The Chicago International Film Festival, the oldest competitive film festival in North America, starts tonight at the Harris Theater in Millennium Park with “The Last Rites of Joe May,” a neo noir. The fest, now in its 47th year, runs through Oct. 20.
Writer/director Joe Maggio’s film stars Chicagoan Dennis Farina (“Get Shorty,” “Snatch,” “Midnight Run,” “Law & Order”), Jamie Anne Allman, Meredith Droeger, Ian Barford, Chelcie Ross and Gary Cole.
Farina was a Chicago cop before becoming an actor.
In “The Last Rites of Joe May,” Farina, who was a Chicago cop for 18 years before becoming an actor, plays a sixtysomething short-money hustler looking to make a comeback after a battle with pneumonia. The film is “steeped in colorful characters and the neighborhood flavor of the city,” said Mimi Plauché, CIFF’s head of programming.
This year’s fest features 143 feature-length films (narrative and documentary), representing 55 countries, and 52 short films. There are also panels, parties, discussions and tributes.
I’m most interested in the After Dark competition, described by the fest as follows: “From H.P. Lovecraft to high-voltage chases in the streets of Seoul, South Korea, not to mention psycho killers using unconventional methods to inflict mayhem, these films will keep you on the edge of your seat.”
I will be posting more about the fest next week!
From FNB readers