Best Kept Secret: The Chicago Film Festival
Attend Free Previews and Support the Festival All Year by Joining
or Donating to Cinema/Chicago!
 The Golden Hugo of the Chicago Film Festival may not does not carry
the same cachet as a Palme d'Or or a Golden Lion. 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.
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 fantastic festival, culling lots of the high-profile titles from those earlier fests
(plus Cannes and Berlin). Not that everything's imported; I have relished features like The Aerial and the Hugo-winning Mississippi
Damned that elsewhere flew under the radar. Despite the starry red carpet, 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 price
quotes or blocking you with camera crews. It is truly a festival for movie-lovers, chock-full of films and minus all the
distractions, and it's much budget-friendlier than New York's. When the likes of Laura Linney visits, no palace guards or E! types stop me from
walking right up to say hello. And though I'm sure it pays their bills to offer
Gala Presentations of prestige studio titles and big-ticket indies soon to bow 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. Click the tabs to see what I mean!
My Preferential Rankings of
the Golden Hugo Winners
Like Summer in Chicago
00 Amores perros, Mexico, dir. Alejandro
González Iñárritu
08 Hunger, UK, dir. Steve McQueen
01 Fat Girl (À ma soeur!), France,
dir. Catherine Breillat
10 How I Ended This Summer, Russia,
dir. Aleskei Popogrebsky
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My Preferential Rankings of
the Audience Award Winners
Like Summer in Chicago
00 Amores perros, Mexico, dir. Alejandro
González Iñárritu
02 Bowling for Columbine, USA, dir.
Michael Moore
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Like Autumn in Chicago
03 Crimson Gold, Iran, dir. Jafar Panahi
09 Mississippi Damned, USA, dir. Tina Mabry
97 The Winter Guest, UK, dir. Alan Rickman
07 Silent Light, Mexico, dir. Carlos Reygadas
02 Madame Satã, Brazil, dir. Karim Aïnouz
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Like Autumn in Chicago
11 The Artist, France, dir. Michel Hazanavicius
09 Precious, USA, dir. Lee Daniels
01 Amélie, France, dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
07 Control, UK, dir. Anton Corbijn
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Like "Spring" in Chicago
04 Kontroll, Hungary, dir. Nimród Antal
11 Le Havre, Finland, dir. Aki Kaurismäki
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Like "Spring" in Chicago
06 The Queen, UK, dir. Stephen Frears
05 North Country, USA, dir. Niki Caro
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Like Winter in Chicago
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Like Winter in Chicago
08 Slumdog Millionaire, UK, dir. Danny Boyle
03 Pieces of April, USA, dir. Pete Hedges
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Dunno, Haven't Been Yet
94 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance,
Austria, dir. Michael Haneke
95 Maborosi, Japan, dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
96 Ridicule, France, dir. Patrice Leconte
98 The Hole, Taiwan, dir. Tsai Ming-liang
99 Sachs' Disease, France, dir. Michel Deville
05 My Nikifor, Poland, dir. Krzysztof Krauze
06 Fireworks Wednesday, Iran, dir. Asghar
Farhadi
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Dunno, Haven't Been Yet
95 Midaq Alley, Mexico, dir. Jorge Fons
97 Secrets of the Heart, Spain, dir. Montxo
Armendáriz
08 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, UK,
dir. Mark Herman
10 Go For It!, USA, dir. Carmen Marron
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