FACETS' 40TH ANNUAL CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S FILM FESTIVAL, NOVEMBER 3 – 19, 2023

ChiIL Mama’s ChiIL Picks List 

FACETS ANNOUNCES TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE

FOR THE 40TH ANNUAL

CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL 

CHILDREN’S FILM FESTIVAL

 NOVEMBER 3 – 19

Tickets On Sale Today - Thursday, Sept.  21

Special Early Bird Pricing Through Thursday, Oct. 12

Use Code CICFF40EARLYBIRD15 

FACETS 40th Annual Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (CICFF), the first Academy Award qualifying international children’s film festivals in the world, announces tickets for the 40th annual festival are now on sale. The festival is presented from Friday, Nov. 3 through Sunday, Nov. 19. FACETS is pleased to offer in-person screenings as well as limited festival selections available via national streaming. The in-person screenings will take place at FACETS Cinema, Logan Center for the Arts, Music Box Theater and The Kehrein Center For The Arts with special events happening at other venues around Chicago including Chicago History Museum and AMC New City 14.  CICFF showcases films for ages 2 - 18 years old and their families. General ticket prices are $12 for in-person and virtual screening, with festival passes and FACETS’ Member discounts available. 

Tickets are on sale now, ticket buyers should visit https://cicff40.eventive.org/ to purchase tickets and see the current schedule. The site will be updated regularly as additional programming is finalized. The early bird discount rate, available by using code CICFF40EARLYBIRD15, is valid through October 12 on the festival website.

HIGHLIGHTS OF CICFF40:

CICFF40 Opening Event (Friday, Nov. 3 at 6 p.m.): CICFF40’s Red Carpet Opening at Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St. with live entertainment, a special screening of family friendly short films and reception celebrating the festival’s 40th anniversary.

“My First Movies” Event (Sunday, Nov. 5): A family friendly event at AMC New City 14, 1500 N. Clybourn Ave., geared for the youngest viewers. A screening of age-appropriate shorts for children ages 2-5 years old with special attention paid to what will make their first movie experience a delight. For an added treat, FACETS provides opportunities for hands-on play activities and live music for  sing-alongs.

Animation Celebration Event (Saturday, Nov. 11 at 10 a.m): CICFF will celebrate the best animated shorts at Chicago History Museum, 1601 N Clark St., with some new and some fan favorites, showcasing a variety of animation styles. FACETS also offers an animation workshop for budding animators and festive food offerings.

Every year FACETS’ Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (CICFF) is proud to present a diverse selection of high-quality films for children and teens from around the world. For the 2023 season, CICFF’s carefully curated selection of several virtual and in-person screenings will fall in five major age brackets:

My First Movies (Ages 2 - 5 years old)

Storytellers(Ages 6 - 8 years old)

Adventurers(Ages 8-10 years old)

Film Mavens (Ages 11-14 years old)

Cineastes (Ages 14 and older)

My First Movies (Ages 2 - 5 years old): CICFF40’s “My First Movies” program strand provides a movie going experience geared towards the youngest viewers, ages 2 - 5 years old, with attention given to high quality content that is diverse and age appropriate. FACETS is intentional in creating an environment that supports the needs and behaviors of young children. They introduce the film program and allow parents to answer questions that may arise while watching, FACETS expects that children might speak out loud sometimes and also expect giggles, belly laughs and a little surprise now and then. No need for embarrassment if children need to get up or walk out to the lobby or spend time in the activity area in the studio space next to the cinema.

Storytellers (Ages 6 - 8 years old): Content for this age group tends to focus on stories from around the world. These could be tall tales, legends from different cultures or amazing adventures that stir the imagination. The accompanying activities will be art activities that allow children to respond to what they have seen creatively and imagine what happens next.

Adventurers (Ages 8 - 10 years old): For ages 8-10, CIFF provides thoughtful films picked to engage kids in new and surprising ways, focusing on programming for curious minds that supports growth development and Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and empowering films for girls.

Film Mavens (Ages 11-14 years old): For ages 11-14 CICFFprovides programming that addresses the complexity of coming of age with sensitivity. These young people are coming into their own and the programming assumes that they are the inquisitive, thoughtful and passionate beings they are.

Cineastes (Ages 14+): From the climate crisis to LGBTQ+ rights, these films empower important conversations.

New Dimensions (Ages 18-25+): Unique and diverse films with more mature themes for young adults.

“This year marks the 40th annual FACETS’ CICFF, celebrating the past, present and future of youth cinema from around the world,” said Deidre Searcy, FACETS festival program director. “We are delighted to shine a spotlight and roll out the red carpet for the best films produced for young people ages 2 - 18 and their families. Join us for opening night at the Chicago History Museum for films and family friendly live entertainment. Be sure to check out films for the very youngest audiences at AMC New City or enjoy a celebration of animation with films and make your own animation workshop at the Chicago History Museum.

