
Happy Holidays
Synopsis
A panoramic portrait of a patriarchal society, Happy Holidays chronicles the lives of a Palestinian family living in Israel. While studying far away from her home in Haifa, Fifi’s newfound sense of freedom is threatened when she gets into a minor car accident. Injured, but hoping to avoid confrontation with her headstrong mother, she must decide just how much to reveal to her family. Her decision creates a cascade of ripple effects, and a complex web of deceits and half-truths begins to crack the family’s foundations.
Told in four chapters, each from the perspective of a different character, the film intricately balances a bevy of narrative threads to create a swirling, kaleidoscopic drama. Featuring pitch-perfect performances and a shifting structure that subverts expectations at every turn, the film elaborates the clashing demands of tradition and progress.
In Focus: Germany on Screen
This film is part of the 60th Chicago International Film Festival’s In Focus: Germany on Screen collection highlighting the work of Germany’s most gifted auteur filmmakers.
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Film Credits
- Tony Copti, Jiries Copti, Dorothe Beinemeier, Jean Bréhat, Marco Valerio Fusco, Micaela Fusco
- Scandar Copti
- Scandar Copti
- Tim Kuhn
- Manar Shehab, Wafaa Aoun, Meirav Memoresky, Toufic Danial
- Pascal Lemercier
- Fresco Films, Red Balloon Film, Tessalit Productions, Intramovies
Sponsors
New Directors Program Patron
Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation
With Support From

Grand Tour
Synopsis
1917. Edward, a skittish civil servant working for the British Empire, has been posted in Rangoon, Burma for years. When his fiancée Molly sends a letter announcing her imminent arrival, he experiences a sudden and debilitating case of cold feet, boards the first ship in sight, and flees the country. Learning of his escape, Molly is determined to track him down. So she embarks on an Asian grand tour, going from Bangkok to Shanghai in search of her reluctant lover. Equal parts 1930s Hollywood throwback and meditative travelog, director Miguel Gomes (The Tsugua Diaries, Chicago IFF 2020) imbues this globe-trotting love story with searching melancholy. The studio-set “colonial romance” is shot in black and white, and intercut with sumptuous color footage shot in the modern day. The result is an intoxicating mixture of fiction and documentary that ponders the past as it ruminates on our present.
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Film Credits
- Filipa Reis
- Gonçalo Waddington, Crista Alfaiate, Cláudio da Silva
- Uma Pedra no Sapato, Vivo Film, Shellac Films
Sponsors
International Competition Program Patron
Jacolyn and John Bucksbaum Family Foundation

Dahomey
Synopsis
2021. A wooden statue depicting King Gezo, who ruled the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin) in the mid-1800s, is carefully packed into a box. He is among the 26 stolen artifacts selected to make a long-overdue return journey from Paris to Benin. As he’s stowed away, his internal monologue booms on the soundtrack. How does he feel about his imminent homecoming? Master filmmaker Mati Diop (Atlantics) ponders this question and many more in this imaginative meditation on post-imperial Benin and its continuing, complex colonial legacy. Inflected with fantastical flourishes, Diop carefully documents the painstaking work of transporting these priceless objects and observes a debate among students at the University of Abomey-Calavi. How should these treasures, stolen from their ancestors, be received by a nation that has reinvented itself in their absence?
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Film Credits
- Mati Diop, Judith Lou Lévy
- Arte France Cinéma, Fanta Sy, Les Films du Bal
Sponsors
Black Perspectives Program Sponsor
Documentary Program Partner
Documentary Program Patron
Cynthia Stone Raskin
Film Patron
Lauren Robishaw
With Support From

By the Stream Suyoocheon
Synopsis
A retired director (Kwon Haehyo), now running a bookshop, is hastily hired to supervise a short play at a nearby university. He agrees at the behest of his niece (Kim Minhee), who is scrambling to replace the student director who was dismissed due to misconduct. Excited to reconnect, the two work with the student actors to write and stage a work of political theater that irks the school administrators.
Infused with a political edge, By the Stream finds great depth in simplicity. Using a spare plot, stripped down visual style, and a cast of his regular actors, director Hong Sangsoo (On the Beach at Night Alone, 2017) crafts a wistful meditation about regret, human connection, and the creative process.
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Film Credits
- Hong Sangsoo
- Hong Sangsoo
- Hong Sangsoo
- Hong Sangsoo
- Kim Minhee, Kwon Haehyo, Cho Yunhee
- Hong Sangsoo
- Jeonwonsa Film Co.
- https://www.cinemaguild.com/theatrical/bythestream.html

Cabo Negro
Synopsis
Moroccan friends Soundouss and Jaâfar arrive at a luxury villa in the resort town of Cabo Negro to await Jaâfar’s American lover, who is meant to join them there. The days go by, but the American doesn’t appear or answer Jaâfar’s calls. Left on their own in this place of transience, the villa becomes their refuge — but only for so long. As the harsh cultural and financial realities of life outside the villa creep in, the two friends seek out fleeting moments of connection with the other misfits of Cabo Negro. Profoundly subtle and rich, celebrated author Abdellah Taïa’s feature debut is an enchanting, tender ode to kinship and generosity between those pushed to the margins of society.
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Film Credits
- Saïd Hamich Benlarbi, Sophie Penson
- Abdellah Taïa
- Nobuo Coste
- Julie Mingo
- Youness Beyej, Oumaima Barid, Julian Compan
- Barney Production
- https://barneyproduction.com/blog/2023/03/31/2407-cabo-negro-fr/
Sponsors
New Directors Program Patron
Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation