
Genre: Drama
About Dry Grasses (Kuru Otlar Üstüne)
The harsh beauty of Turkish provincial life is highlighted in this intense character study of a teacher under investigation for inappropriate behavior.
AliEN0089 [short film]
In this tense thriller, a gamer reveals the sexist harassment and threats she receives from online trolls and finds they infiltrate more than just her computer.
All Happy Families
In this delightful Chicago-set comedy, an aspiring actor grapples with the arrival of his more successful brother at his dysfunctional family’s crumbling two-flat.
All of Us Strangers
As Adam falls into a new relationship, he’s drawn back to his childhood home. There, his parents are living just as they were on the day they died.
Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d’une chute)
A wife is suspected of murdering her husband in this bracing psychological showstopper. Winner of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
Baba [short film]
An Iranian immigrant enlists his son’s help to negotiate with his landlord with both disastrous and humorous results.
Bad Living (Mal Viver)
The first in a pair of intricately interconnected films, five women struggle to keep their decaying family hotel afloat.
Banel & Adama
Rebellious young lovers challenge tradition in this mesmerizing and emotionally charged romantic drama tinged with magical realism
The Battle (A Batalha da Rua Maria Antônia)
On a pivotal night during Brazil’s dictatorship, a leftist student movement braces for violent conflict in this moody, stylized nod to history.
Before Anyone Else [short film]
Two small-time thieves encounter an abandoned car with a small child in the backseat.
The Bikeriders
From writer-director Jeff Nichols comes a furious drama following the rise of a fictional 1960s Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members.
Black Box
A Berlin apartment building is placed under lockdown, igniting social, cultural, and familial tensions in this intoxicating potboiler.
The Boy and the Heron (Kimitachi wa Dou Ikiru ka)
A semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship, from the mind of Hayao Miyazaki.
The Bride
Kidnapped and forced into marriage, Eva forms a tender friendship with her new husband’s cousin as together they face the ghosts of Rwanda’s past.
The Burdened
Beleaguered parents Isra’a and Ahmed are forced to make a difficult decision when they receive some unsettling news: Isra’a is pregnant again.
Carnal Sins (Almamula)
Seduced by the myth of a local monster that punishes impure acts, gay teen Nino pursues temptation within a deeply religious community.
La Chimera
A group of misfits scour the Tuscan countryside for artifacts, until an invaluable find makes them question their role in plundering history.
Club Zero
Mia Wasikowska stars as a teacher who encourages her students to stop eating in this mannered blend of dry satire and gross-out body horror.
The Daughters of Fire [short film] (As filhas do fogo)
Directed by Pedro Costa, The Daughters of Fire represents a radical step forward in form and ambition for the singular Portuguese maestro.
The Delinquents (Los delincuentes)
Morán works a dead-end job at a bank. Fed up, he dreams up a scheme to break free: walk into the vault and steal enough cash for a comfortable retirement.
Eric LaRue
In his masterful directorial debut, Michael Shannon tells the riveting story of a mother grappling with the fallout of a school shooting.
Evil Does Not Exist (Aku Wa Sonzai Shinai)
In this captivating eco-thriller, life in the tranquil village of Harasawa is threatened when a Tokyo company announces plans for a glamping site for urbanites.
Explanation for Everything (Magyarázat mindenre)
Abel, a lovesick highschool student, is distracted. His life is turned upside down when his failed graduation history exam turns into a national scandal.
Fallen Leaves
Two strangers meet by chance in a karaoke bar. Despite an instant spark, a series of everyday obstacles threatens to derail their joint destiny.
Family Portrait
Spring 2020. A Texas family reunion morphs into a hectic mess when a family matriarch goes missing in this potent distillation of early pandemic paranoia.
Fingernails
In this offbeat romance, Anna and Ryan take a test that proves their love is true. Then Anna meets another man, throwing everything she knows into doubt.
firedream (lumbrensueño)
In an industrial city, aimless teenager Lucas searches for meaning and connection. A friend’s sudden departure will send him on a poetic odyssey.
Flores del otro Patio [short film]
A group of queer activists in the north of Colombia uses fearless performance art and direct action to protest the region’s largest coal mine.
Foremost by Night (Sobre todo de noche)
Two mothers and a son, separated across space and time, come together and put a clever plot into motion in this unique contemporary noir.
Generations: Black Perspectives Shorts
Discover stories that resonate, inspire, and spark meaningful conversations in this year’s Community Cinema Shorts Program.
Goodbye Julia
Two women from different class and racial backgrounds form a dangerous bond against the tumultuous backdrop of South Sudan’s impending secession.
Green Border (Zielona Granica)
The plight of a Syrian family on the Poland-Belarus border prompts an everyday woman to action in this clear-eyed portrait of a political crisis.
Hard Miles
A social worker at a juvenile detention center assembles an unlikely team of incarcerated teens who must outrace their pasts on a transformative 1000-mile bike ride.
The Heart [short film]
A lonely man is perplexed when his mother passes away and leaves him with her heart in a jar.
The Holdovers
Paul Giamatti stars as a curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school who is forced to babysit a handful of students over Christmas break.
