The 62nd Chicago International Film Festival returns Oct. 14–25 with more than 150 films from around the world, including four world premieres, 15 North American premieres, and 21 U.S. premieres.
Some of the biggest draws come with the chance to hear directly from the artists behind them. Director and star Jordan Firstman will open the festival with Club Kid and receive its Breakthrough Award, while Sophie Okonedo will receive the Spotlight Award at the Centerpiece screening of Mouse. Carrie Coon, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Marlon Wayans are also among this year’s honorees, and Bob Odenkirk and Tim Blake Nelson are scheduled to appear in person. The festival closes with Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth!, starring Pedro Pascal, Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor and Will Arnett, with composer Michael Abels scheduled to attend.
Chicago stories and filmmakers are part of the lineup, too. The City & State program includes the world premiere of Ever After, which follows Michelin-starred Chicago chef Curtis Duffy, while Chicago-based filmmaking duo Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson return with Centerpiece selection Mouse. Elsewhere in the program, Cannes selections including James Gray’s Paper Tiger and Paweł Pawlikowski’s Fatherland, which earned Pawlikowski a Best Director prize at the festival, arrive in Chicago after making their debuts abroad. Cinema/Chicago, the nonprofit organization behind the festival, is also a 2026 Make It Better Foundation Philanthropy Award winner.
This year’s festival campaign, “Cinema in Real Life,” highlights what Artistic Director Mimi Plauché believes happens when audiences experience these stories together.
“We celebrate the idea that our films — from 70 countries around the world, will make you feel something — from joy to sadness, from enlightenment to anger, from love to grief, from empowerment to indignation,” Plauché says. “We invite audiences to come to the Festival to experience these feelings together.”
With so many films packed into 12 days, where do you begin? We asked the festival’s programmers to share the films they’re most excited for audiences to see, from unexpected discoveries and emerging voices to new work from filmmakers they’ve followed for years.
Mimi Plauché – Artistic Director
The Difficult Bride – Directed by Rubaiyat Hossein
A privileged bride’s reality starts to unravel as traditional pre-wedding beauty rituals begin to elicit strange visions and physical reactions.
“The Difficult Bride is a film that marries elements of a range of genres – from social drama to offbeat comedy to body horror – to create an equally disquieting and empathetic portrait of a young woman on the edge. It is a kind of an upside-down rom-com. It starts with an impending wedding, where rom-coms usually end. As the bride goes from one ritual to the next, the film luxuriates in the rich colors, textures, and sounds of these ceremonial preparations. But as she gets closer to tying the knot, the gorgeous morphs into the grotesque, as we are immersed in her psychological experience of her world, which is increasingly untethered from reality.”
It Will Happen Tonight – Directed by Nanni Moretti
After an unforgettable meet-cute, Matteo and Greta’s paths cross over the years – but the timing is never right in this seductive tale of love and its possibilities.
“The Chicago International Film Festival has long showcased Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti’s films (The Son’s Room, Habemus Papam), which we celebrate for the expansive emotional landscapes that they cover. Moretti’s work blends the deeply poignant with the playfully absurd and social satire to explore our shared connections and the human condition. It WIll Happen Tonight is melodrama at its finest, seducing the audience along on a tumultuous journey and daring us to believe in the power of love.”
Anthony Kaufman – Senior Programmer
32 Meters – Directed by Morteza Atabaki
This witty observational film follows two Turkish women who set out to start the first-ever ladies-only sharp-shooting competition in their village.
“Filled with intimate, candid moments of joy, frustration, and playful banter, this empowering story shows women actively resisting social norms. But what makes the film extremely special and refreshing is the ways in which it breaks stereotypes about life in a Muslim village. Yes, traditional genre roles are the norm, but this lovely film shows how progressive change can and does occur.”
Tin Castle – Directed by Alexander Murphy
Irish Travelers Paddy and Lisa O’Reilly and their 10 children find their traditional way of life under threat in this immersive and tender portrait.
“Similar to 32 Meters, this is a warm and surprisingly joyful film about a community fighting for sustenance and an alluring and sympathetic look at people rarely seen on the big screen: In this case, a family of Irish Travelers (a distinct indigenous ethnic group in Ireland). Beautifully photographed and full of humanity, it creates empathy for a family and way of life that few people have heard of.”
Sam Flancher – Programmer
Head to Head – Directed by Ghasideh Golmakani
A filmmaker returns home to Iran to shoot a new project — one in which male actors are costumed in headscarves and skirts — in this razor-sharp comedy.
