Nick's Flick Picks: The Chicago Film Festival

<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFCC" link="#003399" vlink="#003399" leftmargin="22" rightmargin="22"> <center> <table width=680><tr><td> <br> <center><b><Font Color="#003399" Face=Garamond Size=+3>Best Kept Secret: The Chicago Film Festival</Font></b></center><hr> <img src=chifestlogo.jpg width=160 align=left hspace=10>What, you don't have hometown pride? The Golden Hugo of the Chicago Film Festival <s>may not</s> does not carry the same cachet as a <a href=cannes.html target="_top">Palme d'Or</a> or a <a href=venice.html target="_top">Golden Lion</a>. I admit that before moving to the Windy City in 2006, I didn't even know it hosted a festival, though it turns out to be the oldest competitive festival in North America. The October timeline ensures that Chicago's event, even if it changed in character, will always be overshadowed by the trifecta of Venice, Telluride, and Toronto in the preceding month.<br> <br> Here, however, is why I make a point of always being in town for the Chicago Film Festival instead of aiming to hit those other circuses: Chicago's is a <i>fantastic</i> festival, culling lots of the high-profile titles from those earlier fests (plus Cannes and Berlin). Not that everything's imported from other events; I love how often I've relished features like <a href=aerial.html><i>The Aerial</i></a> and the Hugo-winning <a href=missdamn.html><i>Mississippi Damned</i></a> that elsewhere flew under the radar. Though we get our share of stars on our red carpets, there is no sales market per se, and very few high-profile premieres, so the theaters aren't phalanxed with scouts, execs, and reporters, Blackberrying their price quotes or blocking you with their camera crews. It is truly a festival for movie-lovers, chock-full of films, minus all the distractions, and it's a heck of a lot cheaper to attend than New York's. When the likes of Laura Linney visits, no palace guards or E! types stop me from <a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com/2007/11/inspirations-and-holy-encounters.html" target="_new">walking right up to say hello</a>. And though I'm sure it pays their bills to offer Gala Presentations of prestige studio titles and arthouse buzz-builders soon to open commercially in the fall and winter, I can't tell you how much I savor the festival's broad and ongoing commitment to international narratives, documentary, shorts, and locally produced work.<br> <br> So, yes, with all that in mind, I am adding this Chicago Film Festival special section to the website, amidst the build-up to its 46th iteration in Fall 2010. Make sure you're in the <a href=chifest.html target="_top">frames version</a> if you aren't already, and enjoy toggling around to see what I watched each year, and what the juries, the collective audience, and I placed at the top of the heap among each year's offerings.</center><hr> <br> <center> <table width=680 border=0 cellpadding=2> <tr><td align=left valign=top width=50% cellpadding=5 cellspacing=5> <Font Color="#660066" Face=Garamond Size=+2>My Preferential Rankings of<br> the Golden Hugo Winners</Font><br><br> <Font Color=Gray Face=Garamond Size=+2><b>Like Summer in Chicago</b></Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>00</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=amorespr.html>Amores perros</a></Font>, Mexico, dir. Alejandro<br>           Gonz&#225lez I&#241&#225rritu</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>08</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=hunger.html>Hunger</a></Font>, UK, dir. Steve McQueen</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>01</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=amasoeur.html>Fat Girl (&#192 ma soeur!)</a></Font>, France,<br>           dir. Catherine Breillat</Font><br> <br></td> <td align=left valign=top width=50% cellpadding=5> <Font Color="#660066" Face=Garamond Size=+2>My Preferential Rankings of<br> the Audience Award Winners</Font><br><br> <Font Color=Gray Face=Garamond Size=+2><b>Like Summer in Chicago</b></Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>00</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=amorespr.html>Amores perros</a></Font>, Mexico, dir. Alejandro<br>           Gonz&#225lez I&#241&#225rritu</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>02</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=bcolmbin.html>Bowling for Columbine</a></Font>, USA, dir.