The 60th Chicago International Film Festival unveiled the full program lineup including 122 feature films and 71 shorts from more than 60 countries around the world.

Filmmakers from around the world will compete for the Gold Hugo award in the categories of International Feature, International Documentary, New Directors, and OutLook, in addition to Shorts programs, in North America’s longest-running competitive film festival.

The Festival opens with The Piano Lesson, the directorial debut of writer/director Malcolm Washington, produced by Denzel Washington and Todd Black. Director and co-writer Malcolm Washington will receive the Festival’s Breakthrough Award for his feature directorial debut, and John David Washington will receive the Spotlight Award for his performance as Boy Willie, at the Opening Night festivities.

The Centerpiece presentation of Nightbitch stars Amy Adams as a woman who pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom, but her new domesticity takes a surreal turn. Director Marielle Heller is set to receive the Festival’s Visionary Award for her penetrating, funny, and outrageous look at the realities of being an American mom.

Legendary filmmaker Robert Zemeckis returns to the festival to present his film, Here, starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright as Closing Night film, marking the third time he has had the honor of the Closing Night film. Zemeckis will receive the Founder’s Legacy Award at the Closing Night celebration,

Spotlight Presentations include a screening of Nickel Boys, presented as part of the Festival’s Black Perspectives program, with director RaMell Ross set to receive the Vanguard Award for his groundbreaking, visionary new film; Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist; Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here; and Tim Mielants’ Small Things Like These.

Special Presentations include Steve McQueen’s Blitz, in which 9-year-old George embarks on an epic journey to reunite with his family in World War II London; Better Man, tracking the meteoric rise, dramatic fall, and remarkable resurgence of British pop superstar Robbie Williams from director Michael Gracey; Conclave, the story of a Cardinal at the center of a conspiracy that could shake the foundation of the Church during the secretive process of selecting a new Pope, by director Edward Berger; the emotional comedy A Real Pain, by director Jesse Eisenberg, who also stars alongside Kieran Culkin; Pablo Larraín’s Maria, starring Angelina Jolie as the world’s greatest opera singer, Maria Callas; The Room Next Door, Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language film starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton as old friends whose relationship is put to the test; and Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5, in which a U.S. broadcasting team quickly adapts from sports reporting to live coverage of the Israeli athletes taken hostage during the 1972 Munich Olympics.

The Festival will honor Actor André Holland with the Artistic Achievement Award at “An Evening with André Holland,” hosted by Steppenwolf Theatre Company Co-Artistic Director Glenn Davis and part of the Black Perspectives program; and comedy legend Mike Myers will receive a Career Achievement Award at a special event, “An Evening with Mike Myers,” hosted by fellow funny Canadian Dave Foley and co-presented by The Second City.

Japanese master filmmaker Kore-eda Hirokazu will receive the Career Achievement Award and a retrospective program of six selected films. The writer-director will receive the award at a tribute screening of Nobody Knows, presented in 35mm, and participate in a conversation exploring his storied career.

Other retrospectives include the World Premiere of the restoration of Stan Lathan’s Save the Children, a jubilant documentary featuring Black musicians at Chicago’s 1972 Black Expo; a restoration of director Ivan Dixon’s The Spook Who Sat by the Door, in which a Black CIA agent secretly leads a guerilla army against the U.S. government; and Compensation, director Zeinabui irene Davis’s tale of two love stories set nearly a century apart with a newly-restored print. Famed Chicago director Andrew Davis presents his 1989 classic thriller The Package, starring Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones, screening at the Chicago History Museum.

The stories and filmmakers of Chicago and Illinois take center stage in the Festival’s popular City & State program. This year’s selections include Jules Rosskam’s hybrid documentary Desire Lines, in which a trans man becomes immersed in an LGBTQ archive whose oral histories push against stigmas and boundaries; Rana Segal’s The Light of Truth: Richard Hunt’s Monument to Ida B. Wells, following the artist as he sculpts his monument to the civil rights icon; and Okie, the story of a famous novelist returning to his rural Illinois hometown only to receive a mixed welcome, from director Kate Cobb. Filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed pieces together a picture of her mother, a renowned Chicago-born photojournalist, attempting to close the gap between herself and the woman she never knew in A Photographic Memory; and Kyle Henry presents a moving, playful testament to the bond between mother and son with Time Passages. Other films with strong local connections include Chicagoland native Steve Pink’s portrait of Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger, The Last Republican; and the World Premiere of Chicago-born director Jason Park’s feature debut Transplant, starring K-Pop star Eric Nam.

The Chicago International Film Festival runs October 16 – 27, 2024 with film screenings and programs presented at venues across the city including AMC NEWCITY 14, the Music Box Theatre, the Gene Siskel Film Center, the Chicago History Museum, the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago, as well as community screenings at pop-up locations including the Hamilton Park Cultural Center and the National Museum of Mexican Art.

