Festival Programs
View the 62nd Festival selection in carefully curated thematic Programs chosen by our programmers.
Opening Night
This year’s festival kicks off with Club Kid. After ten years of living the hard-partying life of a New York City club promoter, Peter (Jordan Firstman) wakes up one morning to find a very unexpected visitor at his door: the 10-year-old British son he never knew he had.
Centerpiece
With their latest gem Mouse, Chicago-based filmmaking duo Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan deliver another deeply authentic and bittersweet drama about people coming of age and reckoning with who they are and their relationships with the people closest to them.
Closing Night
Closing out the festival is Behemoth!, a love letter to movie scoring and the dizzying power music holds on our memories and imaginations. From the Oscar-nominated director of Michael Clayton, the film also stars Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor, and Will Arnett.
Competition Programs
International Competition
Masterful, stylish, and bold, these powerful cinematic visions represent the best in filmmaking from around the globe.
New Directors Competition
Screening for the first time in the U.S., these dynamic and original films showcase the most exciting new breakouts in international cinema.
Documentary Competition
These real-life stories bring you close to memorable people reckoning with the personal and the political, the past and the present.
OutLook
These superbly crafted films reflect the myriad perspectives and experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals.
Shorts
Moving across narrative, documentary, and animation, these films are heartfelt, genre-defying, and visually stunning works honoring the possibilities of the short form.
Non-Competition Programs
Special Presentations
Be the first to catch the year’s most highly anticipated films by esteemed directors, which showcase actors giving career-defining performances.
Documentary
From the year’s most topical stories—from Ukraine to Elon Musk—to intimate portraits of everyday people, these engrossing films bring you close to the drama of real life.
Spotlight
Award winners and critical favorites, these auspicious films from the world’s most celebrated directors are some of the year’s most acclaimed and accomplished.
After Dark
Spanning queer gothic romance, brutal body horror, and shot-on-video shocks, and with monsters from aliens to flying sharks, these stories deliver a wide range of genre frights and fun.
Animate!
From Japan to North America, hand-drawn to digital, these visually rich and enthralling movies reimagine our humanity and our world through the magic of animation.
Black Perspectives
From Harlem jazz reunions to West African family epics, this slate of stunning films honors Black life across generations through intimate dramas and landmark queer classics.
City & State
From poignant stories about family life to the restaurant and bicycle businesses and more, these films from the brightest local talents compete for the Chicago Award.
Comedy
Hilarious, deadpan, and satirical, this program presents a range of films that will keep you laughing out loud.
Community Cinema
Community Cinema presents free screenings of Chicago International Film Festival films in the Englewood and Pilsen neighborhoods.
Departures
Exploring new horizons and opening windows into different worlds, these gripping films invite audiences on a journey into the unexpected.
