Today at the Chicago International Film Festival: ‘Mia Madre’

The Chicago International Film Festival opens Thursday and runs through Oct. 29.“MIA MADRE” (Italy, France): Writer-director Nanni Moretti (“The Son’s Room,” “Dear Diary”) observes film director Margherita (Margherita Buy) in Rome zig-zagging between discord on her set (a factory drama about striking workers) and demands on the home front. Her mother is dying. Her teen daughter is adrift. John Turturro tritely plays a famous and fatuous American actor, and Moretti appears as Margherita’s helpful brother. Calling his storytelling style “non-academic,” Moretti nods with affection to Federico Fellini’s autobiographical “8 1/2.” Without the neurotic sexism.6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Auditorium Theater, 50 E. Congress; $23. chicagofilmfestival.com; (312) 332-FILM