The 2024 Chicago Film Festival shined a light on films that stretch the limits of storytelling. From Italy to Cape Verde, this year’s award winners drew viewers in with stories about family, identity, and resilience, along with fresh directing approaches and standout performances. Below are some highlights from the festival’s top prize categories.
Gold Hugo for Best Film: Vermiglio
Directed by Maura Delpero, Vermiglio tells the story of a young woman finding her way within a complex family in Italy’s scenic Alps. The film won the festival’s top honor for its attention to human details and beautiful visuals, capturing relationships that feel timeless.
Silver Hugo for Jury Prize: All We Imagine As Light
Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light explores choice and control across generations in a journey that invites audiences to confront life’s crossroads. It balances comfort with disruption and presents these choices with a relatable vulnerability.
Silver Hugo for Best Director: Miguel Gomes for Grand Tour
Miguel Gomes’s Grand Tour is both a journey and a deeply layered cinematic experience. As the protagonist seeks her estranged fiancé, Gomes uses his directing skills to dive into themes of love and loss, guiding audiences through a visually rich narrative.
Silver Hugo for Best Male Performance: Benjamin Voisin in The Quiet Son
Benjamin Voisin impressed as a young man in The Quiet Son whose quiet transformation affects everyone around him. His subtle yet powerful portrayal earned him the Best Male Performance award.
Silver Hugo for Best Female Performance: Elín Hall in When the Light Breaks
In When the Light Breaks, Elín Hall captivated audiences with her restrained performance, depicting deep personal loss on a grand scale. The festival awarded her for delivering a nuanced emotional experience.
Silver Hugo for Best Screenplay: The Seed of the Sacred Fig by Mohammad Rasoulof
This story, blending fiction and documentary, takes a small seed and turns it into a bold narrative of human struggles and resistance. Rasoulof’s work resonated with audiences, earning him the award for Best Screenplay.
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Silver Hugo for Best Editing: Grand Tour by Telmo Churro & Pedro Filipe Marques
Grand Tour also received praise for its editing, with Telmo Churro and Pedro Filipe Marques skillfully guiding the narrative through compelling visuals and sounds, making for a seamless viewing experience.
Special Mention for Best Ensemble Performance: On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl featured an outstanding female ensemble cast that brought out the essence of community through grief and joy alike, showcasing an unforgettable dynamic.
New Directors Competition Gold Hugo: The Village Next to Paradise
Mo Harawe’s debut, The Village Next to Paradise, takes viewers into a family story set in Somalia, told with tenderness and honesty. The film explores love and family ties through the eyes of a young actor, Ahmed Mohamoud Salleban, who delivered a memorable performance.
Silver Hugo for New Directors: My Favourite Cake
Directors Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha blended humor and personal narrative with social issues in My Favourite Cake. The story, following two older characters finding love and companionship, adds warmth and complexity to everyday life.
Roger Ebert Award: Hanami
Denise Fernandes’s Hanami tells a story of abandonment and resilience, bringing out the magic and struggle of coming-of-age in a way that feels fresh and intimate. The film won the Roger Ebert Award for its unique, gentle style.
International Documentary Competition Gold Hugo: Mistress Dispeller
Elizabeth Lo’s Mistress Dispeller dives into the complex lives of its characters without imposing judgment. This documentary reveals love’s challenges in China, creating a compelling narrative that connects across cultures.
Silver Hugo for Documentary: My Stolen Planet
Farahnaz Sharifi’s My Stolen Planet looks at the act of filming as a form of resistance. This story spans Iran’s revolutionary history to the present, exploring freedom, friendship, and family in a powerful way.
Out-Look Competition Gold Q-Hugo: Thesis on a Domestication
Javier Van de Couter’s Thesis on a Domestication unfolds through the lens of trans actress Camila Sosa Villada. The film examines womanhood and relationships in a way that breaks convention and invites viewers to rethink intimacy.
City & State Competition Chicago Award: A Photographic Memory
Directed by Rachel Elizabeth Seed, A Photographic Memory follows the director’s journey to know her late mother, Sheila Turner Seed, who was a journalist and photographer from Chicago. Through layered visuals and a blend of old and new footage, the film beautifully captures their relationship.
The 2024 Chicago Film festival spotlighted diverse perspectives and stories that linger long after the credits roll, confirming cinema’s power to connect us across cultures and experiences. With creativity, boldness, and empathy, these films brought the world to Chicago, one story at a time.
Source: CIFF 2024
