# Chicago International Film Festival

The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the composite eyes of early film actresses Theda Bara, Pola Negri, and Mae Murray, set as repeated frames in a strip of film.
In 2010, the 46th Chicago International Film Festival presented 150 films from more than 50 countries. The Festival's program is composed of many different sections, including the International Competition, New Directors Competition, Docufest, Black Perspectives, Cinema of the Americas, and Reel Women.
Its main venue is the AMC River East 21 Theatre in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago, although it has dropped that venue during the most recent festival as of 2023 (59th), instead using the AMC Newcity 14.

## International Connections Program

The International Connections Program was created in 2003 in order to raise awareness of the international film culture and diversity of Chicago, and to make the festival more appealing to audience and staff of various ethnicities. Foreign films are screened for free throughout the city weekly from July through September.

## Awards

Winners are awarded Hugo Awards in eight different competition categories.
* International Feature Film Competition
** Gold Hugo
** Silver Hugo: Jury Prize
** Silver Hugo: Best Director
** Silver Hugo: Best Actor (until 2019)
** Silver Hugo: Best Actress (until 2019)
** Silver Hugo: Best Performance (from 2020)
** Silver Hugo: Best Ensemble Performance
** Silver Hugo: Best Cinematography
** Silver Hugo: Best Screenplay
** Silver Hugo: Best Sound
** Silver Hugo: Best Art Direction
* New Directors Competition
   * Gold Hugo
* Silver Hugo
* Roger Ebert Award
* International Documentary Competition
   * Gold Hugo
* Silver Hugo
* Out-Look Competition
   * Gold Q-Hugo
* Silver Hugo
* City & State Competition
** Chicago Award
* Live Action Short Film Competition
   * Gold Hugo
* Silver Hugo
* Documentary Short Film Competition
   * Gold Hugo
* Silver Hugo
* Animated Short Film Competition
   * Gold Hugo
* Silver Hugo

## Gold Hugo

| Year | Winning film | Director(s) | Country |
| 1965 | The Lollipop Cover | Everett Chambers | United States |
| 1966 | Bushido (Bushidō zankoku monogatari) | Tadashi Imai | Japan |
| 1967 | Here's Your Life (Här har du ditt liv) | Jan Troell | Sweden |
| 1968 | Innocence Unprotected (Nevinost bez zastite) | Dušan Makavejev | Yugoslavia |
| 1969 | Eeny Meeny Miny Moe (Ole dole doff) | Jan Troell | Sweden |
| 1970 | The Green Wall (La muralla verde) | Armando Robles Godoy | Peru |
| 1971 | Mon oncle Antoine | Claude Jutra | Canada |
| 1972 | Bleak Moments | Mike Leigh | United Kingdom |
| 1973 | Mirage (Espejismo) | Armando Robles Godoy | Peru |
| 1973 | Morgiana | Juraj Herz | Czechoslovakia |
| 1974 | Pirosmani | Georgy Shengalaya | Soviet Union |
| 1975 | Land of Promise (Ziemia obiecana) | Andrzej Wajda | Poland |
| 1976 | Kings of the Road (Im Lauf der Zeit) | Wim Wenders | West Germany |
| 1977 | The Huntsmen (Oi kynigoi) | Theo Angelopoulos | Greece |
| 1978 | To an Unknown God (A un dios desconocido) | Jaime Chávarri | Spain |
| 1979 | Angi Vera | Pál Gábor | Hungary |
| 1980 | Camera Buff (Amator) | Krzysztof Kieślowski | Poland |
| 1981 | The German Sisters (Die bleierne Zeit) | Margarethe von Trotta | West Germany |
| 1982 | Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean | Robert Altman | United States |
| 1983 | The South (El Sur) | Victor Erice | Spain France |
| 1984 | Khandhar (The Ruins) | Mrinal Sen | India |
| 1985 | The Official Story (La historia oficial) | Luis Puenzo | Argentina |
| 1986 | Welcome in Vienna (Wohin und zurück) | Axel Corti | Austria West Germany Switzerland |
| 1987 | Whooping Cough (Szamárköhögés) | Péter Gárdos [hu] | Hungary |
| 1988 | Little Vera (Malenkaya Vera) | Vasili Pichul | Soviet Union |
| 1989 | Zerograd (Gorod Zero) | Karen Chakhnazarov | Soviet Union |
| 1990 | Ju Dou | Zhang Yimou | China Japan |
| 1991 | Delicatessen | Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro | France |
| 1992 | Dream of Light (El sol del membrillo) | Victor Erice | Spain |
| 1993 | Twinkle (Kira kira hikaru) | Joji Matsuoka | Japan |
| 1994 | 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (71 Fragmente einer Chronologie des Zufalls) | Michael Haneke | Austria Germany |
| 1995 | Maborosi (Maboroshi no Hikari) | Hirokazu Koreeda | Japan |
| 1996 | Ridicule | Patrice Leconte | France |
| 1997 | The Winter Guest | Alan Rickman | United Kingdom |
| 1998 | The Hole (Dong) | Tsai Ming-liang | Taiwan |
| 1999 | Sachs' Disease (La maladie de Sachs) | Michel Deville | France |
| 2000 | Amores perros | Alejandro González Iñárritu | Mexico |
| 2001 | Fat Girl (À ma soeur!) | Catherine Breillat | France |
| 2002 | Madame Satã | Karim Aïnouz | Brazil |
| 2003 | Crimson Gold (Talaye Sorkh) | Jafar Panahi | Iran |
| 2004 | Kontroll | Nimród Antal | Hungary |
| 2005 | My Nikifor (Mój Nikifor) | Krzysztof Krauze | Poland |
| 2006 | Fireworks Wednesday (Chaharshanbe Suri) | Asghar Farhadi | Iran |
| 2007 | Silent Light (Stellet Lijcht) | Carlos Reygadas | Mexico |
| 2008 | Hunger | Steve McQueen | Ireland |
| 2009 | Mississippi Damned | Tina Mabry | United States |
| 2010 | How I Ended This Summer (Kak ya provyol etim letom) | Alexei Popogrebski | Russia |
| 2011 | Le Havre | Aki Kaurismäki | Finland |
| 2012 | Holy Motors | Leos Carax | France |
| 2013 | My Sweet Pepper Land | Huner Saleem | Iraq |
| 2014 | The President | Mohsen Makhmalbaf | Georgia France United Kingdom Germany |
| 2015 | A Childhood | Philippe Claudel | France |
| 2016 | Sieranevada | Cristi Puiu | Romania |
| 2017 | A Sort of Family | Diego Lerman | Argentina |
| 2018 | Happy as Lazzaro | Alice Rohrwacher | Italy Switzerland Germany France |
| 2019 | Portrait of a Lady on Fire | Céline Sciamma | France |
| 2020 | Sweat | Magnus von Horn | Sweden |
| 2021 | Memoria | Apichatpong Weerasethakul | Thailand Colombia Germany France Mexico China |
| 2022 | Godland | Hlynur Pálmason | Iceland Denmark France Sweden |
| 2023 | Explanation for Everything | Gábor Reisz | Hungary Slovakia |
| 2024 | Vermiglio | Maura Delpero | Italy France Belgium |