“This film tackles a serious subject with a light, clever approach. There’s a ton of playful humor in the way the male actors in the film complain about having to wear headscarves (something they’ve agreed to do in advance), and a warmth in their performances. Expertly directed and natural-feeling, you feel as though you’ve spent your time with real, flawed, hilarious human beings.”
Dear Future Self – Directed by Ella Cieslinski & Nina Wesemann
In this keenly observed drama, a filmmaker returns home to lead a workshop with a childhood friend, but the exercise illuminates the growing distance between them.
“This is a sophisticated, fresh-feeling exploration about life in your late-20s/early 30s when your role in the world starts to feel more definite. It can be a worrying, confusing time when you start to feel like your life is on rails (or precariously off them). The friendship at the center of Dear Future Self feels lived-in, authentic, and true to life.”
Sophie Gordon – Programmer
Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building – Directed by Bruno Santamaría Razo
Filmmaker Bruno recalls the hazy memories from his eleventh year, reconciling his budding queerness with his father’s diagnosis with HIV.
“This is a truly stunning and unique highlight from the program this year. Blending narrative and documentary elements in a singular cinematic experience, the film reimagines unreliable childhood memories in an intimate, dreamlike way as a means of reconciling and healing. This film is deeply personal, yet I feel it resonates broadly with how it paints the mind of a child and explores the things we have a hard time understanding when we are young.”
Saints – Directed by Mikel Gurrea
While reluctantly caring for her dying mother, Lali finds a new purpose when she joins a band of misfit thieves who steal religious artifacts.
“I often gravitate towards films that center around a group of misfits or found families, and Saints immediately drew me in with its uniquely emotive portrait of this kind of bond within Barcelona’s underworld. The film’s tone is skillfully balanced between the playfulness of a heist film and a grounding in emotional realism that will leave you pondering family and faith long after it ends.”
Ana, en passant – Directed by Fernanda Salgado
Following her grandmother’s death in Paris, a young woman travels to Brazil, where she encounters her exact double in this lyrical animated drama.
“This film swept me away with its beautiful, varied animation styles, and captivated me with its tender and evocative story. Through its two protagonists, who mirror each other in intriguing ways, the film delves deep into memory, heritage, displacement, and the ties that connect generations of Afro-Brazilian women in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and beyond.”
Kayla Myers – Leads Shorts Programmer
Vespers (in City & State Shorts: Journey Within) – Directed by Charlie Schmidlin
Following a violent attack on their church, a rattled congregation turns to hosting punk gigs in their basement to raise money for repairs.
“It’s such an honor to present films that were made right here in Chicago that also showcase the skilled and varied talents of Chicago filmmakers and crew, and this particular film from the City & State program depicts the power of community and music in a way that feels deeply Chicago, considering the city’s long tie to musical history, especially punk music. The presentation of the possibilities of a live show as a place of connection, ecstasy, and a way to relinquish what you’re holding on to, particularly for Miriam, the main character and a member of the church where the show takes place, makes it truly a highlight of this year’s program.”
Fire In My Pocket (in Family Friendly Animation Shorts: Tender Bonds) – Directed by Janka Feiner
Tired of building a bed with his father and eager for his own space, a young boy follows a fire-creature into a magical, mushroom world.
“Our Family Friendly Animation program features some of the most visually stunning moments of animation I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing this year, and Fire In My Pocket’s blend of digital drawing with stop motion animation is an excellent encapsulation of this, but it also captures well the tenderness of the relationship between parents and children even as a child grows to discover their own interests. Reminiscent of what it was like to experience early works of my own childhood that depicted the independence of growing more into one’s self, this is a work that will be a wonderful experience for parents and children alike.”
What Do the Maknines Dream Of (in Drama Shorts: We’ll Meet Again) – Directed by Sarra Ryma
Two best friends spend an eventful day in an Algerian town as they prepare for a life-changing journey.
“Featuring one of the most beautiful relationships in any of the shorts programs this year, this film charts quite thoughtfully their passions, their wants for themselves and each other, whether that’s in Algeria or somewhere else, and what questions for their future they may be answering on this pivotal day. The city in Algeria is depicted with such richness, and It’s the kind of moving filmmaking that sticks with you long after.”
Nicola McCafferty – Programmer
HotSpring SharkAttack: Great Kyushu Showdown – Directed by Morito Inoue
An aspiring music student attempts to save her town from an onslaught of vicious flying sharks in this riotous flick brimming with outrageous B-movie thrills.
