A celebration of the depth of our local artistry and culture, the City of Lights Film Festival aims to attract Midwest filmmakers and audiences to downtown Aurora. Critically acclaimed and carefully curated films will be presented all weekend at multiple venues, letting our city shine bright.

Schedule:

November 3, 2023

6:00 PM - OPENING RECEPTION

7:30 PM - OPENING NIGHT [SCREENING]

AGUSTINA
DIRECTED BY LUCI AN A HER R ERA CASO
OPENING NIGHT
17 MINUTES- SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
Agustina is a girl with a great imagination. When she discovers that the trip to the moon that her teacher had promised her is only imaginary, she becomes devastated. A conflict develops in her country and Agustina has to find her own way to face reality.

ETHAN LIM: CAMBODIAN FUTURES
DIRECTED BY DUSTIN NAKAO-HAIDER
OPENING NIGHT
16 MINUTES- CANTONESE. ENGLISH, KHMER WITH SUBTITLES
Filmmaker Dustin Nakao-Haider follows Chicago-based chef Ethan Lim as he creates vibrant dishes inspired by the rich, complex history of Cambodia. Drawing on his family's culinary legacy of over half a century, Lim's award-winning cooking imagines how Cambodian cuisine might have evolved had the civil war not paused its growth.

A DEAD MARRIAGE
DIRECTED BY MICHALTOCZEK
OPENING NIGHT
18 minutes- POLISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
Filip is a professional dead body movie extra. On set, he meets Lucy, also an extra, playing a dead woman. While laying on top of each other during long hours, a bittersweet relationship develops in these unusual circumstances.

November 4, 2023

FEATURE FILMS

VENUE: FIRE MUSEUM
53 N BROADWAY AURORA, IL 60505

CANARY : at 4:00 pm
DIRECTED BY: DANNY O'MALLEY ALEX RIVEST.PhD
104 MINUTES - ENGLISH
Witness the extraordinary lIfe of Dr. Lonnie Thompson, an explorer who went where no scientist had gone before and transformed our idea of what is possible. Daring to seek Earth's history contained in glaciers atop the tallest mountains in the world, Lonnie found himself on the frontlines of climate change—his life's work evolving into a salvage mission to recover these priceless historical records before they disappear forever.

THEGULLSPANG MIRACLE : at 6:30 pm
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY MARIA FREDRIKSSON
109 MINUTES - SWEDISH, DANISH, NORWEGIAN (WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES)
A seemingly divine premonition leads Norwegian sisters Kari and May to buy an apartment in the small Swedish town of Gullspang. To their surprise, the seller looks surprisingly similar to their older sister Astrid, who committed suicide thirty years earlier. What's even more odd is that this doppelganger used to go by "Lita," the same nickname as their deceased sister.

BIKE VESSEL : at 2:00 pm
DIRECTED BY ERIC SEALS
91 MINUTES - ENGLISH
Pulled pork, ribs,and hverwurst sandwiches — these are a few of the Southern delicacies filmmaker Eric D. Seals grew up eating alongside his father, Don-nie Seals, Sr. But after facing death and undergoing the first of three quadruple bypass operations, the elder Seals decided to completely overhaul his life. Bike Vessel chronicles Donnie's new chapter after becoming an avid cyclist, and follows the two men as they set out on an epic bike ride from St. Louis to
Chicago.

VENUE: PARAMOUNT SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
MCKEE STUDIO 20 SSTOLP AVENUE AURORA, IL 60505

ROUNDING : at 2:15 pm
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ALEX THOMPSON
90 minutes - English
After treating an older patient near the end of her life and collapsing, resident doctor James Hayman (Namir Smallwood) transfers to a rural hospital in Greenville for the second year of his residency for a fresh start Having trouble connecting with patients, his superior Dr. Harrison (Michael Potts) urges him to be more personable and take a "Bedside Technique" class. When James becomes consumed with the case of young asthma patient Helen Adso (Sidney Flanigan), demons from his past begin haunting him and make him question the intentions of Helen's mother (Rebecca Spense). As an injured ankle flares up and James is confronted with hospital bureaucracy, his nightmares magnify his anxiety and his reality starts to unravel.

THE OLD OAK : at 7:00 pm
DIRECTED BY KEN LOACH
113 MINUTES - ENGLISH
The Old Oak is the last pub standing in a once thriving mining village in northern England,a gathering space for a community that has fallen on hard times. There is growing anger, resentment, and a lack of hope among the residents, but the pub and its proprietor TJ are a fond presence to their customers. When a group of Syrian refugees move into the floundering village, a decisive rift fueled by prejudices develops between the community and its newest inhabitants. The formation of an unexpected friendship between TJ and a young Syrian woman named Yara opens up new possibilities for the divided village in this deeply moving drama about loss, fear, and the difficulty of finding
hope.

TOTEM : at 4:30 PM
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY LILA AVILES
A SIDESHOW AND JANUS FILMS RELEASE
95 minutes - Spanish WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
In the enormously poignant follow-up to her international breakthrough, The Chambermaid (aselection of ND/NF 2019), director Lila Aviles nestles in with one family over the course of a single, meaningful day. Totem is told largely from the perspective of 7-year-old Sol (the marvelous-ly naturalistic Naima Senties), as her mother (Montserrat Maranon) and extended relatives prepare for the birthday party of the girl's father (Mateo Garcia). As the hours wear on, building to an event both anticipated and dreaded, the fragile bonds and unsure future of the family become ever clearer. Aviles confirms her formidable skill at expressing the subtlest contours of her characters' inner lives in this emotionally expansive and affecting drama.

