Rotten Tomatoes and the Chicago Critics Film festival are delighted to announce the winner of the Rotten Tomatoes Audience Award, Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby! The film will have a limited release with A24 on June 27, 2025. You won’t want to miss it!
Rotten Tomatoes is proud to once again sponsor the Audience Award at the Chicago Critics Film Festival for another year. CCFF is the only festival in the country that’s programmed entirely by critics!
Below, you can submit your Audience Reviews for films at the festival and cast your vote for the festival’s Audience Award.
Please submit your Audience Award ballots in-person at the Music Box immediately following each screening! Only new feature-length releases are eligible for the Audience Award (shorts, restorations, and anniversary films are not eligible).
THE BALTIMORONS – 7:00pm (99 mins)
Director: Jay Duplass
After cracking a tooth on Christmas Eve, newly sober Cliff (Michael Strassner) embarks on an unexpected May/December adventure through Baltimore with Didi (Liz Larsen), his emergency dentist.
Special Appearance and Q&A with Director Jay Duplass and stars Michael Strassner and Liz Larsen
LURKER – 9:45pm (100 minutes)
Director: Alex Russell
When a twenty-something retail clerk encounters a rising pop star, he takes the opportunity to edge his way into the in-crowd. But as the line between friend and fan blurs beyond recognition, access and proximity become a matter of life and death. The directorial debut from The Bear and Beef writer-producer Alex Russell, LURKER is an exhilarating cat-and-mouse thriller made for the moment. Online fixation meets reality in this parasocial, paranoid film driven by a brilliant score and star-making performances.
BEST WISHES TO ALL – 11:59pm (89 minutes)
Director: Yûta Shimotsu
A young woman’s visit to her grandparents’ home leads to the discovery of what’s brought them happiness, a revelation that will lead her to question her choices, sanity and reality itself.
DON’T LET’S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT – 11:30am (98 minutes)
Director: Embeth Davidtz
The Fabulous Fleischer Cartoons Restored project is one dedicated to gathering and restoring as many of the 700-odd animated shorts produced by Max Fleischer at the studio bearing his name between 1919-1942. We are honored to be showing seven of these restorations, including appearances by such favorite characters as Betty Boop, Popeye, Koko the Clown and Superman. These shorts serve as an eye-popping and side-splitting representation of the works of one of the mostly unsung pioneers of animation that will delight and astound viewers of all ages.
SHORTS PROGRAM #1 – 1:45pm (88 minutes)
Special appearance and Q&A with Directors Joe Hunting, Chase Johnson, Carlos Lerma, and Philip Thompson
BROTHER VERSES BROTHER – 4:15pm (91 minutes)
Director: Ari Gold
Inspired by Francis Coppola’s concept of Live Cinema, Brother Verses Brother is a radically personal musical odyssey. Combative twin musicians hunt for their dying poet father, in an improvisation performed by the director’s own family, in a single unbroken shot through the streets of San Francisco. One brother seeks love and excitement, while the other seeks to disappear into his music. But as night falls and their father remains missing, their frantic safari leads them from the secret haunts of the Beat poets into the heart of their family. Their tale becomes a testament to the power of music, brotherhood, & the lifeblood of a city – experienced by the viewer in real-time.
TWINLESS – 6:30pm (100 minutes)
Director: James Sweeney
In Twinless, two young men meet in a twin bereavement support group and form an unlikely friendship. Roman (Dylan O’Brien) and Dennis (James Sweeney) both search for solace and an identity without their other halves and soon become inseparable outside the group.
STRANGE DAYS (30th Anniversary in 35mm)– 9:00pm (145 minutes)
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Set in Los Angeles on the last days of 1999 Lenny Nero, a former cop, deals in illegal “squid” recordings – virtual reality-like experiences of others’ memories – and becomes entangled in a murder investigation when he receives a disc showing a crime.
MR. K – 11:59pm (94 minutes)
Director: Tallulah Hazekamp Schwab
Mr. K (Crispin Glover), a traveling magician, finds himself in a Kafkaesque nightmare when he can’t find the exit of his hotel. His attempts to get out only pull him deeper, entangling him further with the hotel and its curious inhabitants.