“On the surface, this film offers the ultimate B-movie experience, full of onsen sharks rendered in a dizzying combination of digital and practical effects, but it also has a surprisingly tender heart. The young protagonist, Tenma, dreams of moving to Tokyo to pursue her passion for music, and although she is not a standout talent, her singing becomes integral to the plot and the fate of her region. To me, the film stands as a testament to the power of passion that animates both B-movies and artists everywhere, imagining care and conviction as transcendent forces for good.”
Iron Boy – Directed by Louis Clichy
In this dreamy ink and watercolor animation, music and romance provide escape from rigid family obligation for an imaginative child in an iron back brace.
“Part of our brand-new program of animated features, Animate!, this film offers a personal, poetic, and playful animation style that achieves a stunning visual harmony that mirrors its protagonist’s search for balance, both literal and metaphorical. Iron Boy is a sensitive coming-of-age story that centers around a young boy’s equilibrium issue, using the fantastical possibilities of animation to explore the competing obligations and outlets that color his world, and ultimately questioning whether it’s really the world that might be off-kilter.”
jada-amina – Black Perspectives Programmer
Dao – Directed by Alain Gomis
Moving between a contemporary wedding in the French countryside and a traditional funeral in West Africa, Dao follows a diasporic family across geographies and generations, tracing the circular relationship between ritual, memory, and home.
“Dao beautifully understands time as something we inherit. A wedding and a funeral unfold alongside one another, and suddenly France and West Africa, celebration and grief, the living and the ancestral all feel held within the same cultural continuum, even amid the frictions of colonial history. It’s an incredibly tender meditation on the psycho-spiritual bonds that continue to hold the diaspora together across distance.”
Congo Boy – Directed by Rafiki Fariala
Against the precarity of contemporary Congo, a young man fights to hold onto his ambitions while navigating the responsibilities of family, community, and an uncertain home.
“I love the way Congo Boy understands music as its own language of survival. Hip-hop becomes an extension of the griot and the ceremonial grounds of the cypher, giving this young man a way to make meaning of his circumstances. It’s a raw, lyrical testament to our collective birthright to dream, even when the conditions around us insist otherwise.”
Once Upon a Time in Harlem – Directed by William Greaves & David Greaves
Filmed by William Greaves in 1972 and completed decades later by his son David, Once Upon a Time in Harlem captures a remarkable gathering of Harlem Renaissance artists and intellectuals as they drink, debate, remember, and reckon with the cultural world they helped create.
“We get to sit in a room with these luminaries, not as names flattened into history books, but alive and in color, drinking, arguing, laughing, remembering, and telling their own stories in their own voices. Once Upon a Time in Harlem returns me to a question I think about constantly: who gets to construct the archive? There is something deeply tender about watching Black artists participate in preserving and narrating their own record, reclaiming authorship over the image and over how they will be remembered. The Harlem Renaissance remains one of Black America’s most profound gifts to global culture, and so much of contemporary art, language, music, style, and thought still moves through what these artists made possible. To witness them together, reflecting on that world for themselves, is extraordinary.”
The 62nd Chicago International Film Festival runs October 14-25, 2026.
Tickets are on sale now, starting at $26 for a general screening ticket. Passes are also available starting at $200 for members and $240 for nonmembers.
See the complete film list and schedule.
How to Help
The Chicago International Film Festival and various programs flourish under the auspices of Cinema/Chicago, a nonprofit cultural and educational organization — and 2026 Make It Better Foundation Philanthropy Award Winner — dedicated to bridging the gap between people of diverse cultures and access to the art of film.
Be part of a community of supporters who believe in the power of cinema and the arts to make a difference that resonates long after the credits roll. All donations will support Cinema/Chicago’s public and education programs: Chicago International Film Festival, Summer Screenings, Community Cinema, CineYouth Festival, Chicago Industry Exchange Lab (CIX: Lab), and Accessibility at the Festival.
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Brooke McDonald is the editor in chief of Better Magazine. She regularly reports on entertainment, theme parks, and travel and her work has appeared in Insider, The Points Guy, Parents, TravelPulse, Scripps News, and more. Her favorite nonprofits to support include World Central Kitchen, the ACLU, and the Vitalogy Foundation. Find her on Instagram @brookegmcdonald, Threads @brookegmcdonald, Bluesky, and X @BrookeGMcDonald.
