The Chicago International Film Festival has unveiled the international competition selections for its 62nd edition, bringing together new films from acclaimed filmmakers including Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Lee Chang-dong, writes The Hollywood Reporter.
Hamaguchi’s ‘All of a Sudden’, Kore-eda’s ‘Look Back’ and Lee’s ‘Possible Love’ will compete for the Gold Hugo in the International Feature Competition.
The 13-film section also features Radu Jude’s ‘The Diary of a Chambermaid’, Clio Barnard’s ‘I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning’, Valeska Grisebach’s ‘The Dreamed Adventure’ and Andrea Pallaoro’s ‘The Echo Chamber’, which will have its North American premiere at the festival.
The festival will run from 14 to 25 October, with its competitive programme featuring 25 North American or US premieres across the International Feature, New Directors, Documentary and OutLook sections. The lineup includes films from Germany, Japan, Spain, the Central African Republic, Brazil, Nigeria and Turkey.
Four films in the competition have been submitted by their respective countries for the Academy Award for Best International Feature: ‘All of a Sudden’, Sandra Wollner’s ‘Everytime’, Ahmed Hassouna’s documentary ‘Citizen Osama’ and Lee’s ‘Possible Love’.
The festival will also host its fourth annual International Contenders Panel on 17 October. The session, featuring filmmakers behind national Oscar submissions, will be moderated by The Hollywood Reporter’s Seth Abramovitch.
The New Directors Competition includes Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri’s ‘Clarissa’, Ashgan El-Hamus’ ‘Al Baraneya’, Rafiki Fariala’s ‘Congo Boy’, Gessica Geneus’ ‘Marie Madeleine’ and ‘The Riverbank’ from Enock Carvalho and Matheus Farias.
Other titles in the section include Anna Foglietta’s ‘A Common Story’, Valentina Maurel’s ‘Forever Your Maternal Animal’ and Bruno Santamaria Razo’s ‘Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building’.
The Documentary Competition features Alessandra Sanguinetti’s ‘The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer’, Erik Shirai’s ‘Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing’ and Mila Aung-Thwin’s ‘The Ultra Runner’. ‘Citizen Osama’, ‘Mariinka’, ‘Summer Drift’ and ‘Tricontinental, Letter to Open in Case Of’ will receive their North American premieres at the festival.
The OutLook Competition, which focuses on LGBTQ+ stories and perspectives, includes Ira Sachs’ ‘The Man I Love’, Kōji Fukada’s ‘Nagi Notes’, Corrin Evans’ ‘Corpus’, Abinash Bikram Shah’s ‘Elephants in the Fog’ and Kris Rey’s ‘Trash Mountain’.
‘The Riverbank’, ‘Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building’ and ‘Summer Drift’ will compete in both OutLook and another international section.
Several recent Chicago festival winners have gone on to receive Academy Award recognition, including ‘Sirat’, ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab’, ‘The Seed of the Sacred Fig’, ‘Close’, ‘Drive My Car’ and ‘The Worst Person in the World’, which were nominated for Best International Feature. ‘Four Daughters’ was also nominated for Best Documentary.
The complete festival lineup is set to be announced on 17 September. Jordan Firstman’s ‘Club Kid’ will open the festival, while ‘Mouse’, directed by Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson, has been selected as the centrepiece presentation.
Tickets for the remaining programmes will go on sale on 28 September, following a Cinema/Chicago members’ presale beginning on 18 September.
