Announced Monday, the 60th Chicago International Film Festival’s full lineup includes a wealth of popular fall festival titles, Chicago-centric offerings and guest filmmakers, including native Chicagoan and festival Legacy Award winner Robert Zemeckis.
The “Back to the Future” auteur’s latest film, “Here,” re-teams his on-screen “Forrest Gump” pairing of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright and serves as the closing night presentation on Oct. 27.
Other festival guests this year: director Malcolm Washington and actor John David Washington, brothers and collaborators on the latest August Wilson stage-to-screen adaptation, “The Piano Lesson.” The film co-stars Danielle Deadwyler. The Washingtons (sons of Denzel and Pauletta Washington) are scheduled to appear at the opening night screening of “The Piano Lesson” on Oct. 16. John David receives the Spotlight Award for his work in the leading role of Boy Willie; Malcolm Washington, making his directorial feature debut, receives the Breakthrough Award.
“An Evening with André Holland” hosted by Steppenwolf Theatre Company co-artistic director Glenn Davis, is another component of this year’s festival, honoring the actor with this year’s Artistic Achievement Award. Holland appeared in the Oscar-winning film “Moonlight,” based on an early work by playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, now a Steppenwolf ensemble member.
The Amy Adams-headlined “Nightbitch,” based on Amy Yoder’s darkly comic novel, serves as the festival’s centerpiece offering. Writer-director Marielle Heller (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”) receives this year’s Visionary Award.
This year’s festival will again take over the AMC NewCity 14 multiplex in Lincoln Park as its primary venue. (It’s no longer using the AMC River East venue.) As it did last year, the festival programming will fan out to encompass the Music Box Theatre, the Gene Siskel Film Center, the Chicago History Museum and University of Chicago’s Logan Center for the Arts. Community-based screenings will be shown at Pilsen’s National Museum of Mexican Art (the first time for the festival) and the Hamilton Park Cultural Center in Englewood.
The full calendar of movies to be shown Oct. 16-27, subject to some late additions, includes several successes recently seen at the Venice and Toronto film festivals. Among them: Brady Corbet’s grandly scaled historical epic “The Brutalist”; the latest from Pedro Almodóvar and the Spanish director’s first feature in English, “The Room Next Door,” which took top prize in Venice; and a wealth of new work from Mike Leigh, Pablo Larrain, Steve McQueen, Walter Salles and many other internationally known filmmakers.
Previously announced, the 60th edition features a retrospective of Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose work enjoys steady exposure at Chicago’s annual festival. Kore-eda is a particular favorite of artistic director and programming head Mimi Plauché.
High among other retrospectives and revivals on the calendar, the newly restored 1972 concert film “Save the Children” is poised to become this year’s “Summer of Soul,” Chicago edition, with its wealth of Black talent caught live in performance at the 1972 Chicago Black Expo. Everyone from the Jackson 5 to Sammy Davis, Jr. graces that project from director Stan Lathan.
Cinema/Chicago memberships go on sale Sept. 24, starting at $60, with members able to book tickets prior to the general public; more information at www.chicagofilmfestival.com
Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.