THE GREAT DICTATOR (85th anniversary in 35mm) – 11:30am (125 minutes)
Director: Charles Chaplin
In his controversial masterpiece Charlie Chaplin offers both a cutting caricature of Adolf Hitler and a sly tweaking of his own comic persona. Chaplin, in his first pure talkie, brings his sublime physicality to two roles: the cruel yet clownish “Tomainian” dictator and the kindly Jewish barber who is mistaken for him. Featuring Jack Oakie and Paulette Goddard in stellar supporting turns, The Great Dictator, boldly going after the fascist leader before the U.S.’s official entry into World War II, is an audacious amalgam of politics and slapstick that culminates in Chaplin’s famously impassioned speech.
SHORTS PROGRAM #2 – 2:15pm (88 minutes)
Special appearance and Q&A with Directors Bri Klaproth, Niamh O’Neill Culhane, Jon Walkup and Elizabeth Rao
FRIENDSHIP – 4:30pm (100 minutes)
Director: Andrew DeYoung
Suburban dad Craig falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor, but Craig’s attempts to make an adult male friend threaten to ruin both of their lives.
IT ENDS – 7:00pm (87 minutes)
Director: Alex Ullom
A group of recent grads head out on a late-night drive for grub, hoping to enjoy one final hangout before their paths diverge. Instead, they accidentally turn onto a never-ending, two-lane hellscape surrounded by untold horrors and cosmic forces beyond their understanding. Cramped together inside a Jeep Cherokee and with the miles stretching infinitely ahead, they face a choice: embrace their new existence or fight to escape it.
Special Appearance and Q&A with Alexander Ullom
40 ACRES – 09:30pm (113 minutes)
Director: R.T. Thorne
After a series of plagues and wars leaves society in ruins, the Freemans are surviving — even thriving — on a farm in the middle of nowhere… so long as they repel the occasional raiding party. Former soldier Hailey (Danielle Deadwyler) and her partner Galen (Michael Greyeyes) fled the collapse along with their children, training them to fight (and, yes, kill). But now Hailey’s eldest Emanuel (Kataem O’Connor) is a young man, and when he meets a young woman (Milcania Diaz-Rojas) in the forest beyond the fence, his need for human contact could place the whole family in jeopardy.
SWAMP DOGG GETS HIS POOL PAINTED – 4:30pm (95 minutes)
Director: Isaac Gale, Ryan Olsen & David McMurry
SWAMP DOGG GETS HIS POOL PAINTED is a wildly entertaining and fittingly unconventional documentary about convention-defying singer, songwriter and record producer Jerry Williams, aka Swamp Dogg, one of the great cult figures of 20th-century American music whose singular voice and ideas have shaped the history not merely of soul music, but of country, hip-hop and a dozen other genres.
SORRY, BABY – 7:00pm (100 minutes)
Director: Eva Victor
Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on – for everyone around her, at least.
Special Appearance and Q&A with Director Eva Victor
SISTER MIDNIGHT – 9:45pm (107 minutes)
Director: Karan Kandhari
In SISTER MIDNIGHT, the audacious debut feature from London based Indian artist and filmmaker Karan Kandhari, rebellious small-town misfit Uma (acclaimed Indian actress Radhika Apte) arrives in Mumbai to find herself totally unsuited to life as a housewife. At odds with her prying neighbors and under the constant oppressive noise and heat of the city, she decides to break free from the shackles of domesticity and follow her own path in this bold, unpredictable, and darkly funny debut. Featuring an eclectic soundtrack (Interpol frontman Paul Banks makes his debut as composer) and singular visual aesthetic, the film world-premiered in Cannes’ Directors Fortnight and won the award for Best Film in the Next Wave section at Fantastic Fest.
APRIL – 4:30pm (134 minutes)
Director: Dea Kulumbegashvili
Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, acclaimed director Dea Kulumbegashvili (Beginning) returns with her latest boundary pushing work, April. Skilled obstetrician Nina is accused of malpractice when a baby dies during delivery. The ensuing investigation threatens to expose Nina’s illegal sideline: offering abortions to local women. Nina remains fiercely committed to her patients, but she must walk a razor’s edge in order to survive as a pariah in a world which desperately needs her. Set against the backdrop of the starkly beautiful Georgian countryside, Kulumbegashvili’s prescient sophomore employs a mesmerizing visual and sonic language to create an immersive experience about the resilience of the human will.