FACETS Chicago International Children’s Film Festival Mission Statement

Established in 1984, FACETS Chicago International Children’s Film Festival strives to support the work of talented and dedicated filmmakers by showcasing international films of the highest quality and awarding prizes in multiple categories of production formats and genres. The film experiences of young viewers are deepened through a broad range of programs which extend Festival film viewing into discussion and learning.

To maintain its longtime standing as one of the top children's film festivals in the world, films presented in CICFF40 will be issued awards on November 9th  by the CICFF Professional Jury, Youth Jury, and Children's Jury, including in the Academy Award Qualifying Best Animated and Best Live-Action Short Film categories. CICFF juries are composed of independent filmmakers, film industry professionals, educators, parents, and kids and teens who have graduated from FACETS Film 101 summer camp.

About FACETS 

Established in 1975, FACETS expands perspectives and affirms a shared humanity through inclusive engagement with film. FACETS' mission is to create cinematic experiences for youth and adults that foster vital conversations and community action through film exhibitions, media education, and film resources. Learn more at facets.org.

FACETS presents the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (CICFF), the first Academy Award-qualifying international children’s film festivals in the world. The 40thAnnual Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (CICFF40) will be presented November 3 - 19  at FACETS and via national online screening. Tickets are on sale now. Ticket buyers should visit https://cicff40.eventive.org/ to purchase tickets and see the current schedule. The site will be updated regularly as additional programming is finalized.The early bird discount rate, available by using code CICFF40EARLYBIRD15, is valid through October 12 on the festival website.

FACETS’ CICFF40 is supported lead sponsor WTTW; lead program sponsors City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Seabury Foundation, Kirkland and Ellis Foundation, Comer Family Foundation, Liz Stiffel, WBEZ Radio, Illinois Arts Council, A.G. Cox Charitable Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, and Stewart R. Abelson Foundation; program supporting sponsors, Allstate Foundation and Choose Chicago; and program supporter, U.S. Educational Charitable Trust.

One Day Only: Cabinet of Curiosity to present Out Loud! Out Spoken! Sunday October, 1, 2023

 

ChiIL Mama’s ChiIL Picks List Cabinet of Curiosity to present  Out Loud! Out Spoken!  Chicago’s first human-powered, bicycle-centric spectacle, Sunday, October 1, inside a heliport in Pilsen

Chicago spectacle event enterprise Cabinet of Curiosity announces Out Loud! Out Spoken!, Chicago’s first human-powered intimate spectacle, Sunday, October 1 from 3 to 6 p.m.  Out Loud! Out Spoken! will be presented at Vertiport Chicago, 1339 S. Wood St., inside a huge heliport hangar in Pilsen. Residents of Pilsen’s 60018 zip code are invited to experience Out Loud! Out Spoken! for free. $20 tickets are on sale now for the general public at cocechicago.com. This family-friendly, one-day-only civic event is happening rain or shine, so be the first to experience Cabinet’s radically new, environmentally sound and spiritually potent public ritual. You’ll witness: Poetry workshops with instructors led by Anya Zamiar and engineering workshops led by artists from the School of the Art Institute.  Chicago Printmakers Collaborative displaying their large panoramic machines while poets narrate three-to-five-minute intimate poems. Participating artists include Deb Lader, Kass Copeland and Mike Coon. Performers hand cranking giant panoramic visual stories created by local painters, set to poetry written by students from Benito Juarez High and other nearby schools. Recumbent bicycle-powered record players. Typewriter stations for guests to write personal poems. Bonus: Cabinet will even mail those poems for its guests! Artists illuminated by candlelight while operating ingenious mechanical devices. The voices of professional writers, emerging artists, and untrained poets reflecting publicly about the day’s themes of hope and endurance. The climactic moment, when artists pedal  bicycles and one arm machine to power audio amplification as poets read their works on a staircase 15 feet above the crowd.  Out Loud! Out Spoken! is devised by Cabinet of Curiosity Artistic Director Frank Maugeri, Community Liaison Brandon Boler, and members of Cabinet’s community collective and board of directors. The event embraces the company's primary mission:  Empower and pay local community members to make art and ritual. Create original interactive rituals that are meaningful and reflect the community's ambitions and needs. Encourage healthy living, comfortable exercise, confident authorship and dynamic expression Use highly engineered items to ignite the public's curiosity and serve as instruction in science, technology, engineering, art and math. Focus on the theme of Hope and stories of Redemption. Poets include Siah Berlatsky, Big Mama, Jenny Bienemann, Chelsea Bonner, Jack Dwyer, Rachel Johnson, Justus Pugh, Dion Randle, Angel Rivas, Elisabeth Seonwoo, Eddie Skinner, Vira Waegel, Kay Williams, Alexis Willis, Anya Zamiar and day of audience members. Partners for Out Loud! Out Spoken! include the Chicago Humanities Festival, Chicago Park District, Chicago Printmakers Collaborative, School of the Art Institute, Slow & Low: Chicago Low Rider Festival, Streets Calling, Skinner West Elementary School, Redline Services and Working Bikes.  “We organized these partners to design and execute a unique, human, and audience-powered spectacle, highlighting personal expression and alternative energy sources,” said Maugeri. “We are combining engineering, landscape installation, exercise, and personal and public expression to create an unforgettable civic ritual created for and by Chicagoans. Don’t miss it.” For 25 years, Maugeri was the Producing Artistic Director of Redmoon Theater, where he led celebratory events indoors and outdoors for President Obama, the City of Chicago, the Chicago Park District, multiple major museums including the Field Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Intuit Gallery, Spertus Museum, along with events in 35 wards of Chicago, three Mayors, several other cities and Europe.  After Redmoon's demise, Maugeri launched a new collective called Cabinet of Curiosity. In six years, they have cultivated new relationships with the Art West (North Lawndale), Theatre Y (North Lawndale), Sheila McNary and The Homan Square Community Center (Homan Square), ChiBuck (Englewood), Shedd Aquarium, the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago Children's Theatre, the University of Chicago, Indiana State University, the Clayco Foundation and more to design and execute transcendent, original ceremonies and rituals in unexpected and unused spaces. For more, visit cocechicago.com, or follow the company on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Tickets to Dual Showings of Mozart Immersive and Immersive Van Gogh in Chicago Are On Sale Now

