1970

Illinois Governor Richard B. Ogilvie lends his support to the Festival, writing “too often, the avant-garde image of the filmmaker has been interpreted as antithetical to the mid-American ethic. But that is a view which disregards an essential element of that ethic: its firm foundation in the concept of individual freedom. Film is free, as America is free.” 15 years of state grants would follow. The Festival features its first all-critics jury, with banter and barbs exchanged between the Chicago Sun-Times’s Roger Ebert, the Chicago Tribune’s Gene Siskel, Chicago Today’s Mary Knoblaugh, and the Chicago Daily News’s Sam Lesner. Howard Hawks and George Stevens are Festival guests, and documentarian Les Blank’s short The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins takes home a Gold Hugo.