It’s that time of year again: the 54th Chicago International Film Festival starts tonight. Included in the lineup are many films made by Chicago-born or -based filmmakers or else set in our city. Here’s a quick and dirty guide about the films that really put ‘Chicago’ in the festival:
The Feeling of Being Watched Chicago-based Algerian-American journalist and filmmaker Assia Boundaoui, declared one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film for 2018, explores FBI surveillance of Arab-Americans in Bridgeview. Thu 10/18, 5:30 PM, and Fri 10/19, 3:30 PMFriedkin Uncut A documentary about Chicago-born director William Friedkin, perhaps best known for The French Connection and The Exorcist. He will appear in person at the Monday screening (billed as a William Friedkin Tribute, where he’ll receive a Lifetime Achievement Award), as well as the Sunday screening of The Band Wagon, one of his favorite films. Mon 10/15, 6 PM, and Tue 10/16, 12 PM
The Power and the GlorySpencer Tracy stars in this 1933 William K. Howard film as a much-hated railroad tycoon whose life is recounted in flashback after he commits suicide; Colleen Moore plays his wife. A star of the silent era, Moore also co-founded the Chicago International Film Festival with Michael Kutza in 1964. Another Chicago native, Preston Sturges, wrote the script. The screening is billed as a tribute to Moore, and her grandson, Billy Hargrave, will appear in conversation with Kutza.Sun 10/21, 2:15 PMRelax, It’s Probably Just a Parasite The creator of this animated short, Joel Benjamin, teaches at the School of the Art Institute. Shorts Program 2: Outside the Lines (Animation), Wed 10/17, 3:30 PM, and Thu 10/18, 7:45 PM
Widows Steve McQueen’s latest endeavor was filmed in Chicago (yes, Liam Neeson and Viola Davis were in our streets) from a script co-written by Chicago-based author Gillian Flynn. The film follows a group of widows (Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, and Cynthia Erivo) as they attempt to complete their dead husbands’ failed heist. Sat 10/13, 7 PM