## Silver Hugo
### Jury Award

* 2024 – All We Imagine as Light, dir. Payal Kapadia (India)
* 2023 – The Delinquents, dir. Rodrigo Moreno (Argentina)
* 2022 – Close, dir. Lukas Dhont (Belgium)
* 2021 – Drive My Car, dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Japan)
* 2020 – Careless Crime, dir. Shahram Mokri (Iran)
* 2019 – Vitalina Varela, dir. Pedro Costa (Portugal)

### Best Director

* 2024 – Miguel Gomes (Portugal) for Grand Tour
* 2023 – Aki Kaurismäki (Finland) for Fallen Leaves
* 2022 – Maryam Touzani (Morocco) for The Blue Caftan
* 2021 – Peter Kerekes (Slovakia) for 107 Mothers
* 2020 – Andrei Konchalovsky (Russia) for Dear Comrades!
* 2019 – Maya Da-Rin (Brazil) for The Fever

### Best Actor

* 2024 – Benjamin Voisin (France) for The Quiet Son
* 2021 – Bouli Lanners (Belgium) for Nobody Has to Know
* 2019 – Bartosz Bielenia (Poland) for Corpus Christi
* 2018 – Jesper Christensen (Denmark) for Before the Frost
* 2017 – Aleksandr Yatsenko (Russia) for Arrhythmia
* 2016 – Adrian Titieni (Romania) for Graduation
* 2015 – Alexi Mathieu and Jules Gauzelin (France) for A Childhood
* 2014 – Anton Yelchin (USA) for Rudderless
* 2013 – Robert Wieckiewicz (Poland) for Walesa: Man of Hope
* 2012 – Denis Lavant (France) for Holy Motors
* 2011 – Maged El Kedwany (Egypt) for 678
* 2010 – Youssouf Djaoro (Chad) for A Screaming Man
* 2009 – Filippo Timi (Italy) for Vincere
* 2008 – Michael Fassbender (Ireland) for Hunger
* 2007 – Sam Riley (United Kingdom) for Control
* 2006 – Jürgen Vogel (Germany) for The Free Will
* 1989 – Jörg Gudzuhn (GDR) for Fallada, letztes Kapitel
* 1987 – Avtandil Makharadze (Georgia) for Monanieba
* 1972 – José Luis López Vázquez (Spain) for My Dearest Senorita
* 1971 – José Luis López Vázquez (Spain) for The Ancines Woods

