Asian Pop-Up Cinema
Asian Pop-Up Cinema is returning for its 18th edition through April 21. The festival focuses on a different region each week, with this year’s edition featuring an inaugural partnership with Northwestern University, with special screenings and guest lectures.
Highlights include the opening night film Ru, which follows a young Vietnamese girl and her family as they struggle to adapt after fleeing Saigon for Quebec in 1975, and closing night film We Are Family, a comedy about the (mis)adventures of a rent-a-family troupe.
“Continuing with the spirit of offering our audiences a diverse selection of films, this year’s 18th edition of Asian Pop-Up Cinema presents four international premieres and nine North American premieres of films in multiple genres,” said Sophia Wong Boccio (王曉菲), founder and executive director. “We proudly continue to bring new perspectives and new artists to Chicago audiences.”
Many of the films will also have appearances from the cast and crew, with new films available via streaming each week. —Andrea Thompson 3/20–4/21, locations vary, virtual screenings available, asianpopupcinema.org
Film Girl Film Festival
End Women’s History Month with a celebration of women in film at the Film Girl Film Festival, taking place from March 23–31. Founded by Reader contributor and film critic Andrea Thompson as the Milwaukee Women’s Film Festival in 2016, the festival continues its tradition of showcasing the talents of women in the film industry.
The exclusive opening night will feature Asmae El Moudir’s documentary The Mother of All Lies, winner of the Best Director prize in Cannes’s Un Certain Regard. This documentary intimately unfolds personal and national history. Following The Mother of All Lies is another poignant film by El Moudir, Mångata, which follows a child named Ayla and her father as they cross the Mediterranean Sea from Africa to Europe. The Film Girl Film Festival wouldn’t be complete without an opening day after-party, so be sure to join in at the Music Box Lounge after the screenings.
The second day of the festival showcases the Chicago Shorts Block, spotlighting the creative prowess of local filmmakers. From awkward coming-of-age tales to stories of estranged husbands and more, these shorts offer a diverse range of narratives. Attendees can enjoy these shorts in person on March 24 and online from March 29–31, celebrating the talent of women filmmakers within the community.
On the 31st, audiences can anticipate the screening of Egghead & Twinkie, touted as the first feature film crowdsourced on TikTok. Additionally, the fest will showcase SRY, LOL, a comedy depicting the journey of two best friends embarking on a cross-country adventure to meet a love interest from the Internet. —Arieon Whittsey 3/23–3/31, Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport, virtual screenings available, filmgirlfilm.com
The Sound of Silent Film Festival
In the Sound of Silent Film Festival, silent film is something of a misnomer. The 11 films being screened on April 4 at 7:30 PM at the Music Box Theatre do not have dialogue nor sound effects, but each short film is set to an original score commissioned for each film, performed in real time by a live orchestra.
“This is not normal film scoring where the composer is subservient to the director,” notes Seth Boustead, founder of Access Contemporary Music, which produces the festival. “This is the only film festival I know of where the composer and director are equal partners.”
The Sound of Silent Film Festival is in its 19th year. This year’s lineup includes Landmine of Mine by Kevin Landry with music by Lynn Bechtold; Marie. Eduardo. Sophie by Thomas Corriveau with music by Adam Cole; Detektive Thumb and the Infinity House by Preston King with music by Gene Pritsker; Coloring by Francisco Javier Landin Jr. with music by Milica Paranosic; Heirloom by Marilynne Lamontagne with music by David Saperstein; #MESSYKIDNAPPING by Greg Emetaz with music by Victoria Malawey; Reciprocity Failure by Ben Westlake with music by Boustead; Rock Pools by Bianca Caniglia with music by Charles Coleman; Demi-Goddesses by Martin Gerigk with music by Adam Reifsteck; Inside Looking Out by Cooper Hardin with music by Nailah Nombeko; and Falling for Greta by Gustavo Arteaga with music by Ledah Finck. Past festivals have featured films that were Academy Award contenders, including Michaël Dudok de Wit’s winning Father and Daughter (2001) and others that loomed large on the film festival circuit.
