Chicago International Film Festival today unveiled the full lineup for the 56th edition, screening both virtually and at the drive-in from Wednesday, October 14 – Sunday, October 25, 2020.

The Opening Night film will be the previously announced World Premiere of the documentary Belushi, and the Closing Night film will be Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand, on Saturday, October 24, showing exclusively at the drive-in.

The 56th Festival presents the World Premieres of seven films, including: Belushi, the locally made documentaries The Road Up and Mama Gloria; China’s Striding into the Wind; Switzerland’s Of Fish and Men; and Venezuela’s The Special. In addition, the unseen fifth episode of Steve James’ documentary series City So Real will make its World Premiere at the
Festival. The Dutch drama Becoming Mona and the Israeli documentary ‘Til Kingdom Come make their International Premieres at the Festival

Seven-time Academy Award nominee Kate Winslet, winner of Best Actress for The Reader, will be presented with the Career Achievement Award at a tribute to be shown in conjunction with the Festival’s Chicago Premiere of Ammonite at ChiTown Movies. Highland Park native and star of Amazon’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Rachel Brosnahan will appear in a live streamed
virtual conversation during An Evening with Rachel Brosnahan, in conjunction with the Chicago premiere of I’m Your Woman on October 21. And Oscar-nominated Italian filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi (Fire at Sea) will receive the Festival’s Artistic Achievement Award in conjunction with the Chicago premiere of his new documentary Notturno, filmed on the war-torn borders between Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan, and Lebanon.

International Feature Competition

And Tomorrow the Entire World (Germany)
Dir. Julia von Heinz
North American premiere

Apples (Greece)
Dir. Christos Nikou

Careless Crime (Iran)
Dir. Shahram Mokri
North American premiere

Dear Comrades! (Russia)
Dir. Andrei Konchalovskiy
North American premiere

I’m Your Woman (US)
Dir. Julia Hart

Night of the Kings (Côte d’Ivoire, France, Canada, Senegal)
Dir. Philippe Lacôte

Padrenostro (Italy)
Dir. Claudio Noce
North American premiere

Sweat (Poland/Sweden)
Dir. Magnus van Horne
North American premiere

True Mothers (Japan)
Dir. Naomi Kawase
US premiere

Under the Open Sky (Japan)
Dir. Miwa Nishikawa
US premiere

New Directors Competition

Any Crybabies Around? (Japan)
Dir. Takuma Sato
North American premiere

Becoming Mona (The Netherlands)
Dirs. Sabine Lubbe Bakker, Niels van Coevorden
International premiere

Gaza Mon Amour (Palestine, Gemany, France, Portugal)
Dirs. Tarzan and Arab Nasser
US premiere

Memory House (Brazil)
Dir. João Paulo Miranda Maria
US premiere

Of Fish and Men (Switzerland)
Dir. Stefanie Klemm
World premiere

Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time (Hungary)
Dir. Lili Horvath
US premiere

Schoolgirls (Spain)
Dir. Pilar Palomero
North American premiere

Sleep (Germany)
Dir. Michael Venus
US premiere

The Special (Venezuela)
Dir. Ignacio Márquez
World premiere

Spring Blossom (France)
Dir. Suzanne Lindon
US premiere

Striding into the Wind (China)
Dir. Shujun Wei
North American premiere

International Documentary Competition

Kubrick by Kubrick (France)
Dir. Gregory Monro
North American premiere

Little Girl (France)
Dir. Sébastien Lifshitz
North American premiere

MLK/FBI (US)
Dir. Sam Pollard

Mama Gloria (US)
Dir. Luchina Fisher
World premiere

The Prophet and the Space Aliens (Israel/Austria/South Africa)
Dir. Yoav Shamir
North American premiere

The Road Up (U.S.)
Dirs. Jon Siskel, Greg Jacobs
World premiere

Things We Dare Not Do (Mexico)
Dir. Bruno Santamaría
US premiere

’Til Kingdom Come (Israel)
Dir. Maya Zinshtein
International premiere

Transoceánicas (Spain, Argentina)
Dirs. Lucía Vassallo, Meritxell Colell Aparicio
North American premiere

