Cinematic survey, part 2

* Recommended titles

If you go
Where: AMC River East
322 E Illinois St
Tickets: call Ticketmaster at 312-902-1500, or go to ticketmaster.com. For more information, call 312-332-3456 or go to chicagofilmfestival.org.

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Thursday, 15 | Friday, 16 | Saturday, 17 | Sunday, 18 | Monday, 19 | Tuesday, 20 | Wednesday, 21

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Thursday 15
3pm Revenge Dir. Paulo Pons. 2008. 105mins. Brazil. A Rio siren begins an affair with a gaucho with a mysterious agenda. Watchable, but more than slightly silly once all its cards are on the table, and not even as smoldering as some early scenes suggest. —Ben Kenigsberg
3:15pm The Last Days of Emma Blank Dir. Alex van Warmerdam. 2009. 90mins. The Netherlands. Wheel-spinning dark comedy about a tyrannical matriarch and the family members who hate her, but the sardonic Dutch humor is good for a few laughs.—Ben Kenigsberg
3:30pm Mother Dir. Bong Joon-ho. 2009. 129mins. South Korea. This festival favorite isn’t as controlled as Bong’s Memories of Murder, but its story of a mother (Kim Hye-ja) attempting to save her slow son from a murder rap compensates with a constant stream of surprises.—Ben Kenigsberg
3:45pm I Know a Woman Like That Dir. Elaine Madsen. 2009. 103mins. USA. Technically rough but heartfelt, this doc looks at successful older women in a variety of fields, including Maxine Hong Kingston, Eartha Kitt and Madsen herself, a filmmaker, writer and, yes, mother of Michael and Virginia Madsen. —Hank Sartin
3:45pm The Moon Inside You Dir. Diana Fabiánová. 2009. 75mins. Spain/Slovakia. Fabiánová questions the stigma surrounding menstruation, blending interviews, vintage educational films and animation in this lighthearted feminist documentary. —Lauren Weinberg
4pm Hidden Diary Dir. Julie Lopes-Curval. 2009. 105mins. France. A young woman uncovers family secrets by reading her late grandmother’s diary.
4:15pm Against the Current Dir. Peter Callahan. 2009. 99mins. USA. Paul Thompson (Joseph Fiennes) is a depressed financial writer who persuades his best friend and a random girl he hardly knows to accompany him as he swims the length of the Hudson River. At the end of the swim he plans to kill himself; the clichéd writing and sappy performances make you wish he’d hurry up and do it already. —David Tamarkin
5:45pm Case Unknown Dir. Feliks Falk. 2009. 102mins. Poland. This tale of a psychiatrist who brings a patient home to his family walks a tense tightrope—horror, supernatural or thriller?—before slackening in the second half. —Rebecca Maughan
6pm Blue Dir. Ryan Miningham. 2009. 110mins. USA. A boxer tries to overcome his criminal past.
* 6pm Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno Dirs. Serge Bromberg and Ruxandra Medrea. 2009. 94mins. France. This unmissable documentary presents fragments of Clouzot’s unfinished 1964 film Inferno, using its out-of-control production as a metaphor for obsession. The clips alone are reason enough to see it, and one of the questions the movie poses is whether they’re better off in this form.—Ben Kenigsberg
6:15pm Fish Tank Dir. Andrea Arnold. 2009. 124mins. U.K. As she demonstrated with Red Road, Arnold has considerable formal chops and a way with actors (in this case, newcomer Katie Jarvis). But even Michael Fassbender can’t save this coming-of-age drama from its own banality.—Ben Kenigsberg
6:30pm Backyard Dir. Carlos Carrera. 2009. 122mins. Mexico. A rote procedural based on the murder string in Juarez, Mexico, that began in the ’90s, the movie is a bad combination of ponderous and exploitative.—Ben Kenigsberg
6:30pm Berlin ’36 Dir. Kaspar Heidelbach. 2009. 100mins. Germany. Under pressure from the international community, the Nazis include a Jewish athlete on their team. As you can imagine, she faces hatred from her teammates and conniving from Nazi officials who want her to lose.
* 8pm Lost Times Dir. Áron Mátyássy. 2009. 90mins. Hungary. The strength of this drama about a young guy caught between his own dreams and his responsibility for his autistic sister is the way Mátyássy gets us inside the heads of both characters, allowing us to imagine the limits of an autistic girl’s world in a small town, even while we ache for the sacrifices the brother makes.—Hank Sartin
8:15pm Face Dir. Tsai Ming-liang. 2009. 141mins. France/Taiwan/Belgium/The Netherlands. Tsai continues his French New Wave fetishism by casting a who’s who of Gallic cinema, and his approach to filming at the Louvre is both striking and counterintuitive. Probably better appreciated by longtime fans than first-timers.—Ben Kenigsberg
8:40pm Shorts 4: Escape and Rebellion Various dirs. and years. 101mins. Various countries. We love the overarching categories shorts programmers come up with to justify a selection of shorts.
8:45pm The Be All And End All Dir. Bruce Webb. 2009. 100mins. U.K. When a teen learns he’s dying, his one wish is to get laid before he goes. He asks his best pal to arrange it, with gently comical results. It’s enjoyable enough, and though certain key dramatic moments are jumped over, the portrait of a teen friendship is endearing.—Hank Sartin
8:45 Mississippi Damned Dir. Tina Mabry. 2009. 120mins. USA. Writer/director Mabry offers a grim view of the lives of poor African Americans; the men are abusive, lazy liars and the women are victims. It’s well-acted but frankly exhausting to watch.—Hank Sartin
9pm Nymph Dir. Pen-ek Ratanaruang. 2009. 94mins. Thailand. A stunning opening sequence suggests Ratanaruang is trying to imitate his acclaimed countryman, Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Tropical Malady). But then the movie morphs into a frustrating shaggy-dog story, which seems to be Ratanaruang’s preferred mode.—Ben Kenigsberg
9:30pm Claustrophobia Dir. Ivy Ho. 2009. 100mins. Hong Kong. Office workers in Hong Kong live and work in crowded conditions, making keeping secrets a special challenge.

