Cotton Queen
Synopsis
In a close-knit Sudanese village known for harvesting the purist cotton by virginal hands, teenage Nafisa is dreaming of something beyond fertile fields. Her ambitions are amplified with the arrival of a wealthy young businessman returning to Sudan after years abroad. His introduction of a genetically modified seed promises to make the village completely dependent on his profit-driven vision of the future.
Through a blend of magical realism rooted in local spiritual customs set by village legend and elder Al-Sit, the film explores the complications inherent in the pursuit of progress as commerce and cultural sustainability vie for the hearts of the community. Nafisa’s strong will, open mind, and profoundly principled nature deepens and uplifts her to become the new hero her village needs yet might not be ready for.
Screenings & Events
Screening
Sat, Oct 18 @ 5:30pm
at AMC NEWCITY 14, Screen 01
Venue information...
Director Suzannah Mirghani
Screening
Sun, Oct 19 @ 12:00pm
at AMC NEWCITY 14, Screen 01
Venue information...
Director Suzannah Mirghani
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Media
Film Credits
- Caroline Daube, Didar Domehri, Annemarie Jacir, Ossama Bawardi, Jessica Khoury, Mohamed Hefzy, Alaa Karkouti, Maher Diab
- Suzannah Mirghani
- Amparo Mejías, Simon Blasi, Frank Müller
- Frida Marzouk
- Mihad Murtada, Rabha Mohamed Mahmoud, Talaat Fareed, Haram Bisheer, Mohamed Musa, Hassan Kassala
- Amine Bouhafa
- Strange Bird, Maneki Films, Philistine Films, Film Clinic, Mad Solutions
Sponsors
Program Patron
Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation
With support from
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Cover-Up
Synopsis
Chicago journalist Seymour Hersh has uncovered some of the most momentous political scandals in American history, from exposing the U.S. military’s My Lai massacre in Vietnam to its torturing of Iraqi citizens at Abu Ghraib. After decades spent trying to get Hersh to agree to make a documentary, Oscar winner Laura Poitras (CitizenFour), together with Mark Obenhaus, finally get their moment, sitting with the occasionally combative Hersh to do a deep dive into his history, his investigations, and his sources, telling a story not only about the legendary indefatigable reporter but also about the need to hold those in power accountable for their actions.
No hagiographic portrait, Cover-Up shows Pulitzer Prize winner Hersh as a complex and contentious figure whose reputation has taken a fair share of knocks, even as he’s been one of America’s most important truth-tellers. As President Nixon says of Hersh in an archived audio recording, “The son of a bitch is a son of the bitch, but he’s usually right.” As we observe brief scenes of Hersh still working to expose abuses in Gaza, the film serves as a testament to the vital need for investigative journalism in our precarious modern world.
Screenings & Events
Screening
Fri, Oct 24 @ 5:15pm
at Gene Siskel Film Center, Screen 1
Venue information...
Closed Captions
T-Coil Devices available
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Media
Film Credits
- Yoni Golijov, Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus, Olivia Streisand
- Amy Foote ACE, Peter Bowman, Laura Poitras
- Mia Cioffi Henry
- Seymour Hersh
- Maya Shenfeld
- Thomas MacWhirr, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Josh Braun, Nick Shumaker
- Praxis Films, Project Mockingbird
Sponsors
Program Partner
Program Patron
Cynthia Stone Raskin
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The Cowboy
Synopsis
At 11-years-old, Crowley McCuistion has a bright future ahead of him as a cowboy in the plains of Colorado. Training since he was a toddler and encouraged by his strict father Curt, mother Farrah, and supportive older brother Yancie, the young Crowley knows exactly who he wants to be when he grows up. As he says, “Cowboys have to be tough… you have to shake it off and go on with life.” But when an unexpected tragedy hits the family in his teenage years, Crowley learns it’s not so easy to shake things off. Turns out the challenges of bull riding are nothing compared to the struggles of everyday life.
