First Look at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival
A sneak peak at some of the films playing this year’s Festival
The Chicago International Film Festival returns for its milestone 60th edition, running from October 16 – 27, 2024. This year’s Festival will feature an exciting array of films at venues across Chicago, including AMC New City 14, the Music Box Theatre, the Gene Siskel Film Center, the Chicago History Museum, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center, the National Museum of Mexican Art, and the Hamilton Park Cultural Center. Additionally, select shorts programs will be available for virtual streaming on the Festival’s online platform, providing multiple ways to enjoy the best in international cinema.
The full film lineup for the Festival will be announced on Monday, September 23.
Festival passes are now on sale. For early access and the best prices on passes and tickets become a member today.
On-sale dates
September 24–26
Exclusive Members-Only Pre-Sale: Individual Tickets and Pass Redemption
September 26
General Public: Pass Redemption
September 27
General Public: Individual Tickets
Opening Night Film
October 16, 2024 @ 6:30pm
Music Box Theatre, 3733 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613
The Piano Lesson
Dir. Malcolm Washington | United States
A battle is brewing in the Charles household, tearing two siblings apart. At the center stands a prized heirloom piano: On one side, a brother (John David Washington) plans to build the family fortune by selling it. On the other, his sister (Danielle Deadwyler) will go to any lengths to hold onto the sole vestige of the family’s heritage. Their uncle (Samuel L. Jackson) tries to mediate, but even he can’t hold back the ghosts of the past.
Adapted from August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork, The Piano Lesson explores the intergenerational dynamics of identity, resilience, and transcendence, revealing startling truths about how we perceive the past and who gets to define our legacy. The film is directed and co-written by Malcolm Washington in his feature directorial debut. From Oscar-nominated producers Denzel Washington and Todd Black, and featuring an all-star cast including Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Erykah Badu, Skylar Aleece Smith with Danielle Deadwyler, and Corey Hawkins.
Closing Night Film
October 27, 2024 @ 5:30pm
Music Box Theatre, 3733 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613
Here
Dir. Robert Zemekis | United Kingdom, United States
Reuniting the director, writer, and stars of Forrest Gump, Here is an original film about multiple families and a special place they inhabit. The story travels through generations, capturing the most relatable of human experiences. Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Castaway, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Contact, Back to the Future) directs from a screenplay co-written by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, Killers of the Flower Moon, Dune, A Star Is Born). Told much in the style of Richard McGuire’s acclaimed graphic novel, upon which it is based, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright star in a tale of love, loss, laughter, and life, all of which happen right Here.
Director Robert Zemeckis is set to receive the Founder’s Legacy Award, presented by Chicago International Film Festival founder Michael Kutza, at the Closing Night screening. Here will mark Zemeckis’s third time closing the Festival. He received a Career Achievement Award for his Tom Hanks starrer The Polar Express, which held its World Premiere as the Closing Night film in 2004. In 2012, Flight, starring Denzel Washington, closed the festival with Zemeckis receiving the Founder’s Award.
Kore-eda Hirokazu Tribute and Retrospective
Japanese master filmmaker Kore-eda Hirokazu is set to receive the Career Achievement Award at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival along with a retrospective program of six selected films .The acclaimed writer-director will receive the award on Friday, October 18, at a tribute screening of his film Nobody Knows, presented in 35mm, and participate in a conversation exploring his storied career. His films After Life (1998); Like Father, Like Son (2013), Shoplifters (2018), After the Storm (2016), and Broker (2022) will also be presented at the festival.
The Chicago International Film Festival has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with the masterful Kore-eda Hirokazu dating to his debut feature Maborosi, which won the Gold Hugo for Best Film in 1995. Since then, the Festival has presented much of Kore-eda’s work, with his films playing to great critical acclaim and garnering favor with our audiences—his most recent Festival title, 2023’s Monster, won the Gold Q-Hugo in our OutLook Competition. We are excited to welcome and pay tribute to Kore-eda, a true icon on the world cinema stage, a creative force whose prolific output has sensitively explored universal themes of family, memory, loss, and joy with unparalleled artistry and keen insight.
Select Highlights
International Competition
All We Imagine As Light
Dir. Payal Kapadia | France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
The lives of three women living in working class Mumbai are explored in this soulful study of the transformative power of friendship and womanhood.
International Competition
The End
Dir. Joshua Oppenheimer | Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, U.K.
In this Golden Age musical about one of the last families on earth, the sudden arrival of a stranger threatens the equilibrium of their seemingly perfect existence.
International Competition
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof | Iran, France, Germany
When Iman’s handgun mysteriously goes missing, he reaches a breaking point in this tense Cannes winner crossed with a paranoid political thriller.
New Directors Competition
Rita
Dir. Paz Vega | Spain
Seen through the eyes of 7-year-old Rita, a mother (Paz Vega) struggles to protect her children in this poignant look at innocence and violence in the home.
Documentary Competition
The Brink of Dreams
Rafaat einy ll sama
Dir. Nada Riyadh & Ayman El Amir | Egypt, France, Denmark, Qatar, Saudi Arabia
A group of Egyptian girls form a street theater troupe as both a creative outlet and an act of defiance. But dreams eventually collide with reality.
Outlook Competition
Thesis on a Domestication
Tesis sobre una domesticación
Dir. Javier Van de Couter | Argentina, Mexico
A successful trans actress defiantly embarks on a more settled chapter of her life, writing a new narrative around work, love, and family.
Centerpiece Film
October 19, 2023
Saltburn
Dir. Emerald Fennell | United Kingdom
With Festival Centerpiece film Saltburn, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) brings us a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire. Struggling to find his place at Oxford University, student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan) finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten. Fennell will be celebrated at the screening with this year’s Visionary Award.
Closing Night Film
October 22, 2023
The Bikeriders
Dir. Jeff Nichols | United States
From writer-director Jeff Nichols, The Bikeriders is a furious drama following the rise of a fictional 1960s Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members. Inspired by Danny Lyon’s iconic book of photography, The Bikeriders immerses us in the look, feel, and sounds of the bare-knuckled, grease-covered subculture of ‘60s motorcycle riders. The cast, led by Jodie Comer (Killing Eve, The Last Duel), Austin Butler (Elvis), and Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road) also includes Michael Shannon, Mike Faist, Boyd Holbrook, and Norman Reedus. Nichols will also be celebrated with an Artistic Achievement Award at the Festival for his outstanding body of work.
212 W Van Buren St., Suite 400
