elevent order history page. Log in, and you will see a view button displayed with your order details.

All ticket orders are final sale. No refunds or exchanges. Please read the film’s availability details carefully before purchase.

No. Only a select program of films for streaming. Check our streaming page for available films.

Become a Member! You’ll receive benefits throughout the year, as well as discounts on passes and individual tickets.

Pass redemption instructions will be emailed to passholders. You may also visit our How To page for more information.

No. If you have an in-person pass, all 10 or 20 tickets will be redeemed for in-person screenings, and virtual passes will be used only for virtual offerings. If you would like a mix of virtual and in-person screenings, we recommend looking at individual ticket options in addition to your pass purchase.

Not necessarily! You can mix and match tickets as you please. 2 tickets to 5 different films, 10 tickets to one film, etc. This applies to in-person screenings; for virtual options, patrons will need only one virtual access ticket and code to enjoy a film at home.

You can! When you add an item to your cart, it will stay in your cart until you remove it. This way, you can visit both membership and pass pages without losing your progress. Log into (or register for) your Festival ticketing account (via Elevent) using the Sign In button the menu at the top of the page. Then add both items before completing the purchase.

An individual/student/senior membership allows one ticket purchase at the member price for each screening, while dual and producer memberships allow two, and founder memberships allow four. Please note that this applies to individual ticket purchases, not ticket redemptions for multi-film passes.

When you add a ticket to your cart, it will give you a message that says “Purchase Maximum Reached” for that specific film; this simply means that you have successfully added that film to your cart and would not need any additional virtual admissions for the same film. If you navigate to other film selections, you will have the option to add a ticket to your cart, until the ticket maximum is reached.

You should have received an email with the subject line: “Order Confirmation # – Chicago International Film Festival.” If you do not see this in your inbox, please check your spam folder. If you still can’t locate this email, check your bank statement or your Festival ticketing (Elevent) account. You can also check your Elevent order history page, which will display the details of any orders you’ve made. If you’re still experiencing issues, please contact us.

The week before the festival, Shorts Passholders will be emailed log-in credentials for our Cinesend video player, which can be found at watch.chicagofilmfestival.com. Shorts Passholders will use the Badge Holder Sign-in. There will be no need to “redeem” tickets for Shorts Programs; all shorts programs will be accessible via the video player.

No! You do not need to redeem all tickets at once; redeem and complete the fulfillment transaction for as many as you’d like, up to the maximum, at any time. Note: You cannot exchange tickets once you have confirmed them.

Each in-person pass can be used by one person at a given time. It is up to the discretion of the pass purchaser as to who uses the pass. Each virtual admission is for one stream on one device. Each passholder can choose who or what device accesses the virtual admission.

You may follow the normal process to purchase an individual ticket (please see our How-To Guide for more information), but when you reach the billing information page, you will apply your voucher code in the “Extra Code” section, instead of filling out a payment method.

Streaming simply refers to watching a film over your internet connection (instead of downloading a file to your computer). It’s immediate and available on demand with any device that is connected to the internet. Any time you watch something on Netflix or YouTube, you’re streaming.

Please double check that your film selections listed on your order confirmation email are correct. Then, look out for a Virtual Access email, which will provide a VIEW link. This will take you to the watch portal (if the film is not immediately available to watch, this access email will be sent out 1hr prior to each film’s watch window). In addition to the link, you will also receive a VOUCHER CODE, which can be used to access the film via our dedicated apps on Apple TV or Roku devices, if that is your preferred viewing method. Alternatively, you can access the link from your Elevent virtual history page. Log in, and you will see a VIEW NOW displayed with your order details.

No. Only a select program of films for streaming. Check our streaming page for available films.

Just like the in-person Festival, there are a limited number of tickets available per film. Please reserve your tickets early to avoid disappointment.

You can check your Festival’s Elevent order history page. Log in, and you will see a view button displayed with your order details.

You will receive a Virtual Access email to the email address used to purchase your ticket. If the virtual event is already available for viewing, you will receive this Virtual Access email immediately after purchase to start watching. When the virtual event begins at a scheduled date and time, you will receive the Virtual Access email one hour before the virtual event. Most films are available for the duration of the Festival, but some films will have shorter time periods to press Play; please check individual film pages for specific details). Upon pressing play, you will have 48 hours to complete the film.

There are three methods to watch films on your TV:

• Download our dedicated “Chicago International Film Festival” app for Roku or AppleTV (Gen 4 and above)
• Cast from a computer or Android phone/tablet using the Chrome browser to a Chromecast device
• AirPlay from a computer, iPhone or iPad to an AppleTV (Gen 2 and above) or to any Smart TV bearing the “AirPlay” badge

In your browser, navigate to watch.chicagofilmfestival.com

System Requirements

• Android: use Chrome on Android 6.0 or later
• iPhone/iPad: use Safari on iOS 11.2 or later [screen mirroring is not supported, set to OFF]

Please note: DRM-protected content cannot be viewed with the latest iOS 15.0 update, and Apple has recognized this as a bug that will be fixed in the currently unreleased 15.1. This means that unfortunately, the video player is not compatible with the iOS 15.0 update at this time.

In your browser, navigate to watch.chicagofilmfestival.com

System Requirements

• PCs running Windows 7+
  Supported Browsers: Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera
• Intel-based Macs running macOS 10.12+
  Supported Browsers: Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera

Compatible Operating Systems: Microsoft Windows 7 or later, Apple Mac OS 10.12 or later, Chrome OS

Compatible Browsers: Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Safari (for Mac). We recommend using the latest version of your browser. Internet Explorer is not supported.

You can also watch films on Android tablets and phones using Chrome, and on iPhones and iPads using Safari.

We have endeavoured to ensure that as many films as possible have either closed or open captioning. Captions are indicated on the film pages with CC for closed captioning and OC for opening captioning.

Closed captions can be turned on or off while streaming the film. To turn them on, select English (CC) in the subtitle window at the bottom right corner of the video player.

Open captions cannot be turned off.

No, you do not need to download and install the app to watch. However, you may wish to download the Chicago International Film Festival app on Apple TV or Roku devices to watch on your TV, iPad, or Tablet.

Please check for a system update. Navigate to Settings -> System -> Systems Update.

The streaming window is from October 16-22, 2023, beginning at 12pm on October 16 and ends at 11:59pm on October 22.  Once you hit ‘PLAY’ you will have 48 hours to complete the film before your watch window closes.

A watch window is how long you have to watch a film once you hit ‘PLAY’. Festival films have a watch window of 48 hours.

Please note that access for most virtual Festival screenings concludes on Sunday, October 22 at 11:59pm CT. Ticket holders must press play on their final film before then but will still have a 48 hour watch window to pause and resume without leaving the browser window. However, we strongly encourage you to finish watching films by 11:59pm CT on October 22.

Yes, you can pause and rewind during the watch window. You’ll have access to the film for 48 hours, with some exceptions. The exceptions will be indicated on the film’s page.

Films with virtual access are available in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

We use adaptive bitrate streaming which means the streaming quality will automatically adjust based on your internet speed. If your internet connection is poor or inconsistent you may experience problems during playback. If you’re on wifi, try moving closer to your router.

You likely have “Screen Mirroring” turned on in your device settings. Please turn off the screen mirroring setting and start AirPlay by selecting the AirPlay button ( ) in the bottom right-hand side of the player