| Chicago Film Festival 2006 Jurors: Betsy Blair, Xavier Koller, Marina Stavenhagen, John Russell Taylor, Jean-Jacques Varret, Reiner Veit |
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| Golden Hugo: | Fireworks Wednesday, Iran, dir. Asghar Farhadi |
| Special Jury Prize: | Days of Glory (Indigènes), France/Algeria, dir. Rachid Bouchareb |
| Best Director: | Taxidermia, Hungary, dir. György Pálfi |
| Best Actress: | The Spot, Darya Moroz, Victoria Isakova, and Anna Ukolova |
| Best Actor: | The Free Will, Jürgen Vogel |
| DocuFest Competition*: | Iraq in Fragments, USA/Iraq, dir. James Longley |
| New Directors Competition*: | Day Night Day Night, USA, dir. Julia Loktev |
| Audience Choice Award**: | Days of Glory (Indigènes), France/Algeria, dir. Rachid Bouchareb The Queen, UK, dir. Stephen Frears Vitus, Switzerland, dir. Fredi M. Murer |
| * These two awards are determined by separately constituted juries | |
| ** Voted by the public, and announced later than the other awards | |
Films I Saw at CIFF:Leaving aside competition films I saw elsewhere, and usually later
Ranked in order of preference
My Golden Hugo
Syndromes and a Century A– (Thailand, dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul) - Apichatpong's fascination with repetition and with jungle/office contrasts may wear thin, but here it remains clever, insinuating, special
Summer Palace C+ (China, dir. Lou Ye) - Enticed to the movie by its reputation for infuriating Chinese government, I had hoped for something less sludgy; still, it's worth a look
Why Not More?
A newly arrived naïf in the Windy City, I didn't know about the festival until it had all but played itself out.
Films from the Main Competition:
Listed alphabetically • Most graded titles seen subsequently to CIFF
12:08 East of Bucharest B+ (Romania, dir. Corneliu Porumboiu)
Aviva My Love (Israel, dir. Shemi Zarhin)
Chronicle of an Escape (Argentina, dir. Adrián Caetano)
Climates (Turkey, dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan)
The Collector (Poland, dir. Feliks Falk)
Darkbluealmostblack (Spain, dir. Daniel Sánchez Arévalo)
Days of Glory (Indigènes) B (France/Algeria, dir. Rachid Bouchareb)
The Family Friend (Italy, dir. Paolo Sorrentino)
Fireworks Wednesday (Iran, dir. Asghar Farhadi)
The Free Will (Germany, dir. Matthias Glasner)
Invisible Waves (Thailand, dir. Pen-ek Ratanaruang)
Renaissance (France, dir. Christian Volckman)
Requiem B+ (Germany, dir. Hans-Christian Schmid)
A Soap (Sweden/Denmark, dir. Pernille Fischer Christensen)
The Spot (Russia, dir. Yuriy Moroz)
Suburban Mayhem (Australia, dir. Paul Goldman)
Syndromes and a Century A– (Thailand, dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Taxidermia (Hungary, dir. György Pálfi)
Time (South Korea, dir. Kim Ki-duk)
The Zero Years (Greece, dir. Nikos Nikolaidis)
Films from the New Directors Competition:
Listed alphabetically • Graded titles reviewed above
Day Night Day Night A– (USA, dir. Julia Loktev)
Dirt Nap (USA, dirs. Mark Estep & Kurt Reid)
God Willing (Sweden, dirs. Amir Chamdin & Erik Eger)
Host & Guest (South Korea, dir. Shin Dong-Il)
The Italian (Russia, dir. Andrey Kravchuk)
Just Sex and Nothing Else (Hungary, dir. Krisztina Goda)
Madeinusa (Peru, dir. Claudia Llosa)
Midnight My Love (Thailand, dir. Kongdej Jaturanrasamee)
Ode to Joy (Poland, dirs. Anna Kazejak-Dawid, Jan Komasa & Maciej Migas)
Steel City (USA, dir. Brian Jun)
Taking Father Home (China, dir. Ying Liang)
Thicker Than Water (Iceland, dir. Árni Ásgeirsson)
The Unforgiven (South Korea, dir. Yun Jong-bin)
The Violin (Mexico, dir. Francisco Vargas)
Yacoubian Building (Egypt, dir. Marwan Hamed)
Opening, Centerpiece, and Closing films are Stranger Than Fiction (USA, Forster), Babel (Mexico/USA, González Iñárritu), and Venus (UK, Michell), respectively
Special and Gala Presentations include Candy (Australia, Armfield), Chicago (USA, Urson), The Fountain (USA, Aronofsky), A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (USA, Montiel), Jasmine Women (China, Hou), Paris, je t'aime (France, Misc.), The Queen (UK, Frears), Shortbus (USA, Mitchell), and Shut Up & Sing (USA, Kopple & Peck)
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