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Friday 16
3pm Videocracy Dir. Erik Gandini. 2009. 85mins. Sweden/Denmark/U.K./Finland. This scattered doc alleges that media control and superstardom are the secret ingredients to Silvio Berlusconi’s success. That may or may not give enough credit to Berlusconi’s political calculus, and the movie seems to build to a more scorching revelation than it delivers.—Ben Kenigsberg
3:15pm Nymph See Thu 15.
* 3:30pm Girls on the Wall Dir. Heather Ross. 2009. 61mins. USA. This moving doc about girls at a juvenile detention center in west suburban Warrenville rehearsing a musical they wrote about their troubled pasts demonstrates the healing power of expressing their pent-up emotions and exposing their vulnerability. —Laura Baginksi
3:30pm Shorts 4 See Thu 15
3:45pm Storm Dir. Hans-Christian Schmid. 2009. 107mins. Germany/Denmark. A prosecutor hunts for evidence to shore up her case on the atrocities committed in Bosnia.
3:45pm Straight to the Heart Dir. Stéphane Gehami. 2009. 109mins. Canada. A career criminal falls in love and tries to go straight for the sake of his girl.
4:15pm Green Waters Dir. Mariano De Rosa. 2009. 89mins. Argentina. A father is the only one in his family not charmed by his daughter’s smooth-talking boyfriend in this thriller.
* 5:45pm Who’s Afraid of the Wolf Dir. Maria Procházková. 2009. 90mins. Czech Republic. A little girl obsessed with Red Riding Hood has to confront real-life fears about what will happen to her family in this charming Czech film suitable for all ages. —Judy Sutton Taylor
6pm Mississippi Damned See Thu 15.
* 6:15pm Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Dir. Lee Daniels. 2009. 109mins. USA. In this Sundance-garlanded portrait of a teenager in late-’80s Harlem—pregnant with her second child by her father—the sublime shares equal time with the cringeworthy. Even with major flaws, you’ve never seen anything quite like this.—Ben Kenigsberg
6:30pm Just Walking Dir. Agustín Díaz Yanes. 2008. 129mins. Spain/Mexico. Four women plan to take on powerful drug lords.
7pm Shortchanged Dir. Raja Menon. 2009. 97mins. India. Three friends in modern-day Mumbai get involved in petty crime.
8pm Women in Trouble Dir. Sebastian Gutierrez. 2009. 94mins. USA. Playing like a string of dull Penthouse letters adapted for the big screen, this shallow, shiftless film centers on several ladies (think L.A. sex-industry types) who get confessional while in various states of duress and undress. —Jake Malooley
8:15pm Berlin ’36 See Thu 15.
8:30pm Blue See Thu 15.
8:45pm Those Who Remain Dirs. Carlos Hagerman and Juan Carlos Rulfo. 2009. 96mins. Mexico. The subject of this doc—the Mexican families broken up by the flow of men to the United States looking for work—is worthy of your attention, but the filmmakers’ choice to divide our attention among so many different stories will leave you trying to keep the stories straight in your head.—Hank Sartin
9:15pm Backyard See Thu 15.
* 9:30pm The Eclipse Dir. Conor McPherson. 2009. 88mins. Ireland. A love triangle at a literary festival is neatly intertwined with a haunting (or is it just a guilty conscience manifesting itself?) in this wonderfully subdued and yet genuinely spooky film.—Hank Sartin
10:30pm Coffin Rock Dir. Rupert Glasson. 2009. 89mins. Australia. A married woman enters into an affair with a young, obsessed man who gets all stalker-y.
10:45pm The Revenant Dir. Kerry Prior. 2009. 105mins. USA. Amusing horror-comedy pays its debts to Buffy and ’80s cheese like My Best Friend Is a Vampire, although the final stab at political relevance feels unearned. We saw an unfinished version, so it may still have an afterlife.—Ben Kenigsberg
11pm The Rapture of Fe Dir. Alvin Yapan. 2009. 78mins. Philippines. Someone is sending a woman baskets of black fruit. Is it her husband? Her young lover? Or someone else?

