Opening October 5, closing October 19.

http://www.chicagofilmfestival.org

Anyone here going?

I already bought and emptied my 8-movie pass. I opt for a few directors I know and stay away from stuff that I know will show up in theaters later.

These are programs I am attending so far:

Invisible Waves — Thailand (shot by Christopher Doyle)

Shorts Program 1: Homegrown — USA

Time — South Korea (Kim Ki-duk directing)

Syndromes and a Century — Thailand (Apichatpong Weerasethakul directing)

The Zero Years — Greece

Belle Toujours — Portugal (Manoel de Oliveira directing!)

Paris, Je T'aime — France (Olivier Assayas, Fr้d้ric Auburtin, Emmanuel Benbihy, et al. directing; featuring Juliette Binoche, Steve Buscemi, Willem Dafoe, Gerard Depardieu, Marianne Faithfull, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Nick Nolte, Natalie Portman, Miranda Richardson, Gena Rowlands, Elijah Wood...)

Shorts Program 2: Animation Nation — Various countries

I'm going for sure. I just have to decide what I'm going to see. There are so many good choices.

I'm seeing BELLE TOUJOURS this Thursday at the New York Film Festival - it looks terrific, and hopefully I'll have a chance to re-watch my DVD of Belle De Jour in advance.

I'll be there. I'm mostly checking out things that I would have seen anyway, (just much sooner I guess) Rennaisance, Severance, and Triad Election are my highlights, but I have tickets for a few other films as well.

Well, a rather lame start to the festival this year.

Had a ticket for Invisible Waves Friday night. Got in line a half hour before the screening time as usual. Then they didn't start seating until a few minutes after the movie was supposed to start. THEN, sat in the theater for another 20 minutes. AND THEN, the audience was finally told that they DID NOT HAVE THE PRINT and will be showing the screener version which features the time code.

As this is a film shot by Christopher Doyle (In the Mood for Love, Rabbit-Proof Fence) the screener copy looked like shit and was utterly unwatchable. Ended up getting a voucher for another screening, hoping that they would eventually get the print by next Wednesday. Ultimately, all the screenings of Invisible Waves were canceled.

I was just pissed that they could have mentioned they didn't have the print at 7:30, 30 minutes before the screening, rather than herd everyone in late and wait until 8:30 to break the news. If they didn't have the print at 7:30 I'm confident they wouldn't have it an hour later on a Friday night.

Here's hoping today is a better day. Got a shorts program and Kim ki-duk.

let us know how the new Kim ki-duk film is?

Any post-weekend updates? There were quite a few things I wanted to see, but cannot/could not make it.

I plan to write my take on what I've seen so far but have not had the time.

In short:

Local shorts program: very average

Time (Kim Ki-Duk): Very enjoyable if fleeting.

Syndromes and a Century (Apichatpong Weerasethakul): Excellent, beautiful work; maybe my favorite from this Thai director (who studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago).

Off to see The Zero Years (Greece) tonight.