Out-Look Competition

Ammonite (U.K.)
Dir. Francis Lee
Chicago premiere

Days (Taiwan)
Dir. Tsai Ming-Liang
Chicago premiere

Little Girl (France)
Dir. Sébastien Lifshit
North America premiere

Mama Gloria (U.S.)
Dir. Luchina Fishe
World premiere

Summer of ’85 (France)
Dir. Francois Ozon
Chicago premiere

Things We Dare Not Do (Mexico)
Dir. Bruno Santamaría
US premiere

Twilight’s Kiss (Hong Kong)
Dir. Ray Yeung
Chicago premiere

Animated Short Film Competition

The Chimney Swift (Germany)
Dir. Frédéric Schuld

The Ephemeral Orphanage (U.S.)
Dir. Lisa Barcy

The Fabric of You (U.K.)
Dir. Josephine Lohoar Self

Homeless Home (Spain, France)
Dir. Alberto Vázquez

The Last Day of Autumn (Switzerland, Belgium, France)
Dir. Marjolaine Perreten

Melting Heart Cake (France)
Dir. Benoît Chieux

My Exercise (Japan)
Dir. Atsushi Wada

O Black Hole! (U.K.)
Dir. Renee Zhan

One Stormy Night (Germany)
Dir. Gil Alkabetz

Pilar (The Netherlands, Belgium)
Dirs. Yngwie Boley, J.J. Epping, Diana van Houten

Souvenir (Spain)
Dirs. Vilches Estella, Paloma Canonica

Step into the River (China, France)
Dir. Weijia Ma

Tie (Portugal, France)
Dir. Alexandra Ramires

To: Gerard (U.S)
Dir. Taylor Meacham

Umbrella (Brazil)
Dirs. Helena Hilario and Mario Pece

Why Slugs Have No Legs (Switzerland)
Dir. Aline Höchli

Documentary Short Film Competition

A Mystery to Me (U.S.)
Dir. Ben Strang

Comrades (Hong Kong)
Dir. Kanas Liu

Ethereality (Switzerland)
Dir. Kantarama Gahigiri

How to Disappear (Austria)
Dirs. Robin Klengel, Leonhard Müllner, Michael Stumpf

Huntsville Station (U.S.)
Dirs. Jamie Meltzer, Chris Filippone

Radia (Morocco, U.K.)
Dir. Erica Beebe

The Reversal (U.S.)
Dir. Jennifer Boles

Sacred Brick Technology (U.S.)
Dir. Ian Bertorelli

We Have One Heart (Poland)
Dir. Katarzyna Warzecha

When I Write It (U.S.)
Dirs. Nico Opper, Shannon St. Aubin

When Two or Three (U.S.)
Dir. Carmine Grimaldi

Live Action Short Film Competition

Bella (Greece)
Dir. Thelyia Petraki

Blocks (U.S.)
Dir. Bridget Moloney

Buzzkill (U.S.)
Dir. Kathy E. Mitrani

David (U.S.)
Dir. Zach Woods

The Doe (France)
Dir. Jennifer Lumbroso

The End of Suffering (a proposal) (Greece)
Dir. Jacqueline Lentzou

Flick (U.S.)
Dir. Ariel Zengotita

Gramercy (U.S.)
Dirs. Jamil McGinnis, Pat Heywood

Grizzlies (U.S.)
Dir. Alex Heller

Heaven Reaches Down to Earth (South Africa)
Dir. Tebogo Malebogo

Laura Hasn’t Slept (U.S.)
Dir. Parker Finn

Listening In (Israel)
Dir. Omer Sterenberg

Look Then Below (U.S.)
Dir. Ben Rivers

Nightingale (The Netherlands)
Dir. Jasper de Bruin

Patois (U.S.)
Dirs. Andre Muir, Danielle Alston

Pegasus (U.S.)
Dir. Orlando Leroi

Play Schengen (Norway)
Dir. Gunhild Enger

The Price of Cheap Rent (U.S.)
Dirs. Amina Sutton, Maya Tanaka

Regret (Canada)
Dir. Santiago Menghini

-Ship: A Visual Poem (U.S.)
Dir. Terrance Daye

Somewhere in Time (UAE)
Dir. Nawaf Al Janahi

Spotted Yellow (Iran)
Dir. Baran Sarmad

Sticker (Macedonia)
Dir. Georgi M. Unkovski

Stump the Guesser (Canada)
Dirs. Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson

Sun Dog (Belgium/Russia)
Dir. Dorian Jespers

Swipe Up, Vivian! (U.S.)
Dir. Hannah Welever

They Salivate (France)
Dir. Ariane Boukerche

The Unseen River (Vietnam, Laos)
Dir. Phạm Ngọc Lân

Virago (Estonia)
Dir. Kerli Kirch Schneider