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Banner: the 59th Chicago International Film Festival

Genre: Horror


In-Person
A young man with glasses glares straight ahead. His face is sweaty and battered.

Carnal Sins (Almamula)

Juan Sebastián Torales  |   France, Argentina, Italy
Spanish  
Drama, Horror, LGBTQ, Religion

Seduced by the myth of a local monster that punishes impure acts, gay teen Nino pursues temptation within a deeply religious community.

In-Person
Virtual
A priest surrounded by darkness and holding a wooden torch looks into the distance, possessed by fear.

Carne de Dios [short film]

Patricio Plaza  |   Argentina, Mexico
Spanish  
Animation, Horror

An ailing priest in the Mexican colonial era is given a medicine that confronts him with his spiritual ailments.

In-Person
A trippy, almost 3D colored image of a boy staring fearfully right into the camera.

Departing Seniors

Clare Cooney  |   United States
English  
Comedy, Horror, LGBTQ

In this Chicago-set update on the teen slasher, a gay Latinx high school student becomes an unlikely vigilante when he develops psychic powers.

In-Person
A balding man in glasses and a parka stands in front of a car with the word 'loser' spray painted on the side behind him

Dream Scenario

Kristoffer Borgli  |   United States
English  
Comedy, Horror, Social Commentary

Family man Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams.

In-Person
Virtual
A woman is sitting on a couch as she holds a landline to her ear. Two other women intensely observe her.

Get Away [short film]

Michael Gabriele  |   United States
English  
Horror

A group of friends rent a remote house in the desert where they find an old TV, a VHS player, and a tape containing terrifying coincidences.

In-Person
A man with blood splattered down the side of his face yells as two people standing behind him look straight ahead in shock.

Infested (Vermines)

Sébastien Vaniček  |   France
French  
Action, Architecture, Horror

When a venomous spider escapes and multiplies in a Paris apartment building, a group of friends must find a way out of the web of nightmares.

In-Person
A man stands in the center of a darkened studio set with bright lights shining down on him as an audience watches.

Late Night With the Devil

Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes  |   United States, United Arab Emirates, Australia
English  
Drama, Horror, Religion

A flailing late-night talk show host (Chicago native David Dastmalchian) makes a desperate move for ratings in this retro possession chiller.

In-Person
A woman stands at the base of a winding staircase in a grand entryway, the furniture covered with sheets.

Raging Grace

Paris Zarcilla  |   United Kingdom
English, Tagalog  
Horror, Mystery, Social Commentary, Women Centered

In this bold, bloody gothic horror film, a Filipina worker and her daughter confront the shocking colonialist legacy of a wealthy English family.

In-Person
Virtual

Shorts 2: Animation – Desires

Various  |   Argentina, Belgium, France, Hungary, Israel, Mexico, The Netherlands, United States
Arabic, Dutch, English, French, Hungarian, Spanish  
Animation, Comedy, Documentary, Horror, LGBTQ

These animated shorts create an idiosyncratic mosaic of the difficulties, joys, enigmas, and triumphs of the human experience.

Drive-In
In-Person
Virtual

Shorts 3: After Dark – Twisted Tales & Shadows of Innocence

Various  |   Canada, France, United States
English, French, Tagalog  
Coming of Age, Horror, LGBTQ, Social Commentary, Women Centered

These tense and terrifying shorts reflect how everyday life can turn into horror.