57th Chicago International Film Festival

Heading the Spanish selection, films by Pedro Almodóvar, Macarena Astorga, Icíar Bollaín, and Neus Ballús participate in this year’s edition of the “Chicago International Film Festival,” which takes place October 13th to 24th and combines online and in-theater screenings.

The Chicago International Film Festival started in 1964 by filmmaker and graphic artist Michael Kutza to provide an alternative to the commercial Hollywood movies that dominated the city’s theaters. Seeking out the best in international cinema, the Festival has opened windows to a world of film previously or otherwise unavailable in Chicago.

In addition, at more than half of the screenings each year, filmgoers have the rare chance to meet directors, producers, writers and cast members who introduce their films and hold discussion sessions after the screenings.

Spanish films at the 2021 Chicago International Film Festival

Parallel Mothers

• In-theater screening on Friday, October 15 at 6 pm. Sold out.
• Directed by Pedro Almodóvar, Spain, 2021, 120 minutes. Original title: Madres paralelas.
• In Spanish with English subtitles. Watch trailer.

Two women coincide in a hospital room where they are going to give birth. Both are single and became pregnant by accident. Janis (Penélope Cruz), middle aged, is exultant. Ana (Milena Smit), an adolescent, is scared, repentant and traumatized. The few words they exchange in these hours will create a very close link between the two, which by chance develops and complicates, and changes their lives in a decisive way.

Maixabel

• Online screening available October 14-24 in the Midwestern United States. Buy tickets.
• In-theater screening on Friday, October 15 at 8:15 pm. Buy tickets.
• In theater screening on Tuesday, October 19 at 3 pm. Buy tickets.
• Directed by Icíar Bollaín, Spain, 2021, 115 minutes.
• In Spanish with English subtitles. Watch trailer.

Acclaimed filmmaker Icíar Bollaín (Take My Eyes) returns with the inspiring true story of a politician’s widow who, in the face of unspeakable violence, takes a brave step toward forgiveness and healing. Eleven years after Maixabel Lasa’s husband was killed by the Basque terrorist group ETA, she receives a shocking
request: one of the men responsible for his death wants to meet with Maixabel in the prison where he is serving his sentence.

The Odd-Job Men

• Online screening available October 14-24 in the Midwestern United States. Buy tickets.
• In-theater screening on Monday, October 18 at 3:15 pm. Buy tickets.
• In-theater screening on Friday, October 22 at 6 pm. Buy tickets.
• Directed by Neus Ballús, Spain, 2021, 85 minutes. Original Title: Sis dies corrents.
• In Berber, Catalan, Spanish with English subtitles. Watch trailer.

A trio of real-life plumbers play three handymen who spend six comically tense days in one another’s company. With long-term crony Pep’s impending retirement, bullheaded Valero is assigned a new partner, and Moroccan immigrant Moha, is determined to make a good impression. As the group travels to service calls along the outskirts of Barcelona, Valero can’t help but be put off by Moha — but is it his ethnicity or his easy rapport with the clients that bothers Valero more?

The House of Snails

• Online screening available October 14-24 in the Midwestern United States. Buy tickets.
• In-theater screening on Saturday, October 23 at 9 pm. Buy tickets.
• Directed by Macarena Astorga, Spain / Peru / Mexico, 2021, 104 minutes. Original Title: La Casa de Caracol.
• In Spanish with English subtitles. Watch trailer.

In this original take on the werewolf tale, novelist Antonio Prieto (Javier Rey) arrives at a remote mountain town in Southern Spain hoping to find peace and quiet to work on his next novel. Once there, he meets and falls for the alluring Berta (Paz Vega) and encounters an array of other eccentric citizens who find their way into his manuscript. But local color soon turns menacing when Antonio realizes the town is harboring a dark and terrifying secret, forcing him to question where reality ends and fiction begins.