Film Feature: 48th Annual Chicago International Film Festival Highlights, Part Two

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Here are another four titles that may deserve your attention with official synopses from the Chicago Film Festival. If we had the time and money, we’d check these out.

Any Day Now Photo credit: The Chicago International Film Festival

“Any Day Now”
October 15th, 6:15pm
October 17th, 9:15pm
October 18th, 3:15pm

In the late 1970s, when a mentally handicapped teenager is abandoned, a gay couple - a drag performer (Alan Cumming) and a closeted attorney (Garret Dillahunt) - takes him in and becomes the family he’s never had. But, once the unconventional living arrangement is discovered by authorities, the men must fight a biased legal system to adopt the child they have come to care for as their own in this gripping testament to love and family.

Director Travis Fine and producer Kristine Fine are scheduled to attend all three screenings.

Student Photo credit: The Chicago International Film Festival

“Student”
October 15th, 8:30pm
October 16th, 6pm
October 22nd, 3pm

Following up his adaptation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Darezhan Omirbaev returns to Russian literature, this time adapting Crime and Punishment to modern-day Kazhakstan. Goaded on by a lecture on modern capitalism, a philosophy student murders a local shopkeeper and must ponder the moral and philosophical implications of his actions. This much-adapted story is brought to new light in Post-Communist Kazhakstan, where crime and corruption have lingered following the transition to capitalism.



“Student” is co-presented by the Global Film Initiative and is part of the Global Lens 2013 film series.

King Curling Photo credit: The Chicago International Film Festival

 
“King Curling”
October 16th, 2pm
October 18th, 1pm
October 23rd, 9pm

“King Curling” is a rollicking, boisterous comedy about the high-stakes world of curling, that most glorious of broom-based ice sports. After breaking under the intense pressure of championship competition, former star Truls Paulsen has fallen far from his former exalted station, battling OCD and a reliance on pills. When he learns that his former coach is in the hospital and in desperate need of an expensive operation, Truls gets himself together for one more, potentially lucrative competition.

The Scapegoat Photo credit: The Chicago International Film Festival

“The Scapegoat”
October 17th, 5:45pm
October 18th, 8:15pm
October 21st, 1:15pm

Set in 1952 as England prepares for a coronation, The Scapegoat tells the story of two very different men with the exact same face. Almost identical replicas of each other, they meet by chance in a station bar. Each is at a crossroads in his life: one setting out on a walking tour after losing his job as a teacher; the other avoiding home after a disastrous business venture.

Director Charles Sturridge and actor Matthew Rhys are scheduled to attend the October 17th and October 18th screenings.

Come back on October 18th, 2012 for a look at more upcoming festival highlights and stay tuned to HollywoodChicago.com for consistent CIFF coverage.

By MATT FAGERHOLM Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com matt@hollywoodchicago.com