In just four years of existence, the Chicago Critics Film Festival has cemented itself as a new May tradition in Chicago worth anticipating. And though it’s running a bit later than usual this year, the festival announced its 2016 lineup today, and it’s looking pretty great.
Because the CCFF takes place after some of the early-year festivals, it has the unique advantage of being able to highlight some of the best stuff making the rounds, and in particular, a number of Sundance and SXSW items that audiences have already heard no shortage of buzz about. To that point, Chad Hartigan’s Morris From America will open the festival, and that first night will also see the local premiere of Goat, Andrew Neel’s harrowing story of fraternity hazing and abuse.
Highlights of the 2016 lineup also include Werner Herzog’s documentary Lo and Behold, John Michael McDonagh’s War On Everyone, Ira Sachs’ Little Men, and Ti West’s In a Valley of Violence, the latter two of which will see the respective filmmakers in town for Q&A discussions. Other notable selections include Dark Night, First Girl I Loved, and American Fable.
The lineup runs the gamut from genre (the popular Iranian horror film Under the Shadow will screen) to low-budget indie to spectacle, and it’s the rare festival where you don’t have to go in blind and hope what you’re seeing will be up to snuff. The work’s already been done on that end, so attendees can simply kick back in the dark and enjoy. The lineup and schedule is below, and the 2016 CCFF will run from May 20-26 at Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre. Full-week passes and individual tickets are onsale now at the CCFF website. And as the organization’s most iconic figurehead once put it, see you at the movies.
Friday 5/20 (Opening Night)
7:00 – Morris From America
9:30 – Goat
11:59 pm – Trash Fire
Saturday 5/21
11:00 am – Lo and Behold: Reveries of a Connected World
1:00 pm – Shorts Program 1
3:00 – My Blind Brother
5:00 – Joshy
7:15 – War on Everyone
11:59 pm – Another Evil
Sunday 5/22
12:00 pm – Life, Animated
2:00 – Beauty and the Beast
4:15 – Under the Shadow
6:00 – Hunt For the Wilderpeople
8:00 – Little Men
10:00 – Disorder
Monday 5/23
3:00 pm – Hunt For the Wilderpeople
5:30 – Shorts Program 2
7:30 – American Fable
9:45 – Demon
Tuesday 5/24
3:30 pm – Nuts!
5:30 – Contemporary Color
7:30 – The Other Half
9:45 – The Blackcoat’s Daughter
Wednesday 5/25
3:30 pm – Goat
5:30 – The Fits
7:30 – In a Valley of Violence
10:00 – Dark Night
Thursday 5/26
2:00 pm – Beauty and the Beast
4:00 – American Fable
6:00 – First Girl I Loved
8:30 – Operator