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Saturday 17
11am Cineyouth
11:15am Will Not Stop There Dir. Vinko Bresan. 2009. 110mins. Croatia/Serbia. A Croatian war vet brings a Serbian porn star to his apartment with motives that are gradually revealed.
Noon Videocracy See Fri 16.
12:15pm Shorts 1: Illinois(e)makers Various dirs. and years. 79mins. USA. As you might guess, all the films in this program have an Illinois connection.
* 12:20pm The Athlete Dirs. Davey Frankel and Rasselas Lakew. 2009. 93mins. USA/Ethiopia. Based on the true life story of Africa’s first Olympic gold medalist, The Athlete switches between incredible archival footage of the real Abebe Bikila in action with dramatic and gorgeously shot scenes starring Ethiopian Rasselas Lakew. It deserves a permanent place in the runner’s movie pantheon. —John Dugan
12:30pm Effi Briest Dir. Hermine Huntgeburth. 2009. 118mins. Germany. In 19th-century Germany, the young bride of an older man has a fling with a dashing young officer.
1pm Made in Hungaria Dir. Gergely Fonyó. 2009. 109mins. Hungary. Imagine Grease with some broad Eastern European humor and political jokes thrown in, and you have a pretty good idea of what to expect from this glossy musical set in Hungary in the 1960s, when American music was creeping into the culture and young people were rebelling in the most harmless way, swiveling their hips.—Hank Sartin
* 1:45pm Tomorrow at Dawn Dir. Denis Dercourt. 2009. 96mins. France. As he did in The Page Turner, Dercourt delivers a carefully calibrated mix of psychological drama and thriller elements in this look at the subculture of historical reenactors.—Hank Sartin
2pm Shortchanged See Fri 16.
2:30pm Soundtrack for a Revolution Dirs. Dan Sturman and Bill Guttentag. 2009. 82mins. USA. This doc looks at the folk music that was a central part of the civil-rights movement.
2:45pm Mississippi Damned See Thu 15.
* 3pm Tales from the Golden Age Various dirs. 2009. 141mins. Romania/France. Inconsistent, but this multipart portrait of life in Ceausescu-era Romania (spearheaded by 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days director Cristian Mungiu) is about as solid as omnibus films get. Best part: the exploding pig.—Ben Kenigsberg
* 3:30pm Air Doll Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda. 2009. 125mins. Japan. Kore-eda’s After Life used videotapes to explore the subject of memory; this time, an inflatable sex doll who comes to life discovers what it means to be human. Oddball wit and Bae Doo-na’s performance keep it from turning into Mannequin 3.—Ben Kenigsberg
* 4pm Who’s Afraid of the Wolf See Fri 16.
4:30pm Hidden Diary See Thu 15.
5pm Lovely, Still Dir. Nickolas Fackler. 2009. 90mins. USA. When a lively widow enters the life of a lonely, big-hearted bachelor, a tender Christmas-time love story unfolds. The elderly couple’s sweet romance builds quickly, like a beautiful blizzard. The plot is serene—almost unsettlingly conflict-free—until a shocking twist makes the film poignant in new and unexpected ways. —Liz Plosser
5:30pm Daniel & Ana Dir. Michel Franco. 2009. 90mins. Mexico. Franco brings a chilly distance to this tale of rich siblings kidnapped and forced to have sex for an Internet video. This is just too cold to engage us in their trauma, instead feeling weirdly prurient as we watch them fall apart, as if the film were an extension of the pornographic video at its center.—Hank Sartin
6pm Persécution Dir. Patrice Chéreau. 2009. 100mins. France. A guy who treats his girlfriend like a possession finds himself on the other side of the persecution equation when someone starts following him.
6pm Spy(ies) Dir. Nicolas Saada. 2009. 99mins. France/U.K. After an explosion in a French airport, a luggage inspector gets tabbed by an undercover agent to hit London in search of the terrorists. On the way, he finds love in a woman linked to the terrorists, which is when the atmospheric and slick thriller turns a bit too emo. —Jonathan Messinger
6:15pm Prank Dir. Péter Gárdos. 2009. 93mins. Hungary. Masterful framing and a fetish for zoetropes mesmerize in what’s essentially Lord of the Flies set in a cloister. —Brent DiCrescenzo
7pm Women in Trouble See Fri 16.
7:45pm The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond Dir. Jodie Markell. 2009. 102mins. USA. A previously unproduced Tennessee Williams screenplay—about a rich girl who falls for a man from a less moneyed background—sees the light of day.
8pm A Woman’s Way Dir. Panos H. Koutras. 2009. 113mins. Greece. An ex-con and a transsexual sex worker fall into a compelling romantic relationship, until a disarming revelation changes the terms of their endearment. —Julia Kramer8:30pm Eyes Wide Open Dir. Haim Tabakman. 2009. 91mins. Israel/Germany. A married Orthodox Jewish man falls in love with a young guy and must choose between his family and his passion.
* 8:30pm Police, Adjective Dir. Corneliu Porumboiu. 2009. 113mins. Romania. The most methodical pot bust in cinema history is actually just a pretext for an exploration of the role language plays in bureaucracy. It may seem slow, but wait until Vlad Ivanov (the abortionist in 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) shows up in the final reel.—Ben Kenigsberg
8:45pm Mammoth Dir. Lukas Moodysson. 2009. 125mins. Sweden/Denmark/Germany. Has Moodysson (Lilya 4-Ever) lost his mind? This is essentially Babel for ravegoers, hammering home the message (which it takes as axiomatic) that rich New Yorkers are insensitive to Thai poverty and Filipino nannies.—Ben Kenigsberg
9:30pm Coffin Rock See Fri 16.
10:30pm The Thank You Girls Dir. Charliebebs Gohetia. 2008. 105mins. Philippines. A group of drag queens seeks fame and fortune by touring the Filipino countryside.
* 10:45pm Cropsey Dirs. Barbara Brancaccio. 2009. 84mins. USA. Not for nothing is CIFF showing this genuinely creepy essay film—which concerns three decades-old kidnapping cases and the insular culture of Staten Island—as a late-night show. Unsatisfying as investigation, it’s an intriguing example of how to salvage a doc that didn’t pan out.—Ben Kenigsberg
11:15pm The Revenant See Fri 16.

