Full Film Lineup, Schedule, Special Events and Guests
Chicago premiere of Danny Boyle’s YESTERDAY tops program chock-full of year’s best films; guests to include Jay Duplass, Tatiana Maslany, Jim Gaffigan, Tom Skerritt, more
(Chicago, IL) — The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA), the Chicago-area print, online and broadcast critics group that celebrates the art of film and film criticism, today announces the complete lineup, schedule and special guests expected for the seventh annual Chicago Critics Film Festival, May 17-23 at the Music Box Theatre. The festival opens with a screening of Saint Frances, a Chicago-set film by Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan (both of whom will be in attendance) and closes with Paul Harrill’s Light From Light, starring Jim Gaffigan(Harrill and Gaffigan, a Chicago-area native, will also be in attendance). With a line-up including the Chicago premiere of Danny Boyle’s Yesterday, about a young Brit who discovers he’s the only one who’s ever heard of The Beatles, and a 40th Anniversary screening of Alien with actor Tom Skerritt scheduled to attend, the 2019 edition of the only film festival curated by critics promises to be the most impressive yet.
More information on the complete schedule and special guests is below and online; a full schedule, festival passes and individual tickets are also available online here.
Highlights of this highly-curated, week-long festival include:
- The Farewell—the runaway Sundance Film festival hit starring Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians) about a Chinese family who plans a wedding rather than let their matriarch know she only has a short time left to live; writer/director Lulu Wang is scheduled to attend the festival
- Yesterday—the story of a struggling musician who realizes he’s the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles; from a script by Richard Curtis (About Time,Love Actually) and directed by Danny Boyle (T2 Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire)
- Light From Light—a single mom moonlights as a paranormal investigator and travels to Tennessee with her son to take on a new case; filmmaker Paul Harrill and co-star Jim Gaffigan, a native of the Chicagoland area (who also stars in Them That Follow), are scheduled to attend
- Alien 40th Anniversary Screening on 35mm—Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi classic about a space merchant vessel and its crew, as they discover a mysterious new lifeform intent on spawning a new generation; actor Tom Skerritt is scheduled to attend
- The Nightingale—Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) returns with the story of a young Irish convict woman out for revenge against a British officer who wronged her family; star Aisling Franciosi is scheduled to attend
- Our Time Machine—when an artist learns of his aging father’s Alzheimers diagnosis, the two collaborate on a haunting, magical, autobiographical stage performance called “Papa’s Time Machine”; one of three documentaries screening at this year’s festival
- Pink Wall—the debut feature film from actor Tom Cullen (“Knightfall,” “Orphan Black”), Jay Duplass and Tatiana Maslany star as a couple navigating live, love and all that comes with it over the course of six tumultuous years; Cullen, Duplass, and Maslany are all scheduled to attend
- Additional special guests include filmmaker Gurinder Chadha and actor Viveik Kalra withBlinded By The Light; Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan with Saint Frances; and Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe with Greener Grass.
The Chicago Critics Film Festival 