Three of the world’s longest-running film festivals call Chicago home, and their fall plans encompass the return of in-person events alongside the best innovations for the pandemic year, not limited to selected virtual screenings.
Chicago International Film Festival (October 13-24) In its fifty-seventh outing, the Chicago International Film Festival, with plans not yet released, has hinted at expanding its reach through innovations from 2020, including virtual screenings and presentations; the Industry Days component is slated to flower into Chicago Industry Exchange (CIX), with expansive, year-round filmmaker-and-industry support.
Reeling: The 39th Chicago LGBTQ+ International Film Festival (September 23-October 7) The second-longest-running event of its kind in the world, Reeling will launch a hybrid in-person and virtual festival that begins September 23, with opening night at the Music Box and later in-person screenings at the Landmark Theatre, presented by Chicago Filmmakers, Gilead and AARP. Feature films, shorts programs and special guests will be announced soon.
Chicago Underground Film Festival (November 5-7) For its twenty-ninth, often-scrappy CUFF returns to the Logan Theatre in a smaller edition after a virtual-and-drive-in 2020; plans are not finalized, but the fest, in a new collaboration with Full Spectrum Features, is expected to fill a single screen in Logan Square across the opening weekend of November.
Ray Pride is Newcity’s Senior Editor and Film Critic. He is a contributing editor of Filmmaker magazine.
Ray’s history of Chicago Ghost Signs is planned for publication next year. Previews of the project are on Twitter and on Instagram. More photography on Instagram.
Can’t-Miss Film Events (Fall Arts Preview 2023) Chicago's film festival institutions are hardly autumnal: The Chicago International Film Festival turns fifty-nine; Chicago Underground is thirty this year; and Reeling? Forty-one. Tuck into 130 years of tasty institutional memory this fall.