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Sunday 18
11:30am Berlin ’36 See Thu 15.
Noon Intercom Various dirs. 2009. 50mins. Various countries. The winners of a competition for educational, industrial and corporate-sponsored films will be shown.
Noon Those Who Remain See Fri 16.
12:45pm The Be All And End All See Thu 15.
1:30pm Eyes Wide Open See Sat 17.
1:30pm Red Riding: 1974 Dir. Julian Jarrold. 2009. 104mins. U.K. Made for TV, this three-part adaptation of four David Peace novels comes promised as a British Wire, but the first installment is mostly rat-a-tat exposition, as a journalist (Andrew Garfield) investigating a series of kidnappings in West Yorkshire shows off his two talents: being berated by superiors and bumping into shadowy figures who bear clues.—Ben Kenigsberg
1:45pm Shorts 2: Animation Nations Various dirs. and years. 82mins. Various nations. Yes, it’s a program of animated short films from around the world.
2pm Spy(ies) See Sat 17.
2:15pm A Woman’s Way See Sat 17.
3:15pm Prank See Sat 17.
3:45pm Red Riding: 1980 Dir. James Marsh. 2009. 95mins. U.K. Only tangentially related to part one, this smoother film concerns a serial killer and the philandering detective who pursues him. A more compelling lead actor (Paddy Considine) helps, but the trilogy’s upshot—that civic corruption is pervasive and wrong—remains banal.—Ben Kenigsberg
4pm Shorts 3: Rediscovery Various dirs. and years. 90mins. Various nations. We’re not sure when the shorts in this program were discovered or why they were subsequently lost, demanding a rediscovery.
4pm Astro Boy Dir. David Bowers. 2009. 94mins. USA/Hong Kong. This CGI-animated flick features a robot boy who wants to be a human being. Hmm, where have we heard that before?
4:30pm No Hard Feelings Dir. Yves Hanchar. 2009. 104mins. France/Belgium. A rebellious kid at a Belgian boarding school takes one of his teachers as a father figure.
* 5pm North by Northwest Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. 1959. 131mins. USA. Did you really think we weren’t going to recommend this elegant thriller from Hitchcock’s stylish 1950s period? Please. As a bonus, Martin Landau will be present to discuss working with Hitch.—Hank Sartin
* 5:30pm Air Doll See Sat 17.
5:45pm Red Riding: 1983 Dir. Anand Tucker. 2009. 103mins. U.K. The Prime Suspect marathon sputters to its conclusion, circling back to part one to fill in the gaps haphazardly (and all but ignoring part two). Despite its pretensions, the series finally feels like a glorified whodunit, unsatisfying both as character study and social critique.—Ben Kenigsberg
6:15pm Shorts 5: Best of the American Black Film Festival Various dirs. and years. 91mins. Various countries. All the films are finalists in the aforementioned festival.
* 6:15pm Mary and Max Dir. Adam Elliot. 2009. 92mins. Australia. This utterly charming and distinctive stop-motion film involves an unlikely yet believable pen-pal relationship between an awkward, lonely young girl in Australia and an isolated man with Asperger’s syndrome (the mental affliction du jour) in New York. What could easily be either hokey or silly is both funny and touching. Yeah, we cried at Claymation—and we’re not ashamed to admit it.—Hank Sartin
7pm Northless Dir. Rigoberto Pérezcano. 2009. 93mins. Mexico/Spain. What at first appears to be a routine immigration drama is distinguished by its protagonist’s failure to cross the border, at which point it becomes a similarly familiar movie about community and generosity.—Ben Kenigsberg
7pm The Yellow Handkerchief Dir. Udayan Prasad. 2009. 102mins. USA. A convict newly released after six years in prison hitches a ride with a young couple and finds renewed hope in their company.
8pm Hidden Diary See Thu 15.
8pm The Thank You Girls See Sat 17.
8:15pm Kanikôsen Dir. Sabu. 2009. 109mins. Japan. If you’re not sick of manga-inflected Marxist dramas about workers’ rebellions on crab-canning ships, this one boasts a dark sense of humor (although it’s more than a tad repetitive).—Ben Kenigsberg
8:20pm Don’t Let Me Drown Dir. Cruz Angeles. 2009. 105mins. USA. Brooklyn teenagers eke out surprisingly endearing relationships under the heavy (and heavy-handed) shadow of September 11. —Julia Kramer
8:30pm Soundtrack for a Revolution See Sat 17.
* 9:30pm The House of the Devil Dir. Ti West. 2008. 95mins. USA. Standard baby-sitter-trapped-in-creepy-house yarn impressively emulates the look and acting styles of an ’80s horror film without falling prey to camp. The ending is a disappointment, but there’s suspense aplenty along the way.—Ben Kenigsberg

