It’s lights, camera, action for North America’s longest running competitive film festival this week.

The Chicago International Film Festival kicks off Wednesday and will commemorate its 60th anniversary. But at the time of its founding, director and founder Michael Kutza, couldn’t have imagined what it would become.

Kutza was a young filmmaker, entering his own work in international competitions in Europe, when he recognized what Chicago had to offer the film industry.

“I started to see what we’re missing in this town,” he said. “And that’s how it all began. Got a group of people right after college and said, ‘Let’s do an international film fest, just something big,’ because we had enough places to see film in Chicago, really, in those days.”

The festival is known for featuring first- and second-time directors, this year showcasing Malcom Washington in his directorial debut “The Piano Lesson,” based on August Wilson’s play of the same name. Artistic Director Mimi Plauché says creating a platform for emerging directors is very important for the festival.

“Festivals create this excitement … around a film,” Plauché said. “So with that buzz or creating that platform for films to be launched out into the world, some of them will already have distribution. But then there’s a lot of films that, because of playing in festivals, they get noticed by distributors, by audiences, you know, even by the streamers, and they start paying attention to them.”

Many who were first showcased at the event, like Chicago natives Robert Zemeckis and William Friedkin, went on to find success in the industry.

As Kutza reflects on the work that went into planning the festival year after year, the stars who joined the event and the volunteers who made it possible, he says it’s still a great chance to see great films created by filmmakers from all over the world.

“Why does it last so long? Because you can’t get this anywhere else,” he said. 

The Chicago International Film Festival runs Oct. 16-27, the event’s website has full schedule and ticket information.