2022

Chicago’s own Steve James opens the Festival with A Compassionate Spy at the first ChiFilmFest Block Party, spanning the entire block of N. Southport Ave. outside the Music Box Theatre. Kathryn Hahn receives a Career Achievement Award at the Centerpiece presentation of Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Other honorees include a Visionary Award for Women Talking director Sarah Polley and cinematographer Luc Montpellier, and a Rising Star Award goes to Anna Diop for her turn in Nikyatu Jusu’s NANNY. Award-winning director Darren Arorofsky joins Industry Days for a Master Class to discuss his career and his latest film The Whale. Other notable guests include the Rev. Al Sharpton, attending with his documentary Loudmouth; Senator Dick Durbin, Representative Mike Quigley, and Katie Couric, on hand to support documentary No Ordinary Campaign; and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who appears at screenings of the documentary Art & Pep.