Friday, 10 October 2025

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Oscar-Contending Directors to Join ‘World Cinema Now!’ Panel at Chicago International Film Festival

 A group of acclaimed international filmmakers competing in this year’s Academy Awards best international feature race will gather in Chicago this weekend for a special industry panel.

A view of the Chicago skyline in 2024.

The 61st Chicago International Film Festival announced details for its International Contenders Panel: World Cinema Now!, which will bring together directors behind their countries’ official Oscar submissions for a conversation about global storytelling and the state of world cinema. The Hollywood Reporter senior writer Seth Abramovitch will moderate the discussion.

Scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 18, the event will be held at the festival’s main venue, AMC Newcity 14, as part of its Industry Days program. Admission is free, though advance tickets are required.

Panelists include Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke (A Useful Ghost, Thailand), Diego Céspedes (The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, Chile), Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Young Mothers, Belgium), Agnieszka Holland (Franz, Poland), Tamara Kotevska (The Tale of Silyan, North Macedonia), Odessa Rae (producer of The Voice of Hind Rajab, Tunisia), and Simón Mesa Soto (A Poet, Colombia).

This year’s Chicago lineup features 16 films representing their nations in the Oscars race, along with two titles from last year’s program that have also been submitted. Among them are Argentina’s Belén, France’s It Was Just an Accident, Morocco’s Calle Malaga, South Korea’s No Other Choice, Spain’s Sirât, and Germany’s Sound of Falling, among others. Returning contenders include Austria’s Peacock and the Dominican Republic’s Pepe.

Running Oct. 15–26, the 2025 festival will also honor and feature retrospectives on filmmakers such as Spike Lee, Gus Van Sant, Joel Edgerton, Nia DaCosta, and Kelly Reichardt. Industry Days are supported by sponsors including Adobe, Panavision, MUBI, Cinespace Studios, SAGindie, and the Illinois Film Office.

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