Rounding out the festival were several out-of-competition, theme-centered categories including Black Perspectives, Cinema of the Americas, and Destination Greece. The largest of these themes, World Cinema (offering 42 features), proved a draw with Chicago’s large immigrant community as well as the average Joe looking for a foreign film fix. 

There was no lack of controversial offerings in the mix this year. Eric Steel’s The Bridge offered discomforting footage of 23 suicides from San Franscisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. Filmed over a one year period, his documentary raised questions with both viewers and critics about the ethics of the crew documenting these deaths without intervening.

As the festival neared its final days, Michael Kutza, founder and artistic director, announced the winners of this year’s Feature Film Competition. Iranian director Asghar Farhadi`s complex tale of middle class infidelity, Fireworks Wednesday, bested 18 other features in the main competition to win the coveted Golden Hugo Award for best feature film. The Silver Hugo Award went to Hungarian director Gyorgy Palfi's Taxidermia, a darkly comic exploration of three generations of a Hungarian family.

Other films recognized with major awards included James Longley’s Iraq in Fragments (awarded the Gold Hugo for Best Documentary), and directors James Anderson and Robert Postrozny’s Forgetting Betty (winner of the Gold Hugo in the Short Film Competition).

While unlikely to displace industry-friendly festivals as the place to hold hyped premieres, the Chicago International Film Fest is finding its niche as an exciting alternative for the average filmgoer. You can find more information about year-round events and next year’s festival on the Cinema Chicago website.