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Monday 19
* 3pm Air Doll See Sat 17.
3:15pm Face See Fri 15.
3:30pm Daniel & Ana See Sat 17.
3:30pm A Place of One’s Own Dir. Lou Yi-an. 2009. 118mins. Taiwan/Hong Kong. The lives of an indie rocker and an aging origami expert become intertwined when a real-estate deal goes bad.
4pm Visual Acoustics Dir. Eric Bricker. 2009. 83mins. USA. Photographer Julius Shulman (who died in July at 98) charms viewers of this authorized but enjoyable bio, which examines how his photographs of California architecture sold modernism to the masses. —Lauren Weinberg
4:30pm Eyes Wide Open See Sat 17.
5pm Effi Briest See Sat 17.
5:45pm Shorts 2: Animation Nations Various dirs. and years. 82mins. Various nations. Yes, it’s a program of animated short films from around the world.
6pm Kanikôsen See Sun 18.
6pm Will Not Stop There See Sat 17.
6:15pm Northless See Sun 18.
6:15pm Racing Dreams Dir. Marshall Curry. 2009. 95mins. USA. What at first blush is a paint-by-numbers doc about go-kart racing turns out to be a surprisingly poignant look at adolescence as the filmmakers get closer to the three tweenage drivers hoping for future NASCAR glory. —Jonathan Messinger
6:30pm No Hard Feelings See Sun 18.
7:45pm Dear Doctor Dir. Miwa Nishikawa. 2009. 127mins. Japan. From Nishikawa’s own novel, a seriocomedy about a stranger in a small village who pretends to be a doctor.
8pm Bellamy Dir. Claude Chabrol. 2009. 110mins. France. A philosophical treatise posing as a detective story, or perhaps it’s a detective story posing as a philosophical treatise posing as a detective story. Chabrol takes a famous police inspector (Gerard Depardieu, all appetites for food and sex) and puts him on a strange case that seems like a teaser to keep us interested while Chabrol explores, well, it’s hard to say what. Did we like it? We’re still not sure.—Hank Sartin
8:30pm Against the Current See Thu 15.
8:30pm Made in Hungaria See Sat 17.
* 8:30pm Tales From the Golden Age See Sat 17.
8:30pm A Single Man Dir. Tom Ford. 2009. 99mins. USA. An amateurish adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel, following a gay English professor over the course of a day as he copes with the death of his longtime partner. Grief is not a subject easily conveyed on screen, and fashionista-turned-first-time-auteur Ford attempts to solve the problem by devising arty and increasingly risible ways of Filming Colin Firth Thinking.—Ben Kenigsberg
8:45pm Chicago Overcoat Dir. Brian Caunter. 2009. 95mins. USA. An aging mob hit man (Frank Vincent) takes on one last set of executions so he can get out of the business. The cast does what it can with the all-too-familiar mob stereotypes, and the production values are high, but Caunter pulls the movie in several directions at once—character study one minute, comic-book assassin thriller the next. That’s rather jarring.—Hank Sartin
9pm Don’t Let Me Drown See Sun 18.