### Best Actress

* 2024 – Elín Hall (Iceland) for When the Light Breaks
* 2021 – Michelle Fairley (Ireland) for Nobody Has to Know
* 2019 – Debbie Honeywood (UK) for Sorry We Missed You
* 2018 – Zhao Tao (China) for Ash Is Purest White
* 2017 – Jowita Budnik (Poland) and Eliane Umuhire (Rwanda) for Birds Are Singing in Kigali
* 2016 – Rebecca Hall (UK) for Christine
* 2015 – Lizzie Brocheré (France) for Full Contact
* 2014 – Geraldine Chaplin (United States) for Sand Dollars
* 2013 – Nadeshda Brennicke (Germany) for Banklady [de]
* 2012 – Ulla Skoog (Sweden) for The Last Sentence
* 2011 – Olivia Colman (UK) for Tyrannosaur
* 2010 – Liana Liberato (USA) for Trust
* 2009 – Giovanna Mezzogiorno (Italy) for Vincere
* 2008 – Preity Zinta (India) for Heaven on Earth
* 2007 – Yu Nan (China) for Tuya's Marriage
* 2006 – Viktoriya Isakova, Darya Moroz, Anna Ukolova (Russia) for The Spot
* 2005 – Inka Friedrich, Nadja Uhl (Germany) for Summer in Berlin
* 2003 – Ludivine Sagnier (France) for Little Lili

### Best Performance

* 2023 – Ilinca Manolache (Romania) for Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World
* 2022 – Vicky Krieps (Luxembourg) for Corsage
* 2020 – Yakusho Koji (Japan) for Under the Open Sky

### Best Screenplay

* 2024 – Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran) for The Seed of the Sacred Fig
* 2023 – Gábor Reisz and Éva Schulze (Hungary) for Explanation for Everything
* 2022 – Alice Diop, Amrita David, and Marie NDiaye (France) for Saint Omer
* 2021 – Alexandre Koberidze (Georgia) for What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?
* 2020 – Christos Nikou and Stavros Raptis (Greece) for Apples
* 2019 – Pema Tseden (China) for Balloon

### Best Editing

* 2024 – Telmo Churro and Pedro Filipe Marques (Portugal) for Grand Tour

### Best Cinematography

* 2023 – Hélène Louvart (France) for La Chimera
* 2022 – Maria von Hausswolff (Iceland) for Godland
* 2021 – Kasper Tuxen (Denmark) for The Worst Person in the World
* 2020 – Tobie Marier Robitaille (Canada) for Night of the Kings
* 2019 – Vladimír Smutný (Czech Republic) for The Painted Bird

### Best Art Direction

* 2022 – Marcela Gómez and Daniel Rincon (Colombia) for The Kings of the World
* 2021 – Sergey Fevralev (Russia) for Captain Volkonogov Escaped
* 2020 – Jagna Dobesz (Poland) for Sweat

### Best New Director

* 2023 – Ena Sendijarević (Netherlands) for Sweet Dreams
* 2022 – Ann Oren (Germany) for Piaffe

### Special Mention

* 2024 – Ensemble Performance for On Becoming a Guinea Fowl

## Lifetime Achievement Awards

Winners of the festival's Lifetime Achievement Award include Steven Spielberg, Helen Hunt, Dustin Hoffman, Martin Landau, Shirley MacLaine, Lord Richard Attenborough, François Truffaut, Jodie Foster, Sigourney Weaver, Robin Williams, Manoel de Oliveira, and Clint Eastwood.

## Career Achievement Awards

* Bruce Dern (2013)
* Terrence Howard (2005)
* Susan Sarandon (2005)
* Shirley MacLaine (2005)
* Robert Zemeckis (2004)
* Irma P. Hall, Robert Townsend and Harry J. Lennix (2004)
* Annette Bening (2004)
* Robin Williams (2004)
* Nicolas Cage (2003)

## Television awards

The Television Awards started with the idea of honoring television commercials in a special event of the film festival, but over time evolved and grew into a bigger event, comprising not only commercials but also television productions, series, and online television. In 2003, a separate ceremony was launched for the TV awards, and in 2017, the event became a separate event, named the Chicago International Television Festival. Winners and runners-up for the various categories, which include Gold and Silver Hugos, are listed on the film festival website.