‘King Richard’ wins Chicago International Film Festival Audience Award

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria and Ryuske Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car top International wins

The Chicago International Film Festival closed its 57th edition on Sunday October 24, and today announces the winners of the Audience Choice Awards in four categories: International Fiction, English-Language Film, Documentary, and Short Film. The Festival’s Audience Choice Awards are presented by Xfinity.

The Audience Choice Award for English-Language Film goes to the Festival’s Closing Night presentation, KING RICHARD, Reinaldo Marcus Green’s inspiring story of an undeterred father who raised two of the most extraordinarily gifted athletes of all time, and the Audience Choice Award for Best Documentary goes to PUNCH 9 FOR HAROLD WASHINGTON, Joe Winston’s chronicle of Chicago’s first Black mayor, which held its World Premiere at the Festival. The International Fiction winner is Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s DRIVE MY CAR, which also won the Silver Hugo Jury Prize.

The Audience Choice for Short Film is shared by Black Perspectives entry ARTISTIC by director Nina Lee, and DEATH AND THE LADY from directors Geoff Bailey and Lucy Struever, which played in the Family-Friendly Animation program.

“In a year of uncertainty for in-person events, audiences embraced the return to theatres as they awarded two films that were only available in-theater this year,” said Chicago International Film Festival Artistic Director Mimi Plauché. “Filmmakers have demonstrated their irrepressible creativity and enormous resilience making and putting their films out this year, and audiences embraced and celebrated them, whether screening at the drive-in, at the multiplex, at the art-house, or even at home virtually.”

In a live broadcast via the Festival’s YouTube page on Friday October 22, the Chicago International Film Festival announced the winners of this year’s jury competitions.

The Gold Hugo in the International Competition went to Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s beguiling, beautiful MEMORIA, while Ryuske Hamaguchi’s DRIVE MY CAR took the Silver Hugo Jury Prize; both films are their respective countries’ selections for the Academy Awards Best International Feature category. Hamaguchi’s WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY also came out a winner, picking up the Silver Q-Hugo in the Festival’s OutLook Competition. 

The Gold Hugo in the New Directors Competition went to BROTHER’S KEEPER from director Ferit Karahan, with Simón Mesa Soto’s AMPAROtaking the Silver Hugo in that category. SKÁL, from Cecille Debell and MariaTórgarõ, won the Gold Hugo in the International Documentary Competition and Sergei Loznitsa’s BABI YAR. CONTEXT took the Silver Hugo. 

The Gold Q-Hugo in the Festival’s OutLook Competition went to GREAT FREEDOM from Sebastien Miese, Austria’s official Academy Awards submission for Best International Feature. This year’s Chicago Award, presented to the director of an outstanding film in the Festival’s City & State program, went to Margaret Byrne for her documentary ANY GIVEN DAY. 

The complete list of jury honorees is as follows:

International Feature Film Competition

Gold Hugo

MEMORIA (Colombia)

Dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Silver Hugo – Jury Award

DRIVE MY CAR (Japan)

Dir. Ryusuke Hamagushi

Silver Hugo – Best Director

Peter Kerekes

107 MOTHERS (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ukraine)

Silver Hugo – Best Male Performance

Bouli Lanners

NOBODY HAS TO KNOW (France, Belgium, U.K.)

Silver Hugo – Best Female Performance

Michelle Fairley

NOBODY HAS TO KNOW (France, Belgium, U.K.)

Silver Hugo – Best Screenplay

Aleksandre Koberidze

WHAT DO WE SEE WHEN WE LOOK AT THE SKY? (Germany, Georgia)

Silver Hugo – Best Cinematography

Kasper Tuxen

THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (Norway)

Silver Plaque – Best Art Direction

Sergey Fevralev

CAPTAIN VOLKONOGOV ESCAPED (Russia, France, Estonia)

Honorable Mention

PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN (Mexico, Germany, Brazil, Qatar)

Dir. Tatiana Huezo

New Directors Competition

Gold Hugo

BROTHER’S KEEPER (Turkey, Romania)

Dir. Ferit Karahan 

Silver Hugo

AMPARO (Colombia, Sweden, Qatar)

Dir. Simón Mesa Soto 

International Documentary Competition

Gold Hugo

SKÁL (Faroe Islands, Denmark)

Dirs.: Cecilie Debell and Maria Tórgarõ

Silver Hugo

BABI YAR. CONTEXT (The Netherlands, Ukraine)

Dir: Sergei Loznitsa

OutLook Competition

Gold Q-Hugo

GREAT FREEDOM (Austria, Germany)

Dir. Sebastien Miese

Silver Q-Hugo

WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY (Japan)

Dir. Hamaguchi Ryusuke

Special Mention

PARIS, 13th DISTRICT (France)

Dir. Jacques Audiard 

Chicago Award

ANY GIVEN DAY (U.S.)

Dir. Margaret Byrne 

Honorable Mention

CLOSE TIES TO HOME COUNTRY (U.S.)

Dir. Akanksha Cruzynski 

Animated Short Film Competition

Gold Hugo

AFFAIRS OF THE ART (U.K.)

Dir. Joanna Quinn

Silver Hugo

NUEVO RICO (U.S.)

Dir. Kristian Mercado 

Documentary Short Film Competition

Gold Hugo

GREETINGS FROM MYANMAR (Norway)

Dirs. Sunniva Sundby, Andreas J. Riiser

Silver Hugo

LISTEN TO THE BEAT OF OUR IMAGES (France)

Dirs. Audrey Jean Baptiste, Maxime Jean Baptiste

Live Action Short Film Competition

Gold Hugo

SIDERAL (Brazil)

Dir. Carlos Segundo 

Silver Hugo

FILIPIÑANA (Philippines)

Dir. Rafael Manuel