Tuesday 20
3pm Backyard See Thu 15.
3:30pm Kanikôsen See Sun 18.
* 3:45pm Lost Times See Fri 15.
4pm No Hard Feelings See Sun 18.
4pm Nothing Personal Dir. Mathias Gokalp. 2009. 90mins. France. Rumors of a buyout disrupt a company banquet, with everyone preparing for the back-stabbing and conniving they’ll need to get ahead.
* 4:15pm Who’s Afraid of the Wolf See Fri 16.
5pm Ricky Dir. François Ozon. 2009. 90mins. France/Italy. A single woman’s life is thrown into chaos when she has a baby.
5:30pm Dear Doctor See Mon 19.
6pm Claustrophobia See Thu 15.
* 6pm Mary and Max See Sun 18.
6:15pm Shorts 1 See Sat 17.
6:15pm My Neighbor, My Killer Dir. Anne Aghion. 2009. 80mins. USA/France. Aghion’s intimate doc takes on the fascinating subject of the Gacaca tribunals, in which Rwandans tried their own neighbors, but the presentation is exceedingly dry.—Ben Kenigsberg
6:30pm Against the Current See Thu 15.
6:45pm Made in Hungaria See Sat 17.
8pm Surprise Event! The fest’s collective lips are sealed as to what they are showing. We dare not speculate for fear of whipping up false hopes.
8:15pm Persecution See Sat 17.
8:30pm Visual Acoustics See Mon 19.
* 8:30pm About Elly Dir. Asghar Farhadi. 2009. 119mins. Iran. What starts superbly as a sort of Iranian L’Avventura—a baby-sitter drowns or runs away, and the parents who hired her have to decide whether they’re responsible—becomes disappointingly literal-minded when Farhadi starts providing answers.—Ben Kenigsberg
8:30pm Effi Briest See Sat 17.
9:15pm Shortchanged See Fri 16.
9:15pm Will Not Stop There See Sat 17.

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Wednesday 21
5:30pm Award Winner: Short Films
5:45pm Festival Favorite
6pm Award Winner: New Directors
6pm Best of the Hugos
6:15pm Award Winner: Main Competition
6:30pm Back by Popular Demand
7:30pm Award Winner: Docufest
7:45pm Award Winner: Docufest
8pm Award Winner: New Directors
8pm Festival Favorite
8:15pm Award Winner: Main Competition
8:30pm Back by Popular Demand

For updates on any schedule changes and ticket information, go to chicagofilmfestival.org.

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