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Tickets and VIP passes on sale NOW for the 2025 Cinema Femme Short Film Festival in Chicago from July 17 - 21!
Tickets and VIP passes on sale NOW for the 2025 Cinema Femme Short Film Festival in Chicago from July 17 - 21!
5 min read
by Rebecca Martin
December 13, 2025
Annette Elliot is a Chicago-based writer and director whose work sits at the intersection of cinema, art history, and architecture. Drawing consciously from painting, sculpture, and the built environment, her
13 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
November 17, 2025
As I sat in my favorite movie palace, the Music Box Theatre, waiting for my wife—Cinema Femme founder Rebecca Martin—to arrive for that evening’s eagerly awaited Chicago International Film Festival
7 min read
by Rebecca Martin
October 31, 2025
Italian filmmaker Carolina Cavalli has quickly emerged as one of the most original voices in contemporary cinema. Born in Milan, Cavalli made her feature debut with “Amanda” (2022), which premiered
14 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
October 25, 2025
With the 61st Chicago International Film Festival nearly in the rearview mirror, there are so many memories from the past several days that I know I will be cherishing for
7 min read
by Rebecca Martin
October 24, 2025
Set against the vivid backdrop of 1931 French-colonized Martinique, “Sugar Cane Alley” (“Rue Cases-Nègres”) stands as one of cinema’s most tender and politically charged coming-of-age stories. The film follows eleven-year-old
7 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
October 21, 2025
The Girl in the Snow One of the great discoveries I made at CIFF ten years ago was the talent of young Galatéa Bellugi. As a pregnant teen in the
10 min read
by Rebecca Martin
October 20, 2025
Mary Bronstein is a writer/director based in New York City, known for her raw style, auteurist approach, and unflinching focus on stories about complicated women. Her best-known work, the cult-classic
9 min read
by Emily Jacobson
October 31, 2024
This past year has seen a wave of female directed movies – whether it be horror, drama, or comedy – fixed upon the female body. Unsurprisingly, with the political climate
8 min read
by Peyton Robinson
October 31, 2024
I have always found that the Chicago International Film Festival is a formidable venue for riveting, empathetic tales about women and girls. Last year, “Paradise is Burning” was my favorite
8 min read
by Matt Fagerholm
October 18, 2024
Valeria Golino was 18 years old when she filmed Italian director Francesco Maselli’s “Storia d’amore,” the movie that would make her an international star. She earned the Best Actress prize
18 min read
by Rebecca Martin
August 27, 2024
“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Leo Tolstoy Today we bring back our CIFF 2023 interview from October 2023 to help promote
5 min read
by Rebecca Martin
July 1, 2024
I had the opportunity to speak with Sam Flancher, programmer of the Chicago International Film Festival, about the free summer screenings they held for the first half of the summer