The 51st annual Chicago International Film Festival, which runs this year from Oct. 15-29, has released it’s complete schedule, and there are several films being screened at this year’s event which have been profiled on S & A previously – most within the last few months – and that will be of particular interest to our readers.

 

The films are:

– "Adama" (France – Dir.Simon Rouby and Julien Lilti – The French animated film "set in 1916, in colonized West Africa, tells the story of a young boy named Adama, who goes in search of his brother, a rifleman with the French army during the First World War. His journey (by truck, ship, and train) takes him to Verdun, a small city in north-eastern France, and the site of a major battle during the First World War – one of the costliest battles of the war. It’s a trip into the unknown, to an entirely different world the boy knows nothing about, putting him face-to-face with the horrors of war". (Read more about it here)

– "Cuckold" (South Africa – Dir. Charles Vundla) – Tells "the story of a young professor consumed by alcoholism who is saved from self-destruction by a former schoolmate and begins a journey to save his house, marriage and his life." (Here)

– "Danny and the Human Zoo" (U.K. Dir Destiny Ekaragha) – Based on the early life of British actor/comedian Lenny Henry – a fictionalized account – as a talented teenager in the 1970s, in Dudley, England. (Here)

– The other film of interest is the world premiere of "Motley’s Law" (Denmark/U.S. Dir. Nicole Horanyi), a new documentary which follows the former beauty queen and now lawyer, Kimberley Motley, who is the only American and Western lawyer to practice law in the most dangerous place on earth, Afghanistan, defending American and foreign citizens caught up in the country’s legal, cultural and political quagmires (read more here). Next week I will be interviewing Ms. Motley about the film and her experiences in the country.

And also, as previously mentioned (here), there is the screening of the newly-restored version of Charles Burnett’s "To Sleep with Anger" which the director will be present for, with a Q and A following. He will also be on hand to receive the Chicago International Film Festival’s Career Achievement Award.

For more information about all the films being screened and other details go here.