VENUE: WAUBONSEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
18 S. RIVER STREET AURORA, IL 60506

SHORT BLOCK #1 : at 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM
75 MINUTES

BALL PEOPLE
DIRECTED BY SCOTT LAZER
SHORT BLOCK #1
13 MINUTES - ENGLISH
Each year, hundreds of people apply to join the Ball Crew at the US Open tennis tournament. Through a surprisingly rigorous tryout process, only a few dozen are ultimately selected.

ECO-HACK!
DIRECTED BY BRETT MARTY JOSHUA IZENBERG
SHORT BLOCK # 1
17 MINUTES - ENGLISH
Due to increased human activity, desert biologist Tim Shields has been watching the tortoise population of the Mojave desert decline since the 1990s. Rather than continue to sit back and let nature take its course, Shields combats the depressing nature of conservation biology by accessing its antithesis, modern engineering. Through the usage of specialized drones, desert rovers, laser cannons and fake exploding tortoise shells, Shields and his colleagues take what control they can over the ecological levers in play to save the tortoise population. Akin to a cathedral builder laying bricks. Shields may never get to see the true effects of his work, but he does not let that deter him in his endeavors.

HONEYBUN
DIRECTED BY ALEX TAMMARU
SHORT BLOCK #1
9 MINUTES - ENGLISH
Late one night at a local diner Jamie meets up with her brother and fellow hitman-for-hire, Oliver to discuss the recent murder of their father. This neo-noir pairs life and death stakes with the tension of an estranged family's reunion for a truly gripping standoff.

THE OLD YOUNG CROW
DIRECTED BY LIAM LOPINTO
SHORT BLOCK #1
12 MINUTES - JAPANESE, FARSI WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
Mehrdad, now an elderly man, reflects on childhood in Tokyo after his mother's passing. Navigating an old sketchbook, Mehrdad tells the tale of his encounter with an elderly Japanese woman named Chiyo at the graveyard near his old school.

SHORT BLOCK #2 : at 5:00 PM
75 MINUTES

DAUGHTER OF THE SEA
DIRECTED BY ALEXIS GARCIA
SHORT BLOCK #2
19 MINUTES - SPANISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
An ominous vision leads to bad news for Yanise and her family when she receives word of her grandfather's passing. Unable to return to Puerto Rico immediately, Yanise arrives three months later and is welcomed by her mom, grandmother, and cousins. At breakfast.Yanise describes a recurringdream of being held in the ocean. Her grandmother recognizes it as a calling from Yemaya and shares a ritual that leads to a spiritual awakening and ultimately, a salve for Yanise's grief.

DECIDING VOTE
DIRECTED BY JEREMY WORKMAN,ROBERT LYONS        |
SHORT BLOCK #2
19 MINUTES ENGLISH
Over 50 years ago, New York State Assemblyman George Michaels cast a single vote that changed the course of American history but destroyed his political career in the process. For the first time, Deciding Vote shares the now-forgotten story of how Michaels defied his conservative and religious constituents by casting the critical tie-breaking vote on a bill which legalized abortion in the state of Mew York, laying the groundwork for Roe v Wade. The film is a moving tribute to this lost act of political courage.

MIDWASTELAND
DIRECTED BY TAYLOR YOUNG,GRACE BALES
SHORT BLOCK #2
8 minutes English
Three young mutants discover a vat of radioactive waste in the ruins of the Midwest and decide to sell it as a new beauty product in the nearby town of Overpass. But when their fresh new product draws too much attention from the grotesque locals, chaos ensues.

PICKLE
DIRECTED BY AMY NICHOLSON
SHORT BLOCK #2
12 MINUTES - ENGLISH
A couple recounts the various animals they have adopted as pets over the course of their marriage, including a paraplegic possum and a fish that couldn't swim. Pickle explores the human capacity to care for all creatures throughout their sometimes greatly protracted lives until their occasionally sudden and unfortunate deaths.

UNDERPAINT
DIRECTED BY ANNA HOPKINS
SHORT BLOCK #2
14 MINUTES - ENGUSH
Underpaint follows the filmmaker, Anna Hopkins, as she wanders through an art gallery. Noticing a young girl on a gallery visit with her dad, Anna embarks on a journey through memories and conversations she had with her own father, Tom Hopkins, a painter himself. She explores personal reflections on her father's death, his world-views, his art practice, and his impact on her life.

The all-access pass includes:
-  Admission to opening night (Friday, November 3rd, 6:00 pm)
-  Red carpet ceremony
-  Live music from Luxure Trio
-  Hors d'oeuvres
-  Block of short films
-  In-depth Q &A session with participating filmmakers
-  Access to films of your choice on Saturday, November 4th at three separate venues (Waubonsee Community College, Paramount School of Performing Arts, and Aurora Regional Fire Museum)

Buy Tickets.

Date: November 3-4, 2023

Time:
November 3, 2023 from 6:00pm to 9:00pm
November 4, 2023 from 2:00pm to 9:00pm

Venue: Various Location in Downtown Aurora

Click Here For More Information.