CCFF SPOTLIGHT
Meet the Critic: Erik Childress
In the Chicago Critics Film Festival’s new “Meet the Critic” series, we’re introducing our readers to some of the many talented members of our Chicago-area print, online and broadcast critics group, which celebrates the art of film and film criticism. In today’s feature, meet Erik Childress, who has been a film critic in Chicago for over 25 years.
Car Troubles and Hellish Roads in It Ends and Desert Road
Two directorial debuts at this year’s Chicago Critics Film Festival share an existential synergy in offering terrifying variations on the road trip movie.
Meet the Critic: Clint Worthington
In the Chicago Critics Film Festival’s new “Meet the Critic” series, we’re introducing our readers to some of the many talented members of our Chicago-area print, online and broadcast critics group. In today’s feature, meet Clint Worthington, the Assistant Editor at RogerEbert.com and a Senior Staff Writer for Consequence.
Meet the Critic: Collin Souter
In the Chicago Critics Film Festival’s new “Meet the Critic” series, we’re introducing our readers to some of the many talented members of our Chicago-area print, online and broadcast critics group, which celebrates the art of film and film criticism. In today’s feature, meet Collin Souter, who has been the curator and programmer of the short film programs for the Chicago Critics Film Festival since its inception in 2013.
“A Storyteller Until the Day I Die” | Shannon Triplett, Desert Road
Starring Kristine Froseth (Sharp Stick, Looking for Alaska), Desert Road is a taut and thought-provoking horror-thriller —and an uncommonly assured feature debut from writer-director Shannon Triplett. Screening Thursday, May 8, at 5:00 p.m. at the Music Box Theatre, part of closing night for the Chicago Critics Film Festival, it’s the kind of mind-expanding genre-film discovery that will leave you buzzing.
“All of Us, Together” | Dea Kulumbegashvili, April
Heightened by its haunting, sometimes spectral cinematography, by Arseni Khachaturan (Bones and All), and a brooding, minimalist soundscape, by experimental composer Matthew Herbert, Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April screens Tuesday, May 6, at 4:30 p.m., at the Music Box Theatre, as part of the Chicago Critics Film Festival.
“This Triangle of Lynchian Americana” | Elizabeth Rao, The Truck
Screening Sunday, May 4, as part of CFCA Shorts Program #2, “The Truck,” a short film by Elizabeth Rao, was inspired by the filmmaker’s experiences with power dynamics in small-town America — and by living between Missouri, Nashville, and Chicago, what she calls a “triangle of Lynchian Americana.”
“Just Be Cool” | The Authentic Devotion of Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted
In 1970, the musician’s original stage name, “Little Jerry Williams,” was no longer serving the persona he wanted to sonically step into, and so Swamp Dogg was born. In their 2025 documentary Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted (screening Monday at 4:30 p.m.), directors Isaac Gale and Ryan Olson allow his story to unfold naturally and comedically.
“America’s Dreams” | Angus MacLachlan, A Little Prayer
Screening Thursday, May 8, at 7:15 p.m., at the Music Box Theatre, as the closing-night title of this year’s Chicago Critics Film Festival, with MacLachlan and Levy in attendance for a post-film Q&A, A Little Prayer is a profoundly moving and delicately crafted drama of the human heart, brought to life with passion and and grace by a gifted ensemble cast.
“A Need to Create” | Matthew Shear, Fantasy Life
Screening Tuesday, May 6, at 7:15 p.m., at the Music Box Theatre, as part of the Chicago Critics Film Festival, Fantasy Life is an irresistible, heartfelt comedy — and an exciting feature filmmaking debut by writer-director-star Matthew Shear.
“Just Me and My Cat” | Eva Victor, Sorry, Baby
Screening Monday, May 5, at 7:00 p.m., with writer, director, and star Eva Victor in attendance, Sorry, Baby is one of the year’s most exciting feature debuts.
“Draining the Genre” | Zodiac Killer Project Is An Autopsy of True Crime Docs
Screening Wednesday, May 7, at 9:30 p.m., at the Music Box Theatre, as part of the Chicago Critics Film Festival, Zodiac Killer Project has been compared to Jafar Panahi’s This Is Not a Film, in which Panahi, under house arrest, explains the bones of the movie he’d be making at that moment had he not been prevented from doing so by the Iranian government.
Meet the Critic: Robert Kojder
In the Chicago Critics Film Festival’s new “Meet the Critic” series, we’re introducing our readers to some of the many talented members of our Chicago-area print, online and broadcast critics group, which celebrates the art of film and film criticism. In today’s feature, meet Robert Kojder, who has been covering all facets of the entertainment industry (including film, gaming, and professional wrestling) since the early 2010s.
Meet the Critic: Daniella Mazzio
In the Chicago Critics Film Festival’s new “Meet the Critic” series, we’re introducing our readers to some of the many talented members of our Chicago-area print, online and broadcast critics group, which celebrates the art of film and film criticism. In today’s feature, meet Daniella Mazzio, a recipient of this year’s CFCA / Rotten Tomatoes Emerging Critics Grant.
Meet the Critic: Robert Daniels
In the Chicago Critics Film Festival’s new “Meet the Critic” series, we’re introducing our readers to some of the many talented members of our Chicago-area print, online and broadcast critics group, which celebrates the art of film and film criticism. In today’s feature, meet Robert Daniels, an Associate Editor at RogerEbert.com.
“In the Face of Nihilism” | Alex Ullom, It Ends
Screening Sunday, May 4, at 7:00 p.m., at the Music Box Theatre, as part of the Chicago Critics Film Festival, with writer-director Alex Ullom in attendance for a post-film Q&A, It Ends is a subversive, thrillingly existential feature debut that soars on the strengths of not only its writing and direction but the performances of Phinehas Yoon, Akira Jackson, Noah Toth, and Mitchell Cole, the four breakout stars at its center.
“From Reality to Fantasy” | Embeth Davidtz, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight
A potent, moving adaptation of Alexandra Fuller’s memoir about growing up in the Rhodesian civil war, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight (screening Saturday, May 3, at 11:30 a.m. at the Music Box Theatre) follows 8-year-old Bobo, who lives on her family farm in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) at the end of the Zimbabwean War for independence.
“More Ruckus” | James Sweeney, Twinless
In Twinless, screening May 3 at the Chicago Critics Film Festival, two young men meet in a twin bereavement support group and form an unlikely friendship.
“You’ll Understand When You’re Older” | Family Secrets and Horrific Initiations in Best Wishes to All
Young people’s political awakenings are often violent and radicalizing, a concept that receives a rare horror-movie treatment in Yuta Shimotsu’s debut feature Best Wishes to All, screening Friday, May 2, at 11:59 p.m., at the Music Box Theatre, as part of the Chicago Critics Film Festival.