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Banner: the 57th Chicago International Film Festival Political
In-Person

All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Laura Poitras  |   United States
Political, Social Commentary, Women Centered

This compelling personal history chronicles Goldin’s tragedies and triumphs, as she uses her position as an artist and disrupter to affect cultural and political change.

In-Person
Virtual

Art and Pep

Mercedes Kane  |   United States
LGBTQ, Political, Social Commentary

A heartfelt tribute to activists Art Johnston and Pepe Peña, whose celebrated gay bar Sidetrack has fueled movements and created community on Chicago’s Halsted Street for decades.

In-Person

The Big Payback

Erika Alexander & Whitney Dow  |   United States
Political, Social Commentary, Women Centered

An inspiring look at rookie Alderman Robin Rue Simmons’ fight to redress the wrongs of “redlining” and the legacy of slavery through a groundbreaking reparations program in Evanston, Illinois.

In-Person

Call Jane

Phyllis Nagy  |   United States
Historical, Political, Women Centered

After a life-threatening heart condition forces a suburban Chicago housewife (Elizabeth Banks) to seek an abortion in 1968, she turns to an underground activist group for help—and joins their cause.

In-Person

Chile ’76

Manuela Martelli  |   Chile, Argentina, Qatar
Spanish  
Historical, Political, Thriller

In this taut, understated thriller, a woman of means treads dangerous ground when she agrees to care for an injured member of the political opposition during the Pinochet dictatorship.

In-Person

A Compassionate Spy

Steve James  |   United States, United Kingdom
Historical, Political, Social Commentary

The fascinating story of Manhattan Project scientist Theodore Hall, who passed crucial military secrets to Soviet intelligence in the hopes of saving the world.

In-Person

How to Blow Up a Pipeline

Daniel Goldhaber  |   United States
Political, Social Commentary, Thriller

Resonant and riveting, this eco-thriller sees a crew of young environmental activists plot to carry out a dangerous mission to sabotage an American oil pipeline.

In-Person
Virtual

Innocence

Guy Davidi  |   Denmark, Israel, Finland, Iceland
Hebrew  
Family Affairs, Political, Social Commentary

With an uneasy beauty and a blistering moral force, filmmaker Guy Davidi chronicles the militarization of Israeli society and its impact on the lives of young people.

In-Person
Virtual

The Killing of a Journalist

Matt Sarnecki  |   Denmark, United States, Czech Republic
English, Slovak  
Crime, Political, Thriller

This exposé of crime and corruption delves into the brutal murder of a reporter, implicating a brazen oligarch connected to the highest echelons of Slovakia’s government.

In-Person

Loudmouth

Josh Alexander  |   United States
Historical, Political, Social Commentary

An in-depth look at controversial civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton detailing the roots of his political engagement and his evolution into a media-savvy crusader.

In-Person

The March on Rome (Marcia su Roma)

Mark Cousins  |   Italy
English, Italian  
Film on Film, Historical, Political

For his latest masterful inquiry into the power of the moving image, director Mark Cousins ventures into Italy’s film archives to expose the machinations and faulty foundations of fascism through his dissection of an infamous 1923 propaganda film.

In-Person
Virtual

The Melt Goes On Forever: The Art and Times of David Hammons

Judd Tully & Harold Crooks  |   United States, Canada
English  
Historical, Political, Social Commentary

A striking portrait of artist David Hammons, who emerged out of L.A.’s Watts Rebellion and whose provocative work was rooted in a deep critique of U.S. society.

In-Person

Metronom

Alexandru Belc  |   Romania, France
Romanian  
Coming of Age, Historical, Political

In 1972 Bucharest, agathering of freedom-minded teenagers is interrupted when the secret police come knocking in this alternately tender and tense, politically inflected coming-of-age drama.

In-Person

The Natural History of Destruction

Sergei Loznitsa  |   Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands
English, German  
Historical, Political

In this mesmerizing documentary crafted entirely from WWII archival footage, Ukrainian-raised filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa (Donbass) mounts a harrowing critique of the killing of civilian populations during war-time.

In-Person

No Bears (Khers Nist)

Jafar Panahi  |   Iran
Azeri, Farsi, Turkish  
Drama, Film on Film, Political

Playing a fictionalized version of himself, director Jafar Panahi, barred from leaving Iran, remotely supervises a film shoot in this meta-textual reflection on freedom, oppression, and cinema itself.

In-Person
Virtual

No Ordinary Campaign

Christopher Burke  |   United States
English  
Family Affairs, Political

In this inspiring story of love, hope, and activism, former Obama political director Brian Wallach, who was diagnosed with ALS at age 37, fights alongside his wife to find solutions for the debilitating disease.

In-Person

Pacifiction (Tourment sur les îles)

Albert Serra  |   France, Spain, Germany, Portugal
French  
Historical, Mystery, Political

De Roller, France’s top man in post-colonial Tahiti, grows paranoid as rumors of military tests begin circulating throughout the island in this mesmerizing, elliptical vision of declining colonial enterprise and imperialist corruption.

In-Person

Plan 75

Chie Hayakawa  |   Japan, France, Philippines, Qatar
Japanese  
Drama, Political, Science Fiction

In a dystopian near-future, the fates of three lonely souls become intertwined as they are drawn into the sphere of Plan 75, a government program that gently coerces senior citizens to be euthanized.

In-Person

Pray For Our Sinners

Sinéad O'Shea  |   Ireland
Political, Religion, Women Centered

Filmmaker Sinead O’Shea returns to her Irish hometown to scrutinize the Church’s pervasive history of abuse and neglect—and shine a light on the unsung heroes who fought back.

In-Person
Virtual

Somewhere Over the Chemtrails (Kdyby radši hořelo)

Adam Koloman Rybanský  |   Czech Republic
Czech  
Comedy, Political

In this incisive social satire, a small Czech town is riled into xenophobic fervor after the locals are persuaded that a car crashing into an Easter celebration is an act of terrorism.

In-Person
Virtual

The Visitors (Návštěvníci)

Veronika Lišková  |   Czech Republic, Norway, Slovakia
Czech, English, Norwegian  
Environmental, Political, Women Centered

A Czech anthropologist discovers her new home on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard is threatened both by melting glaciers and a newly hardened stance against open border immigration policies.