Industry Days: The Pitch

The Pitch at Industry Days

presented by the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival

Sunday, October 18, 2026 • 11:00am – 2:00pm
Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E Washington St | Map it >
The Pitch is free to attend and open to the public.

Learn about the 2026 The Pitch projects Meet the Pitch Judges

What Is The Pitch?

With the goal of spotlighting and supporting high quality work from Chicago and the Midwest, The Pitch at Industry Days invites filmmakers through the CIX: Lab program with narrative features in late stage development to apply for this opportunity to present their projects in front of a live audience and a panel of industry judges.

The winning project will receive an awards package of in-kind services, including consultation, production, and post-production.

Past award-winning projects have been invited to the Tribeca Film Institute All Access Fellowship, IFP New York’s 2016 Project Forum Film Slate No Borders program and Tribeca Film Institute’s TFI Network. Signature Move (The Pitch 2015 Honorable Mention) had its world premiere at SXSW and closed a distribution deal with Amazon Video Direct’s Film Festival Stars program. Other recent Pitch projects include Knives and Skin (2019 Berlinale premiere) and Once Upon a River (2019 Bentonville Film Festival premiere).

For questions about The Pitch, please email industry@chicagofilmfestival.com.

Pitch Judges

Adrienne Becker (Level Forward) | Corey Deckler (Producer) | Kenneth Yu (Producer)

CIX: Lab Advisors

Malik Bader | Melika Bass | Kyle Henry | Jennifer Reeder | Erica Weiss

Pitch Partners

2026 Pitch Projects

CIX:Lab Project

18th Street

Writer/Director: Grecia Aguilar
Producer: Judy Febles

Amid the grit and color of Chicago’s Pilsen, a withdrawn teen watches her two outgoing siblings split onto dangerous and hopeful paths—each choice shaping the family’s fragile future.

CIX:Lab Project

Damage Ctrl

Producer: Ashley Flowers
Writer/Producer: Farbota Lynn
Director: Julia Kots

A high-strung grad student and her deadbeat roommate join forces to seek revenge, and unwittingly become a vigilante duo plotting against sexual predators.

CIX:Lab Project

Etta LeRae

Writer/Director: Jana Naomi Smith
Producer: Adia Ivey

When a filmmaker’s curiosity becomes invasive, her obsession with a documentary subject who does not want to be bothered leads to compromised morals, jeopardized relationships, and revelations into her complicated past.

CIX:Lab Project

On the Water's Edge

Writer/Director: Annette Elliot

Summer is coming to a close. A woman drifts like a ghost through the deserted streets, overgrown alleyways and windswept sand dunes of Gary, Indiana. She meets a reclusive gardener and a tenuous relationship unfolds.

CIX:Lab Project

Prodigal Sun

Writer/Director: Youssef Boucetta
Writer/Director: josh brainin
Writer/Producer: Camille Bacon

In early summer 2026, a young experimental band in Chicago gets an exciting record deal. As they struggle to focus, they decide to travel to Morocco to renew their inspiration and visit the lead singer’s terminally ill grandmother.

The Pitch Judges

Adrienne Becker is CEO and Co-Founder of Level Forward, an award-winning public benefit entertainment company focused on brave storytelling. Adrienne leads a team of creatives, entrepreneurs, and changemakers, who work on project and system levels to balance artistic vision, social impact, and stakeholder return. Select produced films include the forthcoming Hallelujah from Victor Gabriel; Olive Nwosu’s Sundance Special Jury Award-winning LADY; and Nazrin Choudhury’s Academy Award-nominated Red, White and Blue. Previously, Adrienne served as SVP The Nielsen Company, SVP InterActive Corp., CEO of DailyCandy, Inc., and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Creative Artists Agency.

Corey Deckler is a Brooklyn-based Emmy-nominated producer and executive. Across his eighteen-year career he has produced the films James White, Tramps, and It Comes at Night, and the television shows Ziwe, John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch, At Home with Amy Sedaris, and Crystal Lake. During his tenure at A24 as an executive, he oversaw films including Uncut Gems, Backrooms, Civil War, Babygirl, A Different Man, After Yang, The Iron Claw, The Smashing Machine, Primetime, as well as the upcoming film October. When not working in film or tv, he loves running, wine tasting, and galavanting with his husband and dog.

Kenneth Yu is an award-winning Executive Producer who has collaborated with some of the industry’s most prolific filmmakers such as Ryan Coogler, Alex Garland, Sam Levinson, and Lena Dunham as well as emerging filmmakers like RaMell Ross and Greg Kwedar. Kenneth’s work as an EP/UPM include managing all elements of physical production, from hiring the crew and organizing set logistics to executing the director’s creative vision. Recently, Yu co-produced the Oscar-nominated Ryan Coogler film Sinners starring Michael B. Jordan and executive produced the award-winning film Nickel Boys, for which he won a DGA Award. The Brooklyn native has lived and worked on productions across the United States in cities such as Chicago, New Orleans, Atlanta, New York, and Los Angeles. In 2022, Yu was nominated for an Emmy Award for his work as a producer on the award-winning HBO series Euphoria. In the last 5 years, he worked as the co-producer on the political thriller Civil War, executive produced the critically acclaimed indie thriller The Accidental Getaway Driver, the dark comedy thriller Is God Is, and the Lena Dunham comedy Sharp Stick, as well as co-executive produced Malcolm & Marie starring Zendaya and John David- Washington.