“The directors are getting younger,” Boustead observed, “so we are seeing expressions about things young people are concerned with, such as gender expression. There is a lot of creativity.” —Donald Liebenson 4/4, Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport, acmusic.org/events/sound-of-silent-film-festival-2024
Onion City Experimental Film Festival
The Onion City Experimental Film Festival returns with in-person screenings from April 4–7, with the films available virtually from April 8–14. This year’s festival includes four special events, beginning with an opening night screening at the Gene Siskel Film Center of Chantal Akerman’s Toute une nuit which captures people looking for love over the course of a night in Brussels. The following nights offer a live performance at Public Works exploring “expanded cinema,” and showcases of the work of filmmakers Shellie Fleming and Tom Rubnitz at the Chicago Filmmakers Firehouse Cinema.
According to festival programmer Nicky Ni, the program is full of “filmmakers’ keen responses to current affairs, navigating the post–Roe v. Wade era, vocalizing collective memories of a community, or addressing one’s rights and experiences in a climate not very kind to them,” and films from “exemplary filmmakers from or making works about Chicago.” Among the films responding to the reversal of Roe is Lynne A. Sachs’s Contractions, a powerful impressionistic portrait of a clinic in Memphis, Tennessee, that can no longer perform abortions.
The films by Chicagoans vary significantly. This Train Is Invisible Until It Crashes, made up entirely of drawings creator Oona Taper did while on the CTA, is alternately cute, funny, and disconcerting. The experimental documentary in the interval by Northwestern PhD candidate æryka jourdaine hollis o’neil combines home video, social media posts, and more to create a film that’s equal parts personal poem and broad indictment of the treatment of Black trans femmes.
Of course, the experimental film festival also has films for those interested in the purely abstract, including cameraless experiments and films that require photosensitivity warnings. “Experimental” remains a large tent, and Onion City welcomes all. —Kyle Logan 4/4–4/14, locations vary, onioncityfilmfest.org
Chicago Latino Film Festival
The Chicago Latino Film Festival (CLFF) celebrates 40 years with a program of nearly 100 short and feature-length films from Mexico, Central and South America, Spain, Portugal, and the United States. Half of the 50 features programmed are debuts, “a testament to the vitality and vibrancy of 21st-century Iberoamerican cinema,” says Pepe Vargas, executive director and founder of CLFF’s organizer, the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago.
The festival opens on April 11 with The Wingwalker, the feature-length debut from Mexican filmmaker Alonso Álvarez-Barreda. The Wingwalker follows Julian, a man whose misdemeanor and subsequent deportation to Mexico separates him from his ailing daughter. Chicago actor and Teatro Vista ensemble member Max Arciniega cowrote, co-executive produced, and acts in the film, and will appear alongside Álvarez-Barreda and lead actor Omar Chaparro at the opening night gala.
Milonga, the first feature from filmmaker and founder of La Uruguaya Films Laura González, will close the festival on April 22. Chilean actress Paulina García stars as Rosa, a woman grappling with the fallout of an abusive relationship.
“It felt right to open and close our anniversary celebration with two films that not only speak to the times that we live in but which call attention to and celebrate a new generation of filmmakers,” says Vargas. Both presentations begin at 6:15 PM at the Davis Theater, with post-screening receptions at Dank Haus German American Cultural Center.
Regular screenings at the Landmark Century Cinema include eight world premieres, nine North American premieres, and one U.S. premiere representing 12 countries. Additionally, a special screening of Violeta Salama’s Alegría starring Cecilia Suárez—a veteran of Chicago’s theater scene—will take place at Instituto Cervantes on April 17. —Daniella Mazzio 4/11–4/22, locations vary, virtual screenings available, chicagolatinofilmfestival.org
One Earth Film Festival
One Earth Film Festival is returning for its 13th year as the midwest’s premier environmental film festival showcasing films based on sustainability and climate change.
The festival is put on by One Earth Collective, a community that started in 2010 in Oak Park. The goal of the festival and the collective is to energize the public through education, conversation, and activism.
By hosting post-film discussions, having a young filmmakers contest with up to $1,000 in scholarships, and featuring award-winning films, One Earth brings issues from around the world to the big screen. In 2023, the film festival brought in 4,500 viewers, both virtually and in person, and this year it’s sure to do the same, if not more.
With this year hailing as one of the warmest winters the midwest has seen, with temperatures reaching highs in the mid-70s in late February, the festival puts the spotlight on a very present warming world.
One Earth director Ana Garcia Doyle notes, “This season, we have five days of in-person screenings that will activate community audiences, followed by two nights of virtual screenings that folks can engage in from home and connect with people from all over.”
