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NAME:
Helen Gramates
TITLE / ROLE:
Programming Director,
Chicago International Film Festival
WEBSITE:
www.chicagofilmfestival.org
CREDITS:
Facets
Women in the Director's Chair
LIVES:
Andersenville, Chicago
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The Chicago International Film Festival kicks off its 40 Year Anniversary this week with the Bill Condon-directed "Kinzie" and closes weeks later with a screening and special presentation of "Polar Express"” with Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis showing up for an in-person appearance. In between, there are hundreds of films, including a jaw-dropping variety of nations, styles and subject matter from critically acclaimed directorial heavyweights to lesser known gems from far reaches of the world.
We spoke with Chicago International Film Festival programming Director Helen Gramates about running the city's biggest, most prestigious film culture event and what the festival competition looks like this year.
As Director of Programming, how would you describe the full scope of your role at the Festival?
I oversee the selection committee working with the festival director for the feature films. That entails taking care of the screenings of the entries and making sure the selection committee sees those films as well. I go to all the festivals and take a look at a lot of films – also researching and keeping abreast of the newest films and inviting films to submit. Also, I do the overall schedule for all the films, the placement, work with all of the print traffic, making sure the prints are here when they're supposed to be for their public screenings.
What are you looking forward to most in this year's fest?
Well, I get asked that a lot, but for me it's the overall program that I'm excited to present. It's a great joy to see which films get the greatest reactions from audiences. Of course we know which films are going to draw a big audience: the special presentations, the films that are going to have stars in attendance, the films that are really hyped and critically acclaimed. But it's the smaller films, maybe from a country that is not so known for its filmmaking or a story that you think might not be so glamorous or appealing. When an audience finds those films and those filmmakers - that's what I find most exciting about the festival.
How is this year's competition shaping up?
Well, I think we have good representation of filmmakers that have been with us before. They've been previous award-winners that are coming back to present once again. For instance, the Argentine film "Rolling Family" by Pablo Treparo, it won our New Director's Award and he’s now in our international competition. The two Iranian films, "Turtles Can Fly" and "Stray Dogs" both have directors who won awards with their first films. David Gordon Green also had his very first film "George Washington" in our New Director's competition and now he's back with "Undertow."
We also have representation from established directors, like the Senegalese director Ousmane. Or Chantal Ackerman from France. The Turkish director Zeki Demirkubuz. Kore-ada Hirokazu from Japan. We have new directors as well, who are new to the competition. We try to find a wide variety of films from those groups for our jury, and just because those films might come from an established director doesn't mean they're going to get any kind of preference over a film from a first time director.
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009: Helen Gramates
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