Synopsis

Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard star in this penetrating psychological drama about two apparent strangers in New York City whose fateful encounter one night spins both of their lives in profoundly new directions. Sylvia (Chastain) is a single mother, 13 years sober and still reeling from a traumatic incident that she can’t forget, while Saul (Sarsgaard), suffering from early onset dementia, struggles to live an autonomous life. Can these two damaged souls find salvation?

ChicagoIFF award-winner Michel Franco, director of such acclaimed films as Sundown, New Order, and After Lucia, returns to the Festival with his most compassionate film. Though told in his precise and assured filmmaking style, he allows Chastain and Sarsgaard to fully embody the anguish of their characters–and the troubling complexities and tentative promise of their relationship. Winner of a Best Actor Prize at the Venice Film Festival for Sargaard’s subtle performance, Franco’s latest is a trenchant story of suffering and recovery–and memory itself and the ways it defines us.

Synopsis

From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

Synopsis

American Fiction is Cord Jefferson’s hilarious directorial debut, which confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write an outlandish “Black” book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.

Winner of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Audience Award, American Fiction marks an auspicious and brilliantly satirical first feature from Jefferson, the acclaimed journalist and writer of breakout TV shows The Good Place, Watchmen, and Succession.

Synopsis

Academy Award-winning documentarian Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War) pulls back the curtain on the storied life and career of former British spy David Cornwell — better known as John le Carré, author of such classic espionage novels as The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Constant Gardener. Set against the turbulent backdrop of the Cold War leading into present day, the film spans six decades as le Carré delivers his final and most candid interview, addressing, among others, the pivotal role of his con-man father. Punctuated with rare archival footage and dramatized vignettes, The Pigeon Tunnel is a deeply human and engaging exploration of le Carré’s extraordinary journey and the paper-thin membrane between fact and fiction.

Synopsis

Audiences of all ages can enjoy these three stories of adventure, all highlights from our Family Friendly Animation program, presented at the Harrison Park Field House in Pilsen.

A girl connects with her Mayan heritage on a camping trip with her father that turns into an exciting adventure in Balam (Mexico, U.S.). After a tiger escapes from the zoo, a bored subway worker gets the surprise of a lifetime in Town Hall Square (Germany). A curious girl gets sucked into the bizarre and magical world of the book she is reading in Ana Morphose (Portugal).