FANTASY LIFE – 7:15pm (91 minutes)
Director: Matthew Shear
After losing his job as a paralegal, Sam Stein suffers a panic attack and stumbles into a job babysitting his psychiatrist’s three granddaughters. The girls’ mother, Dianne, is an actor whose once-promising career has stalled; she’s in a difficult marriage to David, a rock bassist. When David goes abroad on tour, Dianne and Sam discover an easy rapport as well as a shared history of mental illness. Sam joins Dianne’s family to babysit for the summer on Martha’s Vineyard, and he ends up in a house with the woman he pines for, her husband, the three kids, and all four grandparents, including his psychiatrist.
Special Appearance and Q&A with Director Matthew Shear
OBEX – 9:45pm (90 minutes)
Director: Albert Birney
In pre-internet 1987, Conor and his dog Sandy live a life of seclusion, lost in the slow-rendering graphics of early Macs and televisions aglow with late night horror movie marathons. But when he begins playing OBEX, a new and mysterious, state-of-the-art computer game, he finds himself trapped in a low-tech, but high-stakes analog hellscape as the line between reality and game blurs.
HAPPYEND – 4:30pm (113 minutes)
Director: Neo Sora
With graduation looming in near future Tokyo, two high school friends must reevaluate their friendship after pulling a consequential classroom prank. Coupled with the daily threat of a catastrophic earthquake, the friends are forced to reckon with their opposing visions of the future.
FAMILIAR TOUCH – 7:00pm (90 minutes)
Director: Sarah Friedland
Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant), a retired cook, prepares breakfast in her sunny and cozy kitchen — a dish she seems to have made many times before, although small and puzzling errors now punctuate her comfortable routine. When her son (H. Jon Benjamin) arrives to dine with her, she mistakes him for a suitor. Their “date” takes them to an assisted living facility, which Ruth does not remember that she had previously selected for herself. Among her fellow memory care residents, Ruth feels lost and adrift, certain she has found herself somewhere she does not belong. As she slowly begins to accept the warmth and support of care workers Vanessa (Carolyn Michelle) and Brian (Andy McQueen), she finds new ways to ground herself in her body, even as her mind embarks on a journey all its own. Writer-director Sarah Friedland’s coming-of-old-age feature compassionately follows the winding path of octogenarian Ruth’s shifting memories and desires while remaining rooted in her sage perspective.
Special Appearance and Q&A with Director Sarah Friedland and star Kathleen Chalfant
ZODIAC KILLER PROJECT – 9:30pm (91 minutes)
Director: Charlie Shackleton
The true crime genre’s ubiquity is driven by people’s endless fascination, disgust, and — bizarrely — search for comfort in genre conventions that still have the ability to generate complex emotions despite their predictability and familiarity. Having tried and failed to make a documentary about the infamous Zodiac Killer, filmmaker Charlie Shackleton walks the viewer through what his film would have been like and why, using Bay Area landscapes, reenactments, film and TV clips, and voice-over. In this wholly original, self-aware cinematic work, a filmmaker chews over what might have been and playfully probes the inner workings of a genre at saturation point.
DESERT ROAD – 5:00pm (90 minutes)
Director: Shannon Triplett
A young woman driving through the desert stops at a gas station to fill her tank. After getting back on the road, she blows a tire and her car gets stuck on a boulder. Suffering a head injury, she stumbles back to the gas station, but after getting creeped out by the attendant she looks elsewhere for help. She passes an eerie factory where there’s no sign of anyone, but as she continues walking she’s shocked to find herself standing right in front of her car again… without any recollection of having circled back. There’s nothing out there…just her crashed car, the gas station, and the mysterious factory. No matter which way she goes, it’s all she can find. As night falls and creepy people from the desert emerge, she fears she’s going to die on this endless desert road.
A LITTLE PRAYER – 7:15pm (91 minutes)
Director: Angus MacLachlan
In the South, a man tests the limits of patriarchal interference to protect his daughter-in-law when he discovers that his son is having an affair.
Special Appearance and Q&A with Angus MacLachlan, David Strathairn & Jane Levy
