Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre was abuzz with film critics and fanatics alike as the Chicago Film Critics Association presented the 13th annual Chicago Critics Film Festival. The festival, held May 1-7, showcased a wide range of films, including upcoming releases, anniversary screenings, documentaries and short films.
According to Robert Daniels, one of the festival’s programmers, he and the other programmers receive a number of submissions, which they divide amongst themselves. If one of the programmers really enjoys the film they watch, they tell the rest of the team, and the ultimate decision is a majority rule, Daniels said.
“I think that’s why the lineup is so strong,” Daniels said. “It’s a lot of people with a lot of different tastes.”
Throughout the seven-day event, 20 upcoming feature-length films were shown. Two short film programs and anniversary screenings of David Cronenberg’s “The Fly,” Steven Spielberg’s “A.I.” and Jonathan Demme’s “Something Wild” rounded out the programming.
Attendee Tom Hoffman went to the festival last year and came back because he enjoyed the number of indie films that were screened, he said.
“It’s cool to see some stuff that isn’t going to be playing in major theaters,” Hoffman said.
Of the films Hoffman watched throughout the week, one of his favorites was “Leviticus.”
The film was the directorial debut of Adrian Chiarella and follows two teenage boys in a conservative Australian town who are forced into conversion therapy. Afterward, they are tormented by a demon that manifests itself as the person they love the most — each other — that attempts to murder them.
“I didn’t think it was going to be as scary as it was, but it was a thriller, and I love a movie where you’re kind of guessing ‘Are they bad? Is something bad going to happen?’” Hoffman said.
Casey Breen attended the event because she is a member of the Music Box Theatre and “(trusts) them to put on great films.”
Part of what Breen enjoys most about seeing movies in a communal space like the Music Box is hearing people’s exclamations, she said.
“There’s this many people who are watching something together and reacting to it, and you’re sitting next to someone you don’t know and you’re hearing how they feel about things and how they respond to things. It’s really cool,” Breen said. “It’s not replicable.”
Breen also said part of the reason she enjoys watching films at The Music Box is because of the accompanying Q&As the venue hosts before showing films. Throughout the week, the festival held seven Q&A discussions.
Directors Olivia Wilde and Dawn Porter were both present for post-screening Q&As for their respective films, “The Invite” and “When A Witness Recants.” The two short film screenings also featured panels with the directors.
Carter Amelia Davis directed the animated short film “Homemade Gatorade,” which follows a woman who embarks on a road trip after a person online agrees to buy the 11 gallons of homemade Gatorade she made in her garage.
Davis, who voices the main character, said playing the role of Susie Gjhjjfjh, who she described as an “Internet beast,” was an important outlet as she went through her gender transition.
“It was very helpful for me to explore the most absurdly cartoonish, shrill kind of voice to actually find where I want to talk normally,” Davis said.
Beyond its programming, the festival emphasized the importance of viewing films in theaters. Festival programmers and attendees acknowledged the preference of watching movies communally in locally-owned theaters, like the Music Box, as opposed to streaming services or large movie theaters, like the Alamo Drafthouse less than a mile away from the Music Box.
Theater attendance has been on a heavy decline since the pandemic. Yet, the festival’s numerous packed and sold-out screenings suggest that a return to theaters might be imminent.
“There’s something about being in a theater and experiencing the same thing, or maybe experiencing something opposite, to a person by you that I think helps us grow, I think helps us see each other through a different lens and I think allows empathy to grow,” Daniels said.
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