CHICAGO CRITICS FILM FESTIVAL Announces 2024 Rotten Tomatoes Audience Award Winners, Exponential Festival Growth

Sold-out, Chicago-made Closing Night selection GHOSTLIGHT named crowd favorite; festival marks biggest growth in ticket sales to date. The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA), the Chicago-area print, online and broadcast critics group that celebrates the art of film and film criticism, today announces the Rotten Tomatoes Audience Award winners following the 11th Chicago Critics Film Festival. Audiences selected the hometown premiere and Closing Night feature presentation GHOSTLIGHT as winner of the Rotten Tomatoes Audience Award for narrative features; the film screened to a sold-out crowd during the festival’s eleventh edition at Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre. 

The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA), the Chicago-area print, online and broadcast critics group that celebrates the art of film and film criticism, today announces the complete lineup, schedule and special guests expected for the eleventh annual Chicago Critics Film Festival, May 3-9 at the city’s historic Music Box Theatre. The festival opens with a screening of A24’s SING SING starring Oscar® nominee Colman Domingo and closes with Chicago-made Sundance Film Festival breakout GHOSTLIGHT. Additional selected films for the 2024 festival include Chicago premieres of the most anticipated films of the year, including Jane Schoenbrun’s I SAW THE TV GLOW, Chris Nash’s IN A VIOLENT NATURE and Nicole Riegel’s DANDELION.

Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) today announces their 2023 award winners. Claiming the organization’s top honor as Best Picture of the year is KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, directed by Martin Scorsese. The film also earns awards for Best Adapted Screenplay (Eric Roth & Martin Scorsese) and Best Original Score (Robbie Robertson). Also notching three honors each is OPPENHEIMER for Best Director (Christopher Nolan), Best Cinematography (Hoyte Van Hoytema) and Best Editing (Jennifer Lame); and MAY DECEMBER for Best Original Screenplay (Samy Burch) and a double win for Charles Melton (Best Supporting Actor and Most Promising Performer). Paul Giamatti is named Best Actor for THE HOLDOVERS, Emma Stone named Best Actress for POOR THINGS; Best Documentary goes to KOKOMO CITY while THE ZONE OF INTEREST is named Best Foreign Language Film.

A reliably diverse voting body, the 2023 Chicago Film Critics Awards again honor a broad list of films and creators, with a total of 35 films nominated across nineteen categories. Of note this year are three actors with double nominations for their work: Charles Melton (May December) and Teo Yoo (Past Lives) are both nominated for Best Supporting Actor as well as Most Promising Performer, while Sandra Hüller is nominated for Best Actress (Anatomy of a Fall) and Best Supporting Actress (The Zone of Interest).

As film critics, we have seen the chasm between studio heads and the artists who made them wealthy grow over the years and support any work stoppage that leads to a more artistically conducive world. The truth is that the system has been increasingly broken for years, and this dual strike seemed like an inevitable way to fix it. There are many issues at play and we encourage everyone to read this explainer from Vulture.

The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA), the Chicago-area print, online and broadcast critics group that celebrates the art of film and film criticism, today announces the Rotten Tomatoes Audience Award winners following the 10th Chicago Critics Film Festival. Audiences selected Centerpiece feature presentation PAST LIVES as winner of the Rotten Tomatoes Audience Award for narrative features; the film screened to a sold-out crowd during the festival’s tenth edition at Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre.

The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA), the Chicago-area print, online and broadcast critics group that celebrates the art of film and film criticism, announces today the first seven films selected for the 2023 Chicago Critics Film Festival. First titles include the Chicago premiere of Paul Schrader’s MASTER GARDENER and a 40th-anniversary screening of THE RIGHT STUFF on 35mm. Passes are now on sale for the event, returning May 5-11 at Chicago's historic Music Box Theatre (3733 N. Southport Ave); more information on the first selected films, plus festival passes, is available here.

The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) today announces their 2022 award winners. Claiming the organization’s top honor as Best Picture of the year is THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN, directed by Martin McDonagh. The film also earned awards for Best Actor (Colin Farrell), Best Supporting Actress (Kerry Condon) and Best Original Screenplay (Martin McDonagh). Earning the most overall honors is The Daniels’ EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, with six awards, including Best Director (Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert), Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), Best Art Direction/Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Editing and Best Use of Visual Effects. Cate Blanchett earned the Best Actress award for TÁR; Sarah Polley’s WOMEN TALKING was named Best Adapted Screenplay.

The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) today announces nominees for their top film honors of 2022; winners will be announced at the organization’s annual awards ceremony to be held in Chicago on Wednesday, December 14. Leading with a new record of 12 total nominations (over 2021 record-holder WEST SIDE STORY) is EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE; other films earning multiple nominations include Martin McDonagh’s THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN (7), Charlotte Wells’ AFTERSUN (6) and BABYLON, DECISION TO LEAVE and TÁR (5 each).

The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA), the Chicago-area print, online and broadcast critics group that celebrates the art of film and film criticism, released their roster for 2022-2023 today, announcing the acceptance of four new members. The new critics represent a a variety of film journalism in Chicago and bring their voices to one of the country’s longest-standing and most accomplished associations of writers.