![A black and white image. Illimunated by a single bright light, a man sits in front of a ham radio.](https://cinemachicago.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FF59_AlienIsland1_1200x600.jpg)
Alien Island Isla Alien
Synopsis
Chile, 1984. As a wave of UFO sightings — and a military dictatorship — sweep the country, a group of short-wave radio operators receive mysterious communications from a nearby island. Through the crackling voices, they learn that a highly developed extraterrestrial race has taken residence on Friendship Island and is offering the listeners the promise of a better world.
Mixing shimmering, Twilight Zone-esque black-and-white sci-fi reenactments with lucid archival footage, this stranger-than-fiction story of supernatural intrigue follows both the citizens swept up in the mystery and Ernesto de La Fuente, the enigmatic man at its center. Uniquely stylized, utterly fascinating, and sharply witty, Alien Island goes beyond a tale of close encounters to reveal a far more insidious story of lies, accountability, and political oppression.
![](https://cinemachicago.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FF59_AlienIsland-poster_600x900.jpg)
Screenings & Events
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Media
![](https://cinemachicago.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FF59_AlienIsland1_1200x600-1024x512.jpg)
![](https://cinemachicago.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FF59_AlienIsland2_1200x600-1024x512.jpg)
![](https://cinemachicago.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FF59_AlienIsland3_1200x600-1024x512.jpg)
Film Credits
- Diego Breit Lira
- Cristóbal Valenzuela, Juan Eduardo Murillo
- Juan Eduardo Murillo
- Matías Illane
- Ernesto de la Fuente
- Jorge Cabargas
- Diego Breit Lira
- Glaciar Films, Tico Film Company
- https://www.islaalien.com
Sponsors
Documentary Program Sponsors
Cynthia Stone Raskin
![Three people look out at a snowy, mountainous landscape.](https://cinemachicago.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FF59_AHappyDay1_1200x600.jpg)
A Happy Day
Synopsis
Three teenage boys are stuck at a remote youth asylum center in snow-laden northern Norway. Thoughtful and poetic Hamid, together with the always sensible Aras and easy-going Imael, is plotting his escape. Up and over the mountains, a land of infinite possibility and freedom awaits. But they have a deadline. On their 18th birthdays, each will be feted with a party and then promptly processed for return to their country of origin — places to which they all have tenuous connections. But then one day Aida shows up at the center, turning Hamid’s world, and the boys’ plans, upside down.
An impressive and imposing frosty Nordic landscape populated by mischievous reindeer provides the backdrop for this poetic, intimate tale of hope and heartbreak. Deadpan humor gently intertwines with the absurd in this poignant exploration of otherness, identity, and what it means to belong.
Screenings & Events
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Film Credits
- Hisham Zaman
- Hisham Zaman
- Joakim Schager
- Łukasz Zamaro
- Salah Qadi, Ravand Ali Taha, Mohamed Salah, Sarah Aman Mentzoni, Hilde Skovdahl, Aryan Pezeshki, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Stig Frode Henriksen, Anja Saiva B. Björnstad
- Anthony Lledo
- Miriam Puttick, Linda Netland, Kjetil Jensberg
- Snowfall Cinema AS
Sponsors
International Competition Program Sponsor
John and Jacolyn Bucksbaum Family Foundation
Comedy Program Sponsor
![A young boy smiles, his back to the bright blue sky, with his arms and legs spread as if tossed in the air.](https://cinemachicago.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/FF59_WeGrownNow1_1200x600.jpg)
We Grown Now
Synopsis
The heartfelt story follows two 10-year-olds, Malik and Eric, as they revel in the freedoms of boyhood and the joys of friendship. The projects are their playground, and every stairway, roof, and stretch of blacktop is just another place for adventure. But when violence comes to their neighborhood, their safe haven is fractured, and Malik’s mother Dolores (Jurnee Smollett) must decide whether to stay or move away.
Director Spotlight
We chatted with director Minhal Baig about the origin of the story behind We Grown Now, recreating 1990s Cabrini-Green on screen, and her favorite Chicago movies.
Screenings & Events
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Media
![](https://cinemachicago.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/FF59_WeGrownNow1_1200x600-1024x512.jpg)
![](https://cinemachicago.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/FF59_WeGrownNow2_1200x600-1024x512.jpg)
![](https://cinemachicago.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FF59_WeGrownNow3_1200x600-1024x512.jpg)
Film Credits
- Joe Pirro, Minhal Baig
- Minhal Baig
- Stephanie Filo, ACE
- Pat Scola
- Blake Cameron James, Gian Knight Ramirez, S. Epatha Merkerson, with Lil Rel Howery, and Jurnee Smollett
- Jay Wadley
- Jeff Skoll, Anikah McLaren, James Schamus, Carrie Holt de Lama, Jurnee Smollett
- Participant, Symbolic Exchange