The careers of John Travolta, Pam Grier, John Boorman, and Monte Hellman are celebrated, while audiences get a first look at Bill Condon’s Gods and Monsters and Gary Ross’s Pleasantville. Angel On My Shoulder from director Donna Deitch is named Best Documentary, and Taiwanese director Ming-liang Tsai’s The Hole is awarded Best Feature. The Education Outreach Program is expanded to provide free year-round film screenings to Chicago Public Schools students, and the Festival offers a special screening program for the deaf and hard of hearing community.

A Career Achievement Award is bestowed on Michael Douglas, with other honorees including Roger Corman and Liv Ullmann. The Festival launches its signature Black Perspectives program with a tribute to director Spike Lee. Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm screens, as does Andrew Niccol’s first feature, Gattaca. The Gold Hugo for Best Feature goes to Alan Rickman’s The Winter Guest.

Jodie Foster receives the Actor of the Decade Award, and audiences are treated to the premieres of Liv Ullman’s directorial debut Private Confessions, Billy Bob Thornton’s Sling Blade, Richard Spence’s Different For Girls, Lars von Trier’s Breaking the Waves, and John Hick’s Shine. Also honored are William Wyler, Michael Mann, Kim Novak, and Andrew Davis.

Highlights include the premiere of Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite, Bertrand Tavernier’s Fresh Bait, Hsiao-Hsien Hou’s Good Men, Good Women, and Marleen Gorris’s Antonia’s Line, which goes on to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda’s feature debut, Maborosi, takes home the Gold Hugo for Best Film. The Festival celebrates the achievements of Blake Edwards, Italian director Lina Wertmüller, Al Pacino, and Sally Field.