The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the composite eyes of early film actresses Theda Bara, Pola Negri, and Mae Murray, set as repeated frames in a strip of film. In 2010, the 46th Chicago International Film Festival presented 150 films from more than 50 countries. The Festival's program is composed of many different sections, including the International Competition, New Directors Competition, Docufest, Black Perspectives, Cinema of the Americas, and Reel Women. Its main venue is the River East Center, AMC River East 21 Theatre in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, although it has dropped that venue during the most recent festival as of 2023 (59th), instead using the AMC Newcity 14.

International Connections Program

The International Connections Program was created in 2003 in order to raise awareness of the international film culture and diversity of Chicago, and to make the festival more appealing to audience and staff of various ethnicities. Foreign films are screened for free throughout the city weekly from July through September.

Awards

Winners are awarded Hugo Awards in eight different competition categories. *International Feature Film Competition **Gold Hugo **Silver Hugo: Jury Prize **Silver Hugo: Best Director **Silver Hugo: Best Actor (until 2019) **Silver Hugo: Best Actress (until 2019) **Silver Hugo: Best Performance (from 2020) **Silver Hugo: Best Ensemble Performance **Silver Hugo: Best Cinematography **Silver Hugo: Best Screenplay **Silver Hugo: Best Sound **Silver Hugo: Best Art Direction *New Directors Competition *International Documentary Competition *Out-Look Competition *City & State Competition **Chicago Award *Live Action Short Film Competition *Documentary Short Film Competition *Animated Short Film Competition

Gold Hugo

Silver Hugo

Jury Award

* 2024 – ''All We Imagine as Light'', dir. Payal Kapadia (filmmaker), Payal Kapadia (India) * 2023 – ''The Delinquents (2023 film), The Delinquents'', dir. Rodrigo Moreno (Argentina) * 2022 – ''Close (2022 film), Close'', dir. Lukas Dhont (Belgium) * 2021 – ''Drive My Car (film), Drive My Car'', dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Japan) * 2020 – ''Careless Crime'', dir. Shahram Mokri (Iran) * 2019 – ''Vitalina Varela'', dir. Pedro Costa (Portugal)

Best Director

* 2024 – Miguel Gomes (director), Miguel Gomes (Portugal) for ''Grand Tour (film), Grand Tour'' * 2023 – Aki Kaurismäki (Finland) for ''Fallen Leaves (film), Fallen Leaves'' * 2022 – Maryam Touzani (Morocco) for ''The Blue Caftan'' * 2021 – Peter Kerekes (Slovakia) for ''107 Mothers'' * 2020 – Andrei Konchalovsky (Russia) for ''Dear Comrades!'' * 2019 – Maya Da-Rin (Brazil) for ''The Fever (2019 film), The Fever''

Best Actor

* 2024 – Benjamin Voisin (France) for ''The Quiet Son'' * 2021 – Bouli Lanners (Belgium) for ''Nobody Has to Know (film), Nobody Has to Know'' * 2019 – Bartosz Bielenia (Poland) for ''Corpus Christi (2019 film), Corpus Christi'' * 2018 – Jesper Christensen (Denmark) for ''Before the Frost (film), Before the Frost'' * 2017 – Aleksandr Yatsenko (Russia) for ''Arrhythmia (film), Arrhythmia'' * 2016 – Adrian Titieni (Romania) for ''Graduation (2016 film), Graduation'' * 2015 – Alexi Mathieu and Jules Gauzelin (France) for ''A Childhood'' * 2014 – Anton Yelchin (USA) for ''Rudderless'' * 2013 – Robert Wieckiewicz (Poland) for ''Walesa: Man of Hope'' * 2012 – Denis Lavant (France) for ''Holy Motors'' * 2011 – Maged El Kedwany (Egypt) for ''678 (film), 678'' * 2010 – Youssouf Djaoro (Chad) for ''A Screaming Man'' * 2009 – Filippo Timi (Italy) for ''Vincere'' * 2008 – Michael Fassbender (Ireland) for ''Hunger (2008 film), Hunger'' * 2007 – Sam Riley (United Kingdom) for ''Control (2007 film), Control'' * 2006 – Jürgen Vogel (Germany) for ''The Free Will'' * 1989 – Jörg Gudzuhn (GDR) for ''Fallada: The Last Chapter, Fallada, letztes Kapitel'' * 1987 – Avtandil Makharadze (Georgia) for ''Monanieba'' * 1972 – José Luis López Vázquez (Spain) for ''My Dearest Senorita'' * 1971 – José Luis López Vázquez (Spain) for ''The Ancines Woods''

