Arts & Entertainment
Chicago International Film Festival’s Lineup is Out. Here Are the Local Filmmakers Being Featured
The premiere of “One Golden Summer,” directed by Kevin Shaw, opens up this year’s Chicago International Film Festival on Oct. 15, 2025. The documentary tells the story of Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West Little League, their fall from grace and subsequent road to redemption, as told by the players themselves. (Courtesy of Chicago Tribune / TCA)
The world premiere of filmmaker Kevin Shaw’s “One Golden Summer,” a documentary that revisits the trials and tribulations of the Jackie Robinson West Little League, opens up this year’s Chicago International Film Festival, with the festival’s full lineup announced Thursday.
The 61st edition of the festival runs Oct. 15-26 at various venues.
Screenings will be held at the festival’s hub theater at AMC NEWCITY 14, along with the Music Box Theatre, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago History Museum, Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago and more.
This year’s festival includes 111 feature films and 70 shorts, and showcases cinema from more than 60 countries. The popular Criterion Mobile Closet is also expected to make a stop during the festival’s opening weekend at NEWCITY Plaza. View the full festival lineup and programming here.
Chicago-set films and filmmakers will be featured at the festival, competing for the Chicago Award as part of the “City & State” program. This year’s selections include:
- “Adult Children” directed by Rich Newey. A 17-year-old Chicagoan looks to her older half-siblings for guidance on impending adulthood — only to discover they’re more mixed up than she is.
- “Anything That Moves” directed by Alex Phillips. In this exploitation thriller, a Chicago bike-courier/sex worker delivers whatever his clients desire — until they start turning up dead.
- “Before the Call” directed by James Choi. The Chicago-based director tells the story of a young man in Seoul who, while awaiting his impending military service, reflects on his choice to enlist.
- “A Brief History of Chasing Storms” directed by Curtis Miller. The Chicago filmmaker takes viewers on a road trip through “tornado alley” in a cinematic essay about the multifaceted myths and histories surrounding the famously destructive weather events.
- “One Golden Summer” directed by Kevin Shaw. The festival’s opening night film tells the story of Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West Little League, their fall from grace and subsequent road to redemption, as told by the players themselves.
- “Only Heaven Knows” directed by Nurzhamal Karamoldoeva. The Chicago-set drama follows a Kyrgyz family thrown into turmoil when the prodigal son’s mounting gambling debt begins to catch up with him.
- “Shorts 4: City & State” directed by various directors. Chicago and Illinois-based filmmakers experiment with genre, topic and form in an eclectic program by students, upcoming artists and established directors. Short films include Shiloh Tumo Washington’s “Bailey’s Blues,” Missy Hernandez’s “Madrina,” Alex Heller’s “Debaters,” Fernando Saldivia Yáñez’s “Your Tomorrow Will Be My Song,” Jessie Komitor’s “Chasing the Party,” Texas Smith’s “Make No Mistake: These Are the Glory Days,” and “It’s Just a Fucking Opening” directed by Josh Brainin, Camille Bacon and Youssef Boucetta.
Tickets for the festival’s opening night are on sale. General public individual tickets for the rest of the festival’s programming will go on sale Sept. 26. Member presale tickets go on sale Friday.
Note: WTTW is a program partner of the Chicago International Film Festival.
Contact Eunice Alpasan: [email protected]
