In the Spring of 2011, brothers Melvin Davis, 64, and Licurtis Reels, 53, stood in a North Carolina court and vowed never to leave their great-grandfather’s land. But their coastal patch of property along Silver Dollar Road had been sold to developers years before without their knowledge. So the two men were put in jail… for eight years.
Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro) chronicles the shocking story of one family’s fight, and the lasting impact of slavery and the Jim Crow South that contributed to their ongoing plight. Mixing lyrical passages of life along the waterfront with home movies from their community that capture both good times and bad as their frustration boils over into confrontation, Silver Dollar Road is a profound look at injustice and racism across the decades and into the present.
Inspired by the book of the same name and narrated by its bestselling author Dr. Ibram X. Kendi (How to Be An Antiracist), Stamped from the Beginning explores the roots of anti-Black racist beliefs and practices and how they’ve become enshrined in American culture. The film brings history to life through vivid animated sequences recounting the often little-known achievements of Black women thinkers such as 18th C. poet Phillis Wheatley, memoirist Harriet Jacobs, and journalist Ida B. Wells, while also exposing the whitewashed legacies of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln.
From writer-director Jeff Nichols (Loving, Midnight Special, Mud), 20th Century Studios, and New Regency, The Bikeriders is a furious drama following the rise of a fictional 1960s Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members, starring Jodie Comer (Killing Eve, The Last Duel), Austin Butler (Elvis), and Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant).
Inspired by Danny Lyon’s iconic book of photography, The Bikeriders immerses viewers in the look, feel, and sounds of the bare-knuckled, grease-covered subculture of ’60s motorcycle riders. Kathy (Comer), a strong-willed member of the Vandals who’s married to a wild, reckless bikerider named Benny (Butler), recounts the Vandals’ evolution over the course of a decade, beginning as a local club of outsiders united by good times, rumbling bikes, and respect for their strong, steady leader Johnny (Hardy). Over the years, Kathy tries her best to navigate her husband’s untamed nature and his allegiance to Johnny, with whom she feels she must compete for Benny’s attention. As life in the Vandals gets more dangerous, Kathy, Benny, and Johnny are forced to make choices about their loyalty to the club and to each other.
The cast, most of whom did their own riding on an array of period-correct bikes, also includes Michael Shannon (Bullet Train), Mike Faist (West Side Story), Boyd Holbrook (Logan), and Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead).
This screening includes an in-person tribute to writer-director Jeff Nichols and presentation of the Chicago International Film Festival’s Artistic Achievement Award.
United States, United Arab Emirates, Australia 87 minutes
Synopsis
Jack Delroy, a fictional ’70s talk show host played by rising horror star (and Chicago native) David Dastmalchian (The Suicide Squad, Oppenheimer), is in trouble. Jack and his show Night Owls were once the biggest names in late night. But now, with his personal life marred by tragedy and his ratings in free fall, he’s struggling to keep up. So Jack and his producers cook up a controversial plan for their 1977 Halloween special: A live possession, as performed by parapsychologist Dr. June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon) and 13-year-old Lilly (Ingrid Torelli), the sole survivor of a Satanic mass suicide. What could possibly go wrong?
Told in a found-footage style that purports to cobble together rediscovered master tapes with dailies from a French documentary crew, Late Night with the Devil harnesses the anything-goes excitement of live television and combines it with the sinister aura of ’70s exorcism movies to unleash a demon into the airwaves.
Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple (Julianne Moore and Charles Melton) buckles under the pressure when an actress (Natalie Portman) arrives to do research for a film about their past.