The Chicago International Film Festival turned 60 this year and celebrated in various locations from Oct. 16-27. For six decades, this innovative festival has showcased filmmakers’, casts’ and crews’ work from around the world in the Windy City.
Venues were spread out across the city for this diamond jubilee to screen films for patrons and give special recognition with accolades. Opening night on Oct. 16 kicked off a red carpet in front of the Music Box Theatre for Netflix’s The Piano Lesson with screenwriter Virgil Williams who talked about crafting August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play into film. He said he enjoyed working with Denzel Washington’s family, who were also in attendance. The film’s star, John David Washington, mentioned being a fan of out filmmaker Gus Van Sant’s Elephant: “That film is a master class of independent film.”
His brother Malcolm Washington directed the powerful adaptation and stated, “I wanted to engage in the material and honor the themes at the core of it, which is about identity. After audiences see it, I hope they acknowledge and honor people’s sacrifices that were made to be where we are today.”
“An Evening with Mike Myers” had fans of the comedian coming out in droves to see him at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago on Oct. 19. He coffee-talked about performing in drag as Linda Richman on Saturday Night Live, “I’m British and many English comedians are not very far from a dress! Monty Python and Dame Edna made it a staple of comedy. With Linda, I wanted to create a person associated with New York and Barbra Streisand. I didn’t even think of it at the time as her being female.”
Fellow Canadian Dave Foley moderated the program and spoke on the LGBTQ+ following from his sketch comedy show Kids in the Hall, “What gave us tremendous satisfaction was the amount of people who contacted us from remote areas to say that Kids in the Hall made them feel less isolated. It made it easier for them to come out and talk to their parents. All of the Kids are immensely proud of that, and [that] we were able to do some good in the world.”
Michael Shannon walked the carpet the same night to promote The End and mentioned out director Pedro Almodovar’s The Room Next Door, which stars his friend Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. Almodovar’s film (his first in English) screened twice at CIFF.
When asked about his all-time favorite musical Shannon answered, “I was just in Budapest for a few months while working and I saw the opera Don Giovanni. It blew my mind. In terms of traditional musicals, I like Hadestown and Sunday in the Park with George.”
Several alumni from the coming-of-age, queer, 2016 film Moonlight flew into Chicago with new cinematic projects during the festival. Jharrel Jerome is now 27 years old and starring in Unstoppable; he played Kevin in Moonlight when he was 18 years old. “It was my first big movie role and it stretched me as an actor.”
On Oct. 26, actor Andre Holland described receiving the festival’s Artistic Achievement Award at the Gene Siskel Film Center as “special and an honor.” Before the presentation, he reminisced about his favorite moment from the Moonlight experience, which was the night of the Academy Awards, “I met more famous people than I ever thought I would. Emma Stone and I had a great conversation. I was so nervous and such a fan. She was super sweet!”
Gay animator, writer and director Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail opens on Nov. 1 in Chicago. The Australian filmmaker attended an early screening at the festival and spoke on the gay conversion therapy scene in Memoir: “Some people may think the genre of animation is for children but there is challenging subject matter in this film. I have two objectives with every film I have made. It’s to make them laugh and make them cry.”
Esteemed cinematic creator Robert Zemeckis closed down the fest on Oct. 27 for his project Here. The hometown hero approached the multigenerational story placed in the same house as “something people have never seen before.” When asked about his classic flick Death Becomes Her being made into a musical, he answered, “I can’t wait to see it and I think the characters are perfect for a musical!”
OutLook competition award winners went to Thesis on a Domestication/ Tesis sobre una domesticación, the story of a trans actress played by Sosa Villada, and Four Mothers, an Irish film about four gay sons’ relationships with their moms. The films were chosen by jury members Ariel Zetina, Cody Corrall and Isidore Bethel.
Other screenings were held at the Chicago History Museum, the Hamilton Park Cultural Center in Englewood and the National Museum of Mexican Art.
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