The opening launch party on April 17 kicks off at 6 PM with a screening of the Emmy Award–winning short film Taking Flight, a behind-the-scenes look at the lineup, a short program, plus raffles and prizes.
For the following five days, One Earth will screen films ranging from Upstream, Downriver, which explores the battle to reduce water pollution, to Patrol, which follows the illegal cattle ranchers and miners who are ruining the Indio-Maiz Biological Reserve in Nicaragua. —S. Nicole Lane 4/17–4/23, locations TBA, virtual screenings available, oneearthfilmfest.org
CineYouth
CineYouth kicked off its inaugural programming nearly 20 years ago in 2005, quickly establishing itself as a powerhouse for young filmmakers in Chicago. This year, Cinema/Chicago will host the 19th edition of the festival, debuting yet another impressive catalog of short films from creators aged 22 and younger sourced from around the globe. The event will take place in person at Facets from April 19–21, followed by an online extension from April 22–28.
Since its inception, CineYouth has been a nurturing ground for young talent, encouraging creative expression and offering platforms for their work to be seen and celebrated. Alongside the screenings, the festival enriches the filmmaking community with workshops, live Q&As, and more. Highlighting its significance, select award-winning films from CineYouth are featured at the Chicago International Film Festival’s Best of the Fest screening. Free and open to the public, CineYouth stands as a testament to the vibrant potential of young filmmakers and the ongoing support of Cinema/Chicago for their artistic journeys.
Each screening is free with advance sign-up, starting April 2, inviting attendees to explore a rich selection of genres, including drama, comedy, animation, horror, thriller, music video, and experimental. Above all, the festival champions the voices of the next generation of filmmakers. —Maxwell Rabb 4/19–4/21, Facets, 1517 W. Fullerton, virtual screenings available, chicagofilmfestival.com/cineyouth
Juggernaut Film Festival
The Otherworld Theatre Company’s Juggernaut Film Festival has been a home to independent animation, fan films, and genre shorts and features for over a decade. That momentum continues in the festival’s 12th year, which is shaping up to be a weekend of back-to-back indie film goodness with a few special offerings.
“Juggernaut is very much tied to the theater—we produce science fiction and fantasy performances,” says Otherworld Theatre Company artistic director Tiffany Keane Schaefer. “I fell in love with all of these short films that I was seeing online. I was sad that there was no place to view these with my friends.”
Schaefer adds, “Juggernaut is older than the theater company itself. It was one of our very first fundraisers.”
Schaefer’s idea has since germinated into a globally recognized genre film festival, with this year’s slate featuring more than 50 films from over 18 countries.
“Filmmakers from all over the world come together to celebrate genre, science fiction, and fantasy filmmaking,” Schaefer says. “One of our big features that I’m excited about . . . kind of hits all of our boxes—it’s called The Fate of Cysalion. It’s a fantasy musical from Germany, and it’s three hours long.”
Anyone not immediately hooked by a three-hour German fantasy rock opera can enjoy a lonely weekend of saltine crackers and reruns of The Mentalist. For all the fun people, tickets to the Juggernaut Film Festival are on sale now, with all proceeds going to support the Otherworld Theatre Company. —Jonah Nink 4/19–4/21, Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark, juggernautfilmfestival.com
Chicago Palestine Film Festival
More than 20 feature-length and short films present a diverse and cultivated platform of Palestinian cinema at the Gene Siskel Film Center next month. As the longest-standing film festival of its kind in the world, the Chicago Palestine Film Festival (CPFF) renders programming with an extensive scope.
The festival lineup includes films by Palestinian directors, as well as films portraying Palestine and Palestinians for international audiences. The opening film, Bye Bye Tiberias, is a coproduction between Palestine, Belgium, France, and Qatar. The director, Lina Soualem, recalls the story of her mother, the Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass, who leaves her home in Haifa to pursue an acting career in France. The film was nominated for Best Documentary Film at the 2023 Chicago International Film Festival and received the Grierson Award for Best Documentary at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival. An opening reception at 6 PM will precede the film.
Most of the films were completed within the last few years. Many, including most of the shorter films, were completed in 2023. In them, the camera often assumes agency, almost becoming a character. Mar Mama and The Reality That Surpasses Me take a meta approach wherein the films surround the creation of a film. Three Promises is composed of home video recordings by the mother of director Yousef Srouji.