For 10 years, director André Hörmann (who returns to the Festival after his Chicago-set Ringside) visited with Crowley and his family members, observing them with sensitivity and sympathy. While the film initially shows many of the tropes familiar to cowboy life—a culture rooted in masculinity and ruggedness—such hardened layers quickly peel away, revealing the vulnerabilities and fragilities that lie beneath the surface. A longitudinal and piercing coming-of-age docu-drama, The Cowboy penetrates stereotypes to reveal a complex portrait of life in the American heartland.
Screenings & Events
Screening
Mon, Oct 20 @ 7:30pm
at AMC NEWCITY 14, Screen 13
Venue information...
Director Andre Hörmann
Screening
Tue, Oct 21 @ 3:00pm
at AMC NEWCITY 14, Screen 01
Venue information...
Director Andre Hörmann
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Film Credits
- Heike Kunze
- André Hörmann
- Vincent Assmann
- Tom Bergmann
- Roger Goula
- telekult Film, Mitten Media
Sponsors
Program Partner
Program Patron
Cynthia Stone Raskin
With support from
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The Currents Las Corrientes
Synopsis
Lina, an accomplished Argentinian designer and artist, walks alone around the wintery Swiss town where she has just received an award. In a sudden and dangerous impulse, she plunges from a bridge into the icy river, emerging unhurt but shaken. Back in Buenos Aires, she is confronted with a crippling phobia of water, yet she feels unable to admit to her loving husband and young daughter what she is going through. Estranged from the world she has built for herself, she begins to reach out to reconnect with a painful and distant past life that she had hoped to forever leave behind.
Milagros Mumenthaler crafts an intimate, emotional portrait of a woman coming undone—one that approaches trauma with profound empathy and paints Lina’s surreal interiority with the full breadth of its complexity. A haunting, lyrical meditation on identity, belonging, and motherhood, The Currents journeys through memory with delicate grace.
Screenings & Events
Screening
Mon, Oct 20 @ 5:30pm
at Gene Siskel Film Center, Screen 1
Venue information...
Director Milagros Mumenthaler
- T-Coil Devices available
Screening
Tue, Oct 21 @ 5:30pm
at AMC NEWCITY 14, Screen 04
Venue information...
Director Milagros Mumenthaler
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Media
Film Credits
- Alina Film, Ruda Cine
- Milagros Mumenthaler
- Gion-Reto Killias
- Gabriel Sandru
- Isabel Aimé González Sola, Esteban Bigliardi
- Alina Film, Ruda Cine
Sponsors
Program Patron
John and Jacolyn Bucksbaum Family Foundation
With support from
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Synopsis
A young filmmaker tasks himself with reclaiming the Dracula story for Romanian cinema, only to experience a crisis of creativity. Determined to make his film, he channels his ideas into an artificial intelligence program, DR. A.I. JUDEX 0.0, generating a collage of stories that include a seedy, fellatio-filled stage performance of the Dracula myth and a real-life vampire hunt through the streets of modern-day Bucharest—not to mention a series of hideous, uncanny renderings of Vlad the Impaler and plenty of zombies.
Bold, unpredictable, and unapologetically over-the-top, Dracula is the absurdist brainchild of iconoclastic master Radu Jude (2023’s Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World), brilliantly commenting on the pervasive ugliness of AI and offering up a deft and pointed survey of our modern visual landscape. In Jude’s hands, Bram Stoker’s landmark novel couples with grand folkloric traditions to produce an unforgettable, maximalist examination of mythmaking and the cinema itself.
Screenings & Events
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Media
Film Credits
- Alexandru Teodorescu, Rodrigo Texeira
- Radu Jude
- Cătălin Cristuțiu
- Marius Panduru
- Adonis Tanța, Oana Maria Zaharia, Gabriel Spahiu, Ilinca Manolache, Alexandru Dabija, Andrada Balea, Doru Talos, Serban Pavlu, Lukas Miko, Alexandra Harapu
- Wolfgang Frisch, Hervé Birolini, Matei Teodorescu
- Vlad Semenescu, Ana Gheorghe, Ramona Grama, Adina Teodorescu, Dan Wechsler, Jamal Zeinal-Zade, Andreas Roald, Berta Marchiori, Fernanda Frotté
- Saga Film
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212 W Van Buren St., Suite 400
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See your most-anticipated screenings at the 61st Chicago International Film Festival.
