For the first time, an opening night block party will kick off the Chicago International Film Festival — boasting 96 features and 56 shorts over 12 days.
From 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Southport Avenue will be closed off between Grace and Waveland. Food, drink and festival merch will be on offer as an improv troupe, a DJ and a band featuring two film critics entertain.
Meanwhile, behind the doors of the Music Box Theatre, screenings will begin at 7 p.m. with the documentary “A Compassionate Spy” by Chicago filmmaker Steve James.
Other documentaries feature local history angles. “Art and Pep” chronicles the title couple who started the North Side bar Sidetracks that continues to play a political role in the LGBTQ+ community. “King of Kings: Chasing Edward Jones” reports the saga of a Policy (aka illegal lottery) legend in the South Side’s African-American community.
Check the festival’s web site for updates on filmmakers who will appear in person at screenings and tributes. At press time 19 are expected.
Industry Days offers 10 panels of professionals starting Thursday. Three networking mixers are planned for panel participants.
The non-profit Cinema/Chicago, founded by Michael Kutza, presents the festival, continuing through Oct. 23.
Here are 10 recommended films selected from those available for preview at press time.
DRAMAS
“A Lot of Nothing” (U.S.) Mo McRae directs a highly topical “satirical thriller” about a white cop killing a kid sitting in a car at night. An African-American couple accost the officer, their next-door neighbor. Guess who’s coming to a burnt chicken dinner? A hot mess of race, class and family issues ensues with arresting shifts in tone. For a finale: the ultimate act of triggering. (Oct. 15, 8:30 p.m.; Oct. 16, noon, AMC River East, 322 E. Illinois St.)
“Corsage” (Austria/ France/ Germany) One of 11 entries for best international feature in the Oscars, “Corsage” stars Vicky Krieps as a willful Austrian empress in 1878. Negotiating gender politics is a royal pain. Marie Kreutzer directs this “revisionist costume drama.” Indeed, the empress is filmed with a Lumiere moving picture camera, the royal doctor shoots her up with heroin, and a harpist sings a Rolling Stones song — years before any those existed. (Oct. 15, 3 p.m.; Oct. 16, 2:45 p.m, AMC)
“Leonor Will Never Die” (Philippines) A TV set tossed out a window knocks out an elderly screenwriter of action films. An unfinished screenplay goes into production. She does rewrites in her head from her hospital bed. Martika Ramirez Escobar directs an especially entertaining tale in that fest genre: a film about filmmaking. (Oct. 20, 8 p.m., Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St.; Oct. 16, 2:45 p.m., AMC)
“Nanny” (U.S.) Nikayatu Jusu directs Anna Diop playing a nanny in New York City. Her upscale white employers implicate her in their marital issues, which ultimately and tragically delay her goal of flying her son from Senegal. Visual design, musical atmosphere and emotional detail create a nuanced take on her plight as an immigrant woman of color. (Oct. 21, 6 p.m., AMC)
“A Piece of Sky” (Switzerland/ Germany) One of a handful of fest dramas set in European villages where outsiders are distrusted, this is a scenic and sensitive tale of a young bar-keep, letter carrier and mom in the Swiss alps. She marries an outsider who gets brain cancer and gets stigmatized for impaired “impulse control.” Michael Koch directs a touching study of empathy and its antithesis. (Oct. 16, 7:15 p.m.; Oct. 17, 7:45 p.m, AMC)
“R.M.N.” (Romania/ France/ Belgium) Longtime fest fave Cristian Mungiu offers another incisive critique of cultural politics. Transylvanian bakers hire two workers from Sri Lanka. Anti-foreigner anger erupts. There are bears and other dangers in the woods and hills, warn posted signs. You can ask Mungiu what’s up when those signs become symbols in the end. He’s attending both screenings. (Oct. 13, 8 p.m.; Oct. 14, 2:45 p.m., AMC)
DOCUMENTARIES
“A Compassionate Spy” (U.S./ U.K.) Steve James directs an especially insightful and moving portrait of two University of Chicago grad students in love with one another and ideas. Re-created scenes show them in the Quadrangles and Promontory Point. Ted Hall goes to Los Alamos to work on the atomic bomb. He leaks technical secrets to the U.S.S.R. James delves into what was he thinking and all the consequences. James will attend this Opening Night screening. (Oct. 12, 7 p.m., Music Box, 3733 N. Southport)
“Innocence” (Denmark/ Israel/ Finland/ Iceland) Guy Davidi composes a deeply moving essay about young Israelis facing military duty. Indoctrination begins at a very young age, yet the conscripts and enlistees whose own words are voiced by actors on the soundtrack did commit suicide. Their profound doubts are beautifully articulated by aerial and verité cinematography. (Oct. 16, 4:45 p.m, AMC; Oct. 18, 6 p.m. GSFC)
“The Natural History of Destruction” (Germany/ Lithuania/ Netherlands) Sergei Loznitsa does a follow-up to his masterful “Babi Yar. Context” from last year’s fest. This time he adapts the title of W.G. Sebald’s 1999 book to show how England and Germany bombed the hell out of each other in World War II. Germany got the worst of it, as exhaustively detailed by Allied cameramen. Highly recommended. (Oct. 17, 5:30 p.m.; Oct. 19, 2 p.m., AMC)
“The Visitors” (Czech Republic/ Norway/ Slovakia) Veronika Lišková documents a stint of fieldwork by a social anthropologist in Longyearbyen. It’s a treeless, avalanche-imperiled town on an island off Norway. She interviews residents about their perception of non-Norwegians who can arrive, live and work there without any visas. This geopolitical anomaly is a microcosm of global changes in climate and community. (Oct. 16, 2:30 p.m.; Oct. 18, 1 p.m., AMC)