Holly
Holly’s uncanny premonition makes her the focal point of a community in need of healing, but is the teenaged outsider the answer to their prayers?
Housekeeping for Beginners (Domakinstvo za pocetnici)
When the head of the household passes away suddenly, a collective of queer misfits reluctantly come together to protect their found family.
I Promise You Paradise [short film]
In the aftermath of a violent incident, a 17-year-old must do all he can to protect his family before it’s too late.
The Killer
After a fateful near-miss, an assassin (Michael Fassbender) battles his employers — and himself — on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.
Late Night With the Devil
A flailing late-night talk show host (Chicago native David Dastmalchian) makes a desperate move for ratings in this retro possession chiller.
Living Bad (Viver Mal)
The events of companion film Bad Living are seen through the eyes of the hotel’s guests, who are juggling problems of their own.
Lost Country
Serbia, 1996. When an election is stolen, 15-year-old Stefan is forced to confront his mother, a television spokesperson for the corrupt Milosevic regime.
Love Taps [short film]
A young boy’s journey of understanding and acceptance amidst his parents’ separation.
May December
Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple (Julianne Moore and Charles Melton) buckles under the pressure when an actress (Natalie Portman) arrives to do research for a film about their past.
NYAD
Three decades after giving up marathon swimming in exchange for a prominent career as a sports journalist, at the age of 60, Diana (four-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening) becomes obsessed with completing an epic swim that always eluded her: the 110 mile trek from Cuba to Florida, often referred to as the “Mount Everest” of swims.
Only the River Flows (He Bian De Cuo Wu)
A body washes up in a river in rural China. A hasty arrest is made, but the mystery lingers in the police chief’s mind. What kind of darkness is truly at play here?
Paradise is Burning (Paradiset Brinner)
The anarchic freedom of three sisters, left alone by an absent mother, is threatened by social services, confronting them with the realities of growing up.
Perfect Days
Living a life of solitary, quiet contentment, a public toilet cleaner’s routine is interrupted when his niece arrives for an unexpected visit.
Pet Shop Days
Two young men meet in New York City and enter a whirlwind romance, sending them into a dead-end world of passion, drugs, and depravity.
The Promised Land (Bastarden)
A retired soldier (Mads Mikkelsen) embarks on a quest to tame the unforgiving Danish Jutland, where he violently clashes with a local landowner.
A Real One [short film]
Two friends living on the south side of Chicago find their friendship tested when one reveals a tightly-held secret.
Robot Dreams
1980s New York City. Dog builds himself a robot companion, and their adventures begin in a charming and bittersweet celebration of friendship.
Saltburn
Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.
Shayda
After Shayda takes refuge in an Australian women’s shelter with her young daughter, the arrival of her husband jeopardizes her path to freedom.
Shorts 1: City & State – Revelations
The six shorts in this program represent distinct modes of storytelling through film, while reflecting the diversity and creativity of our region.
Shorts 5: Drama – Breaking Points
These powerful shorts reflect on life’s twists and turns, exploring what we do in moments of profound impact.
Shorts 6: Comedy – Awkward Laughs
The works in this program muck around the dark corners of human experience, bringing forth the darkly comedic, can’t-help-but-laugh moments that arise in difficult times.
Shorts 7: Black Perspectives – Resonance
Vibrant cultural legacies come to life, hidden histories are unearthed, everyday life is illuminated, and resonant stories unfold in captivating splendor in this collection of shorts.
Sisterhood (HLM Pussy)
The bond between three teenage girls is tested when a viral video denouncing a sexual assault exposes the divides between them.
Solitude (Tilverur)
As gentle and idiosyncratic as its characters, Solitude is a transformative tale of friendship between a latchkey kid and fish-out-of-water farmer.
Solo
A talented drag performer searches for love from a passionate yet domineering new relationship, and from his long-estranged mother.
Sweet Dreams
A Dutch plantation owner’s death sparks a rancorous clash over his estate in this surreal satire of the end of Indonesia’s colonial era.
The Taste of Things (La passion de Dodin Bouffant)
Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel star in this mouthwatering romantic drama, about a gourmand wooing his longtime love with a decadent meal.
The Teachers’ Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer)
An idealistic high school teacher who advocates for a student accused of stealing becomes embroiled in conflict when she becomes the target of a theft herself.
Terrestrial Verses
Incisive, often darkly comic vignettes offer a glimpse into the world of everyday citizens grappling with the absurdity of life in modern Iran.
Through the Night (Quitter la nuit)
Late one night, a woman in danger calls the police. Anna fields the call. A man is arrested. Weeks go by and tensions build. What really happened?
Together, Alone [short film] (Birlikte, Yalnız)
A young couple is brought to a breaking point when their lifestyle of stealing cars goes too far.
Tótem
Over the course of a day preparing a birthday party for her ailing father, young Sol watches her family’s bonds erode as they honor life and loss.
Video Funeral [short film]
Two Vietnamese sisters bond over their father’s death and funeral.
We Grown Now
In this heartfelt story set in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green projects in the early 1990s, two boys come of age amid change in their community.
The Zone of Interest
The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig strive to build a dream life for their family in a house next to the camp.