<br>           Michael Moore</Font><br> <br></td></tr> <tr><td align=left valign=top width=50% cellpadding=5> <Font Color=Gray Face=Garamond Size=+2><b>Like Autumn in Chicago</b></Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>97</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=wguest.html>The Winter Guest</a></Font>, UK, dir. Alan Rickman</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>09</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=missdamn.html>Mississippi Damned</a></Font>, USA, dir. Tina Mabry</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>07</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=sillight.html>Silent Light</a></Font>, Mexico, dir. Carlos Reygadas</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>03</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=crimgold.html>Crimson Gold</a></Font>, Iran, dir. Jafar Panahi</Font><br> <br></td> <td align=left valign=top width=50% cellpadding=5> <Font Color=Gray Face=Garamond Size=+2><b>Like Autumn in Chicago</b></Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>09</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=precious.html>Precious</a></Font>, USA, dir. Lee Daniels</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>01</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=amelie.html>Am&#233lie</a></Font>, France, dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>07</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=control.html>Control</a></Font>, UK, dir. Anton Corbijn</Font><br> <br></td></tr> <tr><td align=left valign=top width=50% cellpadding=5> <Font Color=Gray Face=Garamond Size=+2><b>Like "Spring" in Chicago</b></Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>04</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=kontroll.html>Kontroll</a></Font>, Hungary, dir. Nimr&#243d Antal</Font><br> </td> <td align=left valign=top width=50% cellpadding=5> <Font Color=Gray Face=Garamond Size=+2><b>Like "Spring" in Chicago</b></Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>06</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=thequeen.html>The Queen</a></Font>, UK, dir. Stephen Frears</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>05</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=ncountry.html>North Country</a></Font>, USA, dir. Niki Caro</Font><br> <br></td></tr> <tr><td align=left valign=top width=50% cellpadding=5> <Font Color=Gray Face=Garamond Size=+2><b>Like Winter in Chicago</b></Font><br> <br></td> <td align=left valign=top width=50% cellpadding=5> <Font Color=Gray Face=Garamond Size=+2><b>Like Winter in Chicago</b></Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>08</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=slumdog.html>Slumdog Millionaire</a></Font>, UK, dir. Danny Boyle</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>03</Font> <Font Size=+1><a href=pcsapril.html>Pieces of April</a></Font>, USA, dir. Pete Hedges</Font><br> <br></td></tr> <tr><td align=left valign=top width=50% cellpadding=5> <Font Color=Gray Face=Garamond Size=+2><b>Dunno, Haven't Been Yet</b></Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>94</Font> <Font Size=+1><Font Color="#003399">71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance</Font></Font>,<br>           Austria, dir. Michael Haneke</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>95</Font> <Font Size=+1><Font Color="#003399">Maborosi</Font></Font>, Japan, dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>96</Font> <Font Size=+1><Font Color="#003399">Ridicule</Font></Font>, France, dir. Patrice Leconte</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>98</Font> <Font Size=+1><Font Color="#003399">The Hole</Font></Font>, Taiwan, dir. Tsai Ming-liang</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>99</Font> <Font Size=+1><Font Color="#003399">Sachs' Disease</Font></Font>, France, dir. Michel Deville</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>02</Font> <Font Size=+1><Font Color="#003399">Madame Sat&#227</Font></Font>, Brazil, dir. Karim Ainouz</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>05</Font> <Font Size=+1><Font Color="#003399">My Nikifor</Font></Font>, Poland, dir. Krzysztof Krauze</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>06</Font> <Font Size=+1><Font Color="#003399">Fireworks Wednesday</Font></Font>, Iran, dir. Asghar<br>           Farhadi</Font><br> <br></td> <td align=left valign=top width=50% cellpadding=5> <Font Color=Gray Face=Garamond Size=+2><b>Dunno, Haven't Been Yet</b></Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>95</Font> <Font Size=+1><Font Color="#003399">Midaq Alley</Font></Font>, Mexico, dir. Jorge Fons</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>97</Font> <Font Size=+1><Font Color="#003399">Secrets of the Heart</Font></Font>, Spain, dir. Montxo<br>           Armend&#225riz</Font><br> <Font Color=Red Face=Garamond>08</Font> <Font Size=+1><Font Color="#003399">The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas</Font></Font>, UK,<br>           dir. Mark Herman</Font><br> <br></td></tr></table></center> </center> <hr> <Font Face=Garamond> <table cellpadding=12><tr> <td>Trackbacks:</b></td> <td><strong><a href=chifesthome.html target="_top">Permalink</a></strong></td> <td><strong><a href=chifest.html target="_top">Chicago Page</a></strong></td> <td><strong><a href=movarchs.html target="_top">Home</a></strong></td> <td><strong><a href="http://blog.nicksflickpicks.com" target="_new">Blog</a></strong></td> <td><strong><a href=email.html target="_top">E-Mail</a></strong></td> </tr></table> </td></tr></table></Font> </center> </body>