The 55th Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF) announced its full lineup Sept. 18, featuring 40 films directed by women. About 30 percent of the 136 films being screened at the AMC River East from Oct. 16-27 are from female filmmakers (on par with last year’s numbers). From gala presentations like Kasi Lemmons’ Harriet to festival-circuit favorites Honey Boy (Alma Ha’rel) and Hala (Chicago-born Minhal Baig), the festival has made a clear effort to feature diverse women-directed work. (43 percent of shorts are also directed by women.)
The Women In Cinema program is also a feature of the festival, which “elevates women creators and promotes films by and amount women.” Local female directors are especially well-represented, with Knives and Skin, The New Bauhaus and Once Upon a River all being filmed in and around Chicago.
CIFF tickets are available to the general public Sept. 27. The full list of women-directed films is below.
Adam
Maryam Touzani
Aleli
Leticia Jorge Romero
Atlantics
Babyteeth
Shannon Murphy
Bombay Rose
Gitanjali Rao
Carmilla
Clemency
The Components of Love
Miriam Bliese
Cunningham
Alla Kovgan
Digitalkarma
Francesca Scalisi with Marx Olexa
The Father
Kristina Grozeva with Peter Valchanov
The Fever
Maya Da Rin
Fordlandia Malaise
Susana de Sousa Dias
Forman vs. Forman
Helena Trestikova
Hala
Minhal Baig
Harriet
Kasi Lemmons
A Thief’s Daughter
Belen Funes
Honey Boy
Alma Har’el
I Was at Home, But…
Angela Schanelec
Initials S.G.
Rania Attieh with Daniel Garcia
Instinct
Halina Reijn
The Kingmaker
Knives and Skin
Jennifer Reeder
Lives with Flavor
Ruth Zachs Babani with Pablo Gasca Gollas
Love Child
Eva Mulvad
Maria’s Paradise
Zaida Bergroth
Maternal
Maura Delpero
Mr. Jones
Agnieszka Holland
The New Bauhaus
Alysa Nahmias
Notre Dame
Valerie Donzelli
Once Upon a River
Haroula Rose
Ordinary Love
Lisa Barros D’Sa with Glenn Leyburn
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Celine Sciamma
Present.Perfect.
Zhu Shengze
Seahorse
Jeanie Finlay
The Sleepwalkers
Paula Hernandez
Song Without a Name
Melina Leon
The Swallows of Kabul
Elea Gobbe-Mevellec with Zabou Breitman
Varda by Agnes
Agnes Varda
Vivere
© Georgiana E. Presecky (9/18/19) FF2 Media
Photos courtesy of Cinema/Chicago.
