MUBI brought its film festival, MUBI Fest, back to Chicago this weekend for the second consecutive year, showcasing a vibrant celebration of cinema.
Founded in 2023, the festival took place at notable venues including the Music Box Theatre and The Salt Shed.
As part of its global outreach, MUBI Fest is visiting 11 cities