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Banner: the 60th Chicago International Film Festival

Genre: Romance


A man and woman look into each other's eyes and smile softly in a tight embrace.

About Time [short film]

Donald Conley  |   United States
English  
Drama, Romance

After years of no communication, a pair of exes find themselves together once again. Unable to connect, they take an edible, which acts as a catalyst for an evening of old wounds and new revelations.

A woman looks over another womans shoulder, the second woman looks into a bucket.

All We Imagine As Light

Payal Kapadia  |   France, India, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Hindi, Malayalam  
Drama, Romance, Women Centered

The lives of three women living in working-class Mumbai are explored in this soulful study of the transformative power of friendship and womanhood.

A couple in a tiled pool. She holds him tendely as he floats on his back.

Bliss (Hemda)

Shemi Zarhin  |   Israel
Arabic, Hebrew  
Drama, Family Affairs, Romance

The delicate emotional balance of a married couple is put to the test when the past bursts back into their lives, in this perceptive, finely drawn drama.

A man and a woman in vintage dress sit together. She holds up her hand, the letters 'F-L-O-W-' on screen above them.

Compensation (1999)

Zeinabu irene Davis  |   United States
English  
Drama, Historical, Romance

Newly restored, this bold, original Chicago drama follows two love stories, set nearly a century apart, that echo each other in salient ways.

Standing in a wooden doorway, two teenage girls exchange longing glances.

Grace [short film]

Natalie Jasmine Harris  |   United States
English  
Historical, LGBTQ, Romance

In the lead-up to her baptism, 16-year-old Grace ponders God, her relationship to friends and family, and the idea of sin and repentance while staying under her grandmother’s roof. Set in the American south of the 1950s, Grace looks at the constants of adolescence, regardless of place or time.

A black and white image of a man sitting in the rain. He clutches a bouquet of flowers, two people stand in the background.

Grand Tour

Miguel Gomes  |   Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, China
Portuguese  
Drama, Historical, Romance

1917. A British civil servant flees his post in Burma to avoid his fiancee. Undeterred, she embarks on a journey across Asia to find him.

An old man on a vintage bike with a sidecar carrying an old woman. She smiles up at him.

Long Good Thursday (Mielensäpahoittajan rakkaustarina)

Mika Kaurismäki  |   Finland
Finnish  
Comedy, Romance

A rural curmudgeon grappling with old age finds his routine turned upside down when a free-spirited artist enters his secluded life.

A man leans up against a soup cart talking to a female Salvation Army officer

The Man Without a Past (2002) (Mies vailla menneisyyttä)

Aki Kaurismäki  |   Finland, Germany
Finnish  
Comedy, Drama, Romance

In this touching deadpan comedy, a welder, who finds himself in Helsinki and experiencing total amnesia, sets out to rebuild his life with a ragtag group of outsiders.

A well manicured woman in a sequin jacket holds her cell phone out in front of her, contemplating.

Mistress Dispeller

Elizabeth Lo  |   China, United States
Chinese  
Family Affairs, Romance, Women Centered

In this real-life docudrama, a woman in China desperate to save her marriage hires a professional “mistress dispeller” to break up her husband’s affair.

A woman shows an older man her phone, she leans her head on his shoulder.

My Favourite Cake (Keyke Mahboobe Man)

Maryam Moghaddam & Behtash Sanaeeha  |   Iran, France, Sweden, Germany
Farsi  
Drama, Romance, Social Commentary

Widowed Mahin, 70, lives alone in Tehran. Out to tea one afternoon, she’s inspired to break from her routine and revitalize her love life.

A woman sits looking out of the window at night as it rains.

My Senses Are All I Have to Offer [short film] (As minhas sensações são tudo o que tenho para oferecer)

Isadora Neves Marques  |   Portugal
Portuguese  
LGBTQ, Romance, Science Fiction

Lourdes and her girlfriend Lana can communicate telepathically using “sensory pills.” After dating for some time, Lourdes brings Lana to meet her parents at their country house, where they confront their relationship and the limits of their telepathy.

A man and woman sit before a bookshelf, looking at each other.

The Other Way Around (Volveréis)

Jonás Trueba  |   Spain, France
Spanish  
Comedy, Family Affairs, Romance

A couple decides to throw a party to celebrate their amicable breakup. Their loved ones are skeptical, but they say it’s what they want. Is it really?

Black and white image of houses with snowy mountains behind them.

Songs of Love and Hate [short film]

Saurav Ghimire  |   Nepal, Belgium
Nepali  
Family Affairs, Romance

The heartbroken host of a love advice radio show traverses through the mountains of Nepal. Testimonies from his audience about their problems haunt his journey in this deeply contemplative work that overflows with sadness and yearning.

A man in a tshirt and jeans sits on a stone wall with a blue sky behind him.

Super Happy Forever

Kohei Igarashi  |   France, Japan
Japanese  
Drama, Romance

A heartbroken Sano returns to the seaside resort where he fell in love with his wife five years earlier in this unconventional, affecting romance.

Two men dressed in suits stand ankle deep in water.

Viet and Nam

Trương Minh Quý  |   Vietnam
Vietnamese  
Drama, LGBTQ, Romance

Coal miners in love find solace in one another as a mother searches for her husband’s remains in this haunting tale of longing and memory.

Two people stand in a living room watching a monitor of a long-haired woman talking to camera wearing a blue striped apron.

Winter Portrait [short film]

Fernando Saldivia Yáñez  |   United States
Mapudungun, Spanish  
Family Affairs, Romance, Social Commentary

A misty afternoon returns a Mapuche couple to their wedding video. In their civil ceremony, they are noted as one of only two couples married in the indigenous language of Mapudungun.

Two women with matching hair, sunglasses, and bathing suits lie head to head by a pool.

Wishing on a Star

Péter Kerekes  |   Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia
Friulian, Italian  
Comedy, Romance, Women Centered

In this surprising, poignant documentary, an Italian astrologer promises her clients happiness if they follow the stars on a special birthday trip.

Two people hold each other tenderly in a hospital bed.

You can’t get what you want but you can get me [short film]

Samira Elagoz, Z Walsh  |   Netherlands, Finland, Germany, United States
English  
LGBTQ, Romance, Sex and Sexuality

At once intimate and mundane, this creative slideshow follows a developing relationship between two long-haired trans men through a year ‘s worth of texts and pics. Over that year, they meet, date long-distance, get acquainted with each other’s families, and manage recovery from top surgery.

A boy with black hair and a girl with red hair pucker their glowing pink lips toward each other.

Yuck! [short film] (Beurk!)

Loïc Espuche  |   France
French  
Animation, Family Friendly, Romance

Leo lives in a world where those who want to kiss someone have glowing pink lips. At summer camp, he pokes fun at kissers alongside his friends. But his lips have started to glow as well.