Festival News

2024 Official Selections Announced

BWiFF

• 2 min read
Operations Director Jonathan C. Legat
Operations Director Jonathan C. Legat

The Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival is thrilled to announce the 48 short and feature-length films that have been officially selected for exhibition and competition. The traditional Shorts and Features Competitions will be presented in April over the course of seven days beginning April 14-23.

The festival will be held at Classic Cinemas Elk Grove XQ between April 14-23. Classic Cinemas is a family-owned, Illinois-based movie theatre. "Our team is thrilled to be presenting our 14th annual event with Classic Cinemas," said Legat in the announcement this morning.

Shorts Competition

The Shorts Competition will consist of 27 films: 21 narratives, 3 documentaries, and 3 music videos.

  • Apolitical (United States), dir. Mishu Hilmy
  • The Bend (United States), dir. Sarah McCarron
  • Blue Hour (United States), dir. J.D. Shields
  • Caught on Tape (United States), dir. Alexander Jeffrey & Chris Alan Evans
  • Cottage Grove (United States), dir. George Ellzey Jr.
  • Favorite Things (United States), dir. Michael Paris Stone
  • The Fire in Me (United States), dir. Terah K. Hensley
  • Geezers (United States), dir. Jason Cooper
  • Ivania (Spain), dir. Luigi Abanto
  • Katele (Mudskipper) (Australia), dir. John Harvey
  • Life is Elsewhere (United States), dir. Jiamin Zhao
  • Maybe It Was Me (United States), dir. Nicholas McDonough
  • Mississippi Mud: A Natural History of the Blues (United States), dir. Phil Duncan
  • Náttúrubönd (United States), dir. Sven Peetoom, Gríma Irmudóttir & Jonathan Damborg
  • No Matter How Much (United States), dir. Dorian Weinzimmer
  • Not the Same Clarence (United States), dir. Brian Russell & Samuel B. Russell
  • Or, The Whale (United States), dir. Mark Kiefer
  • Seasalter Road (United Kingdom), dir. Will Kenning
  • Seatbelts (United States), dir. Michael John Dunker
  • Things I've Made My Roommate Do (United States), dir. Mylissa Fitzsimmons
  • Tilt (United States), dir. Ben Nissen
  • Trying (United States), dir. Emily Alpren
  • Twenty (United Kingdom), dir. Jason Hogan
  • Unibrow (Canada), dir. Nedda Sarshar
  • The Visit (United States), dir. Sean Patrick Folster
  • Wider Than the Sky (United Kingdom), dir. Philip Taylor
  • Won't Be Around (United States), dir. Terry Blade

Features Competition

The Features Competition will consist of 7 films: 4 narratives and 3 documentaries.

  • Breakup Season (United States), dir. H. Nelson Tracey
  • The Fight for Black Lives (United States), dir. Micere Keels
  • The House That Stood (Italy), dir. Antonella Spirito
  • Marco Polo (Spain), dir. Pablo Riesgo Almonacid
  • The Problem of the Hero (United States), dir. Shaun Dozier
  • Roger (France), dir. Ben Shweky
  • Undivide Us (United States), dir. Kristi Kendall

"This season, we will be offering a third competition category," said Operations Director Jonathan C. Legat during this morning's announcement. "One that allows us to extend the festival beyond our first seven nights of screenings."

BWiFF 2024 Beyond official selections will be presented throughout the year at a variety of venues in the Chicagoland area.

Beyond Competition

The Beyond Competition will consist of 14 films: 7 features and 7 shorts.

  • Chicken (Canada), dir. Lucy McNulty & Emma Pollard
  • Continue (United States), dir. Nadine Crocker
  • Exhale (Sweden), dir. Rouzbeh Noori
  • Fire Department, Inc. (United States), dir. Colin C. Hughes
  • Implosions (United States), dir. Lisa Z. Sherman
  • The Last Drop (United States), dir. Adam Weston Joel
  • Love & Irony (United States), dir. John A. Biesack
  • The Overlook (United States), dir. John Gray
  • Park Life (United States), dir. Tyler Haney
  • Spirit of Place (United Kingdom), dir. Jack Cooper Stimpson
  • Swatted (United States), dir. Ryan Michael Dymkowski
  • Unbroken (United States), dir. Beth Lane
  • Unspoken (United States), dir. Jeremy Borison
  • White With Fear (United States), dir. Andrew Goldberg

Films in the Beyond Competition will be screened following April 23 with dates and locations to be announced soon. The complete festival guide will be available to view here on the festival's website on March 14. Tickets and passes will also be available soon.