The Chicago International Film Festival returns this month for its 62nd year, bringing nearly two weeks of international cinema, Chicago stories, major Hollywood talent and a milestone celebration of Black filmmaking to venues across the city.
Running Oct. 14 through Oct. 25, the festival will present 113 feature films and 57 shorts from more than 60 countries, including four world premieres, 15 North American premieres and 21 U.S. premieres.
Among the highlights this year is the 30th anniversary of Black Perspectives, the festival program inspired by filmmaker Spike Lee that has spent three decades showcasing Black stories, filmmakers and performers.
The anniversary celebration arrives alongside a strong slate of honorees that includes Marlon Wayans, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Sophie Okonedo, Carrie Coon, Ira Sachs, Jordan Firstman and filmmaker Cheryl Dunye.
Wayans will receive the festival’s Career Achievement Award during “An Evening with Marlon Wayans,” recognizing a career that has stretched across comedy, television and film, both in front of and behind the camera.
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor will return to the festival for the world premiere of Liz Here Now, where she will receive the Tour de Force Award for her performance.
Dunye, the writer, director and star of the landmark 1996 film The Watermelon Woman, will also receive a Career Achievement Award as part of a special retrospective screening of the film.
Black Perspectives will extend into the festival’s short-film programming as well. When They’re Gone, featuring Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs and Glynn Turman of the Chicago classic Cooley High, will screen as part of the “Black Perspectives: Love with No Place to Go” program.
The festival opens Wednesday, Oct. 14, with A24’s Club Kid, written, directed by and starring Jordan Firstman. The film follows a club promoter whose fast-paced life changes when the 10-year-old son he never knew he had enters the picture. Firstman will receive the festival’s Breakthrough Award.
Opening Night After Dark will feature Victorian Psycho, director Zachary Wigon’s unconventional take on 19th-century society centered on a governess struggling to contain her murderous impulses.
Chicago filmmakers Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson return for the festival’s Centerpiece presentation on Oct. 21 with Mouse. The film follows a teenager who develops a complicated relationship with her best friend’s mother and stars Sophie Okonedo, who will be honored as part of the festival.
Closing Night will feature Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth!, starring Pedro Pascal as a gifted cellist who returns home after two decades on the road and faces a personal reckoning. The film uses the work of nine composers to explore the connection between music, memory and identity.
Pulitzer Prize-winning and Oscar-shortlisted composer Michael Abels, known for his work on Jordan Peele’s Get Out, is also scheduled to participate in a post-screening conversation during the festival.
Other honorees include Carrie Coon, who will receive the Artistic Achievement Award for her performance in Guy Nattiv’s The Liberation, and filmmaker Ira Sachs, who will receive the Q-Hugo Artistic Achievement Award for The Man I Love.
This year’s lineup also includes a number of high-profile special and spotlight presentations.
Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut stars Julianne Moore as a housewife whose involvement in a community theater production draws her into the orbit of a demanding director played by Paul Giamatti.
Director Pete Farrelly’s I Play Rocky revisits Sylvester Stallone’s fight to play the character that would change his career, while Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney turns his attention to Elon Musk in the documentary Musk.
Also on the schedule is 14th, which examines the forces behind divisions in American society and will feature an appearance by director Ava DuVernay.
Chicago itself remains an important part of the festival. The City & State program will once again spotlight filmmakers and stories from Chicago and Illinois, while the broader festival lineup brings films from countries including Japan, Sweden, Italy, the Central African Republic, Argentina, Iran, Costa Rica, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico and Germany.
The festival will also present 57 short films across nine programs spanning comedy, drama, documentary and thriller selections.
Screenings and programs will take place throughout Chicago at AMC NEWCITY 14, the Music Box Theatre, the Gene Siskel Film Center, the Chicago History Museum and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago.
Community screenings are also planned at locations including Kennedy-King College and the National Museum of Mexican Art.
The Chicago International Film Festival runs Oct. 14 through Oct. 25. Tickets, screening schedules and additional festival information are available at ChicagoFilmFestival.com.