International Feature Competitions

All We Imagine As Light (France, India, The Netherlands, Luxembourg)
Dir. Payal Kapadia

The End (Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, U.K.)
Dir. Joshua Oppenheimer

Grand Tour (Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, China)
Dir. Miguel Gomes

Harvest (U.K., Germany, Greece, France, U.S.)
Dir. Athina Rachel Tsangari

On Becoming A Guinea Fowl (Zambia, U.K., Ireland)
Dir. Rungano Nyoni

The Quiet Son Jouer Avec Le Feu (France)
Dirs. Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin
North American Premiere

The Seed Of The Sacred Fig (Iran, France, Germany)
Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof

The Sparrow In The Chimney (Switzerland)
Dir. Ramon Zürcher
U.S. Premiere

Suçuarana (Brazil)
Dirs. Clarissa Campolina, Sérgio Borges
World Premiere

Super Happy Forever (France, Japan)
Dir. Kohei Igarashi
U.S. Premiere

Transamazonia (France, Germany, Switzerland, Taiwan, Brazil)
Dir. Pia Marais

Vermiglio (Italy, France, Belgium)
Dir. Maura Delpero

When The Light Breaks/Ljósbrot (Iceland, Netherlands, Croatia, France)
Dir. Rúnar Rúnarsson
U.S. Premiere

New Directors Competition

Cabo Negro (France, Morocco)
Dir. Abdellah Taïa
North American Premiere

Ghost Trail Les Fantômes (France, Germany, Belgium)
Dir. Jonathan Millet
U.S. Premiere

Hanami (Switzerland, Portugal, Cape Verde)
Dir. Denise Fernandes
North American Premiere

Happy Holidays (Palestine, Germany, France, Italy, Qatar)
Dir. Scandar Copti
U.S. Premiere

Listen To The Voices Kouté Vwa (Belgium, France, French Guiana)
Dir. Maxime Jean-baptiste
North American Premiere

My Favourite Cake Keyke Mahboobe Man (Iran, France, Sweden, Germany)
Dirs. Maryam Moghaddam, Behtash Sanaeeha
U.S. Premiere

Peacock (Austria, Germany)
Dir. Bernhard Wenger
North American Premiere

Rita (Spain)
Dir. Paz Vega
North American Premiere

Toxic Akiplėša (Lithuania)
Dir. Saulė Bliuvaitė
U.S. Premiere

Transplant (U.S.)
Dir. Jason Park
World Premiere

The Village Next To Paradise (Austria, France, Germany, Somalia)
Dir. Mo Harawe
U.S. Premiere

Who Do I Belong To Mé El Aïn (Tunisia, France, Canada)
Dir. Meryam Joobeur
U.S. Premiere

Documentary Competition

Between Goodbyes (U.S.)
Dir. Jota Mun
North American Premiere

The Brink Of Dreams Rafaat Einy Ll Sama (Egypt, France, Denmark, Qatar, Saudi Arabia)
Dirs. Nada Riyadh, Ayman El Amir
North American Premiere

Life And Other Problems Livet Og Andre Problemer (Denmark, U.K., Sweden)
Dir. Max Kestner
North American Premiere

Mistress Dispeller (China, U.S.)
Dir. Elizabeth Lo

My Stolen Planet (Germany, Iran)
Dir. Farahnaz Sharifi
U.S. Premiere

Once Upon A Time In A Forest (Finland)
Dir. Virpi Suutari
U.S. Premiere

The Return Of The Projectionist/Le Retour Du Projectionniste (France, Germany)
Dir. Orkhan Aghazadeh
North American Premiere

Wishing On A Star (Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Croatia)
Dir. Péter Kerekes
U.S. Premiere

OutLook Competition

Baby (Brazil, France, The Netherlands)
Dir. Marcelo Caetano

Between Goodbyes (U.S.)
Dir. Jota Mun
North American Premiere

Cabo Negro (France, Morocco)
Dir. Abdellah Taïa
North American Premiere

Desire Lines (U.S.)
Dir. Jules Rosskam

Four Mothers (Ireland)
Dir. Darren Thornton
North American Premiere

My Sunshine (Japan, France)
Dir. Hiroshi Okuyama

Thesis On A Domestication/Tesis Sobre Una Domesticación (Argentina, Mexico)
Dir. Javier Van De Couter
World Premiere

Three Kilometres To The End Of The World/Trei Kilometri Până La Capătul Lumii
(Romania)
Dir. Emanuel Pârvu
U.S. Premiere

Time Passages (U.S.)
Dir. Kyle Henry

Viet And Nam (Vietnam)
Dir. Trương Minh Qu