ChiIL Mama’s ChiIL Picks List

Immersive Monet & The Impressionists

returns to Chicago starting Sept. 28, 2023

Immersive Monet and the Impressionists - Photo credit Mila Samokhina    Immersive Monet & The Impressionists Returning to Chicago Sept. 28 by Popular Demand Alongside Immersive Van Gogh   Two Shows under One Ticket Price  Lighthouse ArtSpace Chicago’s Paint and Sip Program Returning as Well  Mozart Immersive: The Soul of a Genius to Close Nov. 12   Lighthouse ArtSpace Chicago today announced that their hit immersive experience, Immersive Monet & The Impressionists, will be returning to their immersive gallery space starting Sept. 28. Immersive Monet, called “awe-inspiring” by CS Modern Luxury, “groundbreaking” by WBBM Newsradio and “the European vacation few can afford and nearly everyone craves” by the Houston Chronicle, will be running in conjunction with Immersive Van Gogh, which was brought back by popular demand this past May. Dual showings of Immersive Monet and Immersive Van Gogh will be available under one ticket price, in addition to dual showings of Mozart Immersive: The Soul of a Genius andImmersive Van Gogh, which will remain on-view through Nov. 12. Tickets to dual showings of Immersive Monet and Immersive Van Gogh are on sale now at immersivemonet.com. Tickets to dual showings of Mozart Immersive and Immersive Van Gogh are on sale now at mozartimmersive.com.    “As we rolled out Mozart Immersive this past March to much celebration and acclaim, we heard from many of our audience members that they absolutely loved Van Gogh and Monet and they asked when these shows might return,” said Lighthouse Immersive Producer Svetlana Dvoretsky. “So we thought it was only right to give Chicago audiences another chance to experience these wonderful immersive exhibitions.”    Lighthouse ArtSpace Chicago is also bringing back their Paint and Sip program where artists of all skill levels can create their own Impressionist (or Post-Impressionist) masterpieces under the guidance of an instructor. A free glass of wine is included. Tickets are on sale now at immersivemonet.com/paint-and-sip for the following dates:    Sunday, Sept. 17 | 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. | Immersive Van Gogh Paint and Sip  Sunday, Oct. 1 | 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. | Immersive Monet Paint and Sip  Sunday, Oct. 8 | 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. | Immersive Van Gogh Paint and Sip  Sunday, Oct. 15 | 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. | Immersive Monet Paint and Sip  Sunday, Oct. 22 | 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. | Immersive Van Gogh Paint and Sip  State-of-the-art video mapping and ground-breaking animation bring the art of the Impressionists to life like never before in Immersive Monet & The Impressionists, with 500,000 cubic feet of projections composed of over 1.2 million frames of video bringing the piece together, bathing viewers in the brushstrokes and colors of Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt and many more. In addition to Impressionism, the program also features other artists who birthed movements that nudged the art world into the 20th century, including the robust marine paintings of J.M.W. Turner and the Post-Impressionist works of Toulouse-Lautrec.   Immersive Van Gogh invites audiences to “step inside” the iconic works of post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh, evoking his highly emotional and chaotic inner consciousness through art, light, music, movement and imagination. Visitors to Immersive Van Gogh are encircled from head-to-toe in Van Gogh’s brushstrokes and colors, including animated details from works such as Self Portrait with Felt Hat (1888), The Bedroom in Arles (1889), Irises (1889) and The Starry Night (1889).    Immersive Monet & The Impressionists and Immersive Van Gogh were designed by Lighthouse Immersive’s acclaimed Italian creative team, headed by Creator Massimiliano Siccardi, with mood-setting music, both original and curated, by multimedia Composer Luca Longobardi. Vittorio Guidotti is the Art Director.    About Lighthouse Immersive Lighthouse Immersive creates, produces and distributes innovative digital immersive art experiences, aiming to cultivate community and creativity and expand the ways that people can encounter artistic expression. For more information, visit lighthouseimmersive.com.