Film News: 7 Films Announced For 2016 Chicago Critics Film Festival

Submitted by PatrickMcD on March 9, 2016 - 5:38pm

CHICAGO – The Chicago Film Critics Association (CCFA) has announced the first wave of films that will be presented at the 4th Annual Chicago Critics Film Festival (CCFF). The fest dates are May 20th to the 26th, 2016, will it will take place at the historic Music Box Theatre in Chicago.

The 2016 Chicago Critics Film Festival is scheduled for May 20 through May 26, 2016.
Photo credit: CFCA

The CCFF is the first film festival curated by film critics, and features a selection of films comprised of recent festival favorites and as-yet-undistributed works from a wide variety of filmmakers. Passes are now on sale (information below), and the following seven films are just a sampling of over 25 films that will screen during the festival.

Beauty and the Beast: Christophe Gans, the director of such films as “Brotherhood of the Wolf” and “Silent Hill,” unites two of France’s biggest stars, Vincent Cassel and Lea Seydoux, to produce this lavish live-action version of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s classic fantasy story, that has already served as the basis for two classic screen adaptations from Jean Cocteau and Walt Disney Studios.

The Blackcoat’s Daughter: Set at a prep school campus during winter break, the debut feature from writer/director Oz Perkins (son of Anthony Perkins), follows two students (Kiernan Shipka and Lucy Boynton) who have been left behind and a young woman (Emma Roberts) who has just left the hospital and is hitchhiking towards the school with a seemingly good-natured couple (James Remar and Lauren Holly).

Goat: Co-adapted (from a Brad Land memoir) by David Gordon Green and directed by documentarian Andrew Neel, this harrowing drama follows a 19-year-old boy, who, following a brutal assault, pledges the college fraternity to which his older brother belongs. As the hazing grows more ominous, he finds himself reconsidering his loyalty to both his brother and his new-found allies.

Hunt For the Wilderpeople: From Taika Waititi, the writer-director-star of “What We Do In The Shadows,” comes the comedic coming-of-age story of Ricky (Julian Dennison), an unruly orphan boy who is dropped off at a remote farm with the latest in a long string of foster parents, the cheerful Aunt Bella and the more taciturn Uncle Hec (Sam Neill).

Life, Animated: Based on the memoir by Ron Suskind, this documentary tells the story of his autistic son Owen and how they still managed to communicate with each other utilizing characters and dialogue from Disney animated films, which were the only thing that seemed to truly engage the boy.

Morris From America: A Sundance Film Festival hit, directed by Chad Hartigan (whose previous feature, “This is Martin Bonner,” was part of the first Chicago Critics Film Festival), this crowd-pleasing comedy follows the adolescent misadventures of a 13-year-old American boy (Markees Christmas) growing up in Germany while living with his father (Craig Robinson).

Trash Fire: In this super-dark comedy with horrific overtones from Richard Bates Jr., Adrien Grenier stars as an unpleasant young man who – to please his pregnant girlfriend (Angela Trimbur) and prove that he can be a reliable father figure – agrees to visit the estranged grandmother (Fionnula Flanagan) and sister (Annalynn McCord).

The Chicago Critics Film Festival will take place at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 North Southport Avenue, Chicago, from May 20th through the 26th, 2016. To purchase festival passes click here. For more information, click here.