Best Actress

* 2024 – Elín Hall (Iceland) for ''When the Light Breaks'' * 2021 – Michelle Fairley (Ireland) for ''Nobody Has to Know (film), Nobody Has to Know'' * 2019 – Debbie Honeywood (UK) for ''Sorry We Missed You'' * 2018 – Zhao Tao (China) for ''Ash Is Purest White'' * 2017 – Jowita Budnik (Poland) and Eliane Umuhire (Rwanda) for ''Birds Are Singing in Kigali'' * 2016 – Rebecca Hall (UK) for ''Christine (2016 film), Christine'' * 2015 – Lizzie Brocheré (France) for ''Full Contact (2015 film), Full Contact'' * 2014 – Geraldine Chaplin (United States) for ''Sand Dollars (film), Sand Dollars'' * 2013 – Nadeshda Brennicke (Germany) for ' * 2012 – Ulla Skoog (Sweden) for ''The Last Sentence'' * 2011 – Olivia Colman (UK) for ''Tyrannosaur (film), Tyrannosaur'' * 2010 – Liana Liberato (USA) for ''Trust (2010 film), Trust'' * 2009 – Giovanna Mezzogiorno (Italy) for ''Vincere'' * 2008 – Preity Zinta (India) for ''Heaven on Earth (2008 film), Heaven on Earth'' * 2007 – Yu Nan (China) for ''Tuya's Marriage'' * 2006 – Viktoriya Isakova, Darya Moroz, Anna Ukolova (Russia) for ''The Spot (film), The Spot'' * 2005 – Inka Friedrich, Nadja Uhl (Germany) for ''Summer in Berlin (film), Summer in Berlin'' * 2003 – Ludivine Sagnier (France) for ''Little Lili''

Best Performance

* 2023 – Ilinca Manolache (Romania) for ''Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World'' * 2022 – Vicky Krieps (Luxembourg) for ''Corsage (film), Corsage'' * 2020 – Yakusho Koji (Japan) for ''Under the Open Sky''

Best Screenplay

* 2024 – Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran) for ''The Seed of the Sacred Fig'' * 2023 – Gábor Reisz and Éva Schulze (Hungary) for ''Explanation for Everything'' * 2022 – Alice Diop, Amrita David, and Marie NDiaye (France) for ''Saint Omer (film), Saint Omer'' * 2021 – Alexandre Koberidze (Georgia) for ''What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?'' * 2020 – Christos Nikou and Stavros Raptis (Greece) for ''Apples (film), Apples'' * 2019 – Pema Tseden (China) for ''Balloon (2019 Chinese film), Balloon''

Best Editing

* 2024 – Telmo Churro and Pedro Filipe Marques (Portugal) for ''Grand Tour (film), Grand Tour''

Best Cinematography

* 2023 – Hélène Louvart (France) for ''La Chimera'' * 2022 – Maria von Hausswolff (Iceland) for ''Godland (film), Godland'' * 2021 – Kasper Tuxen (Denmark) for ''The Worst Person in the World (film), The Worst Person in the World'' * 2020 – Tobie Marier Robitaille (Canada) for ''Night of the Kings'' * 2019 – Vladimír Smutný (Czech Republic) for ''The Painted Bird (film), The Painted Bird''

Best Art Direction

* 2022 – Marcela Gómez and Daniel Rincon (Colombia) for ''The Kings of the World'' * 2021 – Sergey Fevralev (Russia) for ''Captain Volkonogov Escaped'' * 2020 – Jagna Dobesz (Poland) for ''Sweat (2020 film), Sweat''

Best New Director

* 2023 – Ena Sendijarević (Netherlands) for ''Sweet Dreams (2023 film), Sweet Dreams'' * 2022 – Ann Oren (Germany) for ''Piaffe''

Special Mention

* 2024 – Ensemble Performance for ''On Becoming a Guinea Fowl''

Lifetime Achievement Awards

Winners of the festival's ''Lifetime Achievement Award'' include Steven Spielberg, Helen Hunt, Dustin Hoffman, Martin Landau, Shirley MacLaine, Lord Richard Attenborough, François Truffaut, Jodie Foster, Sigourney Weaver, Robin Williams, Manoel de Oliveira, and Clint Eastwood.

Career Achievement Awards

*Bruce Dern (2013) *Terrence Howard (2005) *Susan Sarandon (2005) *Shirley MacLaine (2005) *Robert Zemeckis (2004) *Irma P. Hall, Robert Townsend (actor), Robert Townsend and Harry J. Lennix (2004) *Annette Bening (2004) *Robin Williams (2004) *Nicolas Cage (2003)

Television awards

The Television Awards started with the idea of honoring television commercials in a special event of the film festival, but over time evolved and grew into a bigger event, comprising not only commercials but also television productions, series, and online television. In 2003, a separate ceremony was launched for the TV awards, and in 2017, the event became a separate event, named the Chicago International Television Festival. Winners and runners-up for the various categories, which include Gold and Silver Hugos, are listed on the film festival website.

References

External links

Chicago International Film Festival
{{Authority control Film festivals in Chicago Lifetime achievement awards Film festivals established in 1964