French Films at the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival
This year’s festival offers a vibrant mix of in-person screenings at various Chicago venues bringing the best of global cinema. With a rich array of French and francophone films featured across multiple categories, the festival continues its tradition of celebrating the artistry and diversity of French cinema. Don’t miss this unique cinematic journey!
Minotaur
DIR. Andrey Zvyagintsev | France, Germany, Latvia
LANGUAGES Russian
GENRES Drama, Crime, Thriller
A Russian businessman’s comfortable life is thrown into chaos when he begins to suspect his wife of infidelity in this dark, sardonic moral fable. This film is France’s official entry for the 2027 Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category
A Good Little Soldier (Un bon petit soldat)
DIR. Stéphane Brizé | France
LANGUAGES French, Italian
GENRES Drama, Social Drama
In this tense drama, HR manager Carla is given an impossible directive: create a supportive, human-centered workplace while casting off the slough.
Iron Boy (Le Corset)
DIR. Louis Clichy | France, Belgium
LANGUAGES French
GENRES Animation, Coming-of-age, Drama, Family
In this dreamy ink and watercolor animation, music and romance provide escape from rigid family obligation for an imaginative child in an iron back brace.
La Gradiva
DIR. Marine Atlan | France, Italy
LANGUAGES French, Italian
GENRES Drama, Coming-of-age
A high school trip to Naples becomes the staging ground for a profound coming-of-age experience in this spellbinding, mythic portrait of teenhood.
The Diary of a Chambermaid (Le journal d’une femme de chambre)
DIR. Radu Jude | France, Romania
LANGUAGES French, Romanian
GENRES Satire, Social satire, Dark comedy
In this potent satire, a Romanian nanny working in France grows weary of her employer’s exploitation while rehearsing a play that echoes her plight.
Marie Madeleine
DIR. Gessica Généus | France, Haiti, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada
LANGUAGES French, Haitian Creole
GENRES Drama, Romance, Black Perspectives
In coastal Haiti, a fiercely independent sex worker and an evangelical preacher’s son navigate desire, Vodou roots, and rigid religious dogma.
Species (Sanguine)
DIR. Marion Le Corroller | France, Belgium
LANGUAGES French
GENRES Horror, Body horror, Comedy, Science fiction, Thriller
Cutthroat colleagues and strange skin conditions offer competing crises for medical intern Margot in this visceral body horror.
Dao
DIR. Alain Gomis | France, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau
LANGUAGES French, Manjak, Wolof, Creole Portuguese
GENRES Drama, Family drama
Parallel timelines weave together a contemporary French wedding and an ancestral funeral in Guinea-Bissau for a West African diasporic family.
Bunker
DIR. Florian Zeller | France, Spain
LANGUAGES English, Spanish
GENRES Psychological thriller, Drama
When an architect (Javier Bardem) is recruited to design a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire, his wife (Penélope Cruz) begins to question their marriage.
Ana, en passant
DIR. Fernanda Salgado | France, Brazil, Portugal
LANGUAGES French, Portuguese
GENRES Animation, Black Perspectives
Following her grandmother’s death in Paris, a young woman travels to Brazil where she encounters her exact double in this lyrical animated drama.
Burgundy
DIR. Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw | France, U.S
LANGUAGES French
GENRES Documentary, Comedy
This playful, crisp, and charming documentary captures the haute société of a French vineyard at a moment of generational change.
All of a Sudden
DIR. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi | France, Japan, Germany, Belgium
LANGUAGES French, Japanese
GENRES Drama, Psychological drama
Marie-Lou, the director of an elder care facility, is on the verge of burnout when a chance encounter sparks a deep, transcendent friendship.
It Will Happen Tonight (Succederà Questa Notte)
DIR. Nanni Moretti | France, Italy, Spain
LANGUAGES French, Italian, English
GENRES Romance, Romantic drama, Comedy
After an unforgettable meet-cute, Matteo and Greta’s paths cross over the years – but the timing is never right in this seductive tale of love and its possibilities.
Shorts 1: The Bovine Comedy
DIR. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke | France
LANGUAGES Thai
GENRES Short film, Dark Comedy
In a near future in which cattle are almost extinct, a skilled farmhand is hired to extract semen from one of the last bulls in Asia. When the bull’s owner becomes obsessed with the worker’s hands and overturns professional boundaries, the worker must decide between his dignity and his paycheck.
Shorts 2: What Do the Maknines Dream Of (À quoi rêvent les Maknines)
DIR. Sarra Ryma | France, Algeria
LANGUAGES Arabic
GENRES Short film, Drama
Two best friends spend an eventful day in an Algerian town, as they prepare for a life-changing journey. This heart-rending film perfectly captures the vibrant and dynamic environment, as well as the profound connection between the two boys.