The featured films attest to perspective, historical memory, and the practice of witnessing. They prompt a self-consciousness inherent in the film medium’s affectivity. All is within view: individual lives and the events that shape them, the insides of homes, and the camera itself.
The CPFF will run from April 20 through May 4, with virtual screenings taking place in the weeks leading up to the showing as a part of Falasteen Film Fridays. Q&A sessions with film directors will be included in the programming, TBA. —Nora Paul 4/20–5/4, Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State, virtual screenings available beforehand, palestinefilmfest.com
Chicago Critics Film Festival
Diving into its 11th year, the Chicago Critics Film Festival stands ready to enchant Chicago with a lineup of films plucked from the world’s most prestigious film festivals. Each year, the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) handpicks the high-profile programming, making the annual event the only critic-run festival. Taking place at the Music Box Theatre from May 3–9, the festival has a storied history of bringing groundbreaking cinema from festivals like Sundance, the Toronto International Film Festival, and South by Southwest directly to Chicago’s doorsteps. In 2023, the festival premiered several of the year’s cinematic hits, including Past Lives, Theater Camp, and Master Gardener.
At the heart of the festival is a mission to bridge a connection between Chicago’s film scene and the global festival circuit. Brian Tallerico, president of the CFCA, told the Reader in an interview last year, “We want Chicagoans to be proud of our film scene and be a part of the conversation on these movies from the start.” Passes offer unlimited access to this curated lineup, with tickets available for individual films throughout the weeklong festival. A special presentation of Ghostlight—a film about a construction worker joining a production of Romeo and Juliet—directed by Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson, is also planned. —Maxwell Rabb 5/3–5/9, Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport, chicagocriticsfilmfestival.com
Chicago Horror Film Festival
Trailing blood and guts and more or less delighted shrieks, the Chicago Horror Film Festival (CHFF) is staggering boldly into its 25th year of full-grown monstrosity. Festival director CJ Vecchio takes the helm again for his second year, after increasing ticket sales by 300 percent in 2023, so the corpse, far from looking desiccated, is more unsettlingly lively than ever.
For 2024, more than 500 films have been submitted from around the world. Those selected to screen at CHFF include Sean Haitz’s Cannibal Comedian, about a serial killer turned dad-joke-poisoned stand-up comic (“of corpse you like that one”); Jessey James Nelson and Dani Barker’s short film, AI Artist, about a failed incel creative who takes revenge by embracing AI and by (inevitably) murdering people; and Scout Pertofsky’s short, Overtime, in which an office worker has to stay late . . . and then maybe has to stay forever.
Exploitation horror twists its head all the way around to look back at an earlier period of cinema, when you drew people into the theater with transparent shock headline gimmicks rather than relying on franchise nostalgia. To scroll through the trailers on display is to encounter a cornucopia of cheerfully transparent trash, from vampires to evil mommies to bad children and worse bosses. For the dedicated goremonger and the casual horror fan alike, it’s a lovely, terrible lineup at which to cheer, hoot, and, of course, scream. —Noah Berlatsky 5/4–5/5, Facets, 1517 W. Fullerton, chicagohorrorfilmfest.com
HUMP! Film Festival
For 19 years, fans around the world have come together to celebrate where kinky meets creativity at the amateur erotica film festival HUMP!
The festival will return to Chicago on May 10 at Music Box Theatre, which has hosted the two-day event since 2014. HUMP! is a bold celebration of sexuality that aims to challenge and destigmatize the way people create and consume pornography. Ideally, this would make sex work a safer, more regulated industry.
Starting as an experiment in 2005, sex advice columnist-podcaster Dan Savage invited readers of Seattle’s The Stranger to submit homemade sex tapes anonymously. Since then, HUMP! has been dedicated to an open-minded approach and diversity from both performers and content. “There’s an anticipation in the audience because this is such a unique program—you don’t know what you’re going to see until it’s up onscreen,” said the Music Box’s marketing manager Buck LePard. “Seeing this program in person, in a packed theater, with an enthusiastic audience is the best way to experience these films.”
This year has two distinctive lineups months apart, both approximately 90 minutes. Volume one will be exclusively in theaters from February until May; volume two will show from September through November. Streaming information will be announced at the end of those respective dates. Viewers must be 18 years or older to attend, and captioned screenings are also available.
Come one, cum all, and enjoy all that the HUMP! Film Festival has to offer this spring. —Kylie Bolter 5/10–5/11, Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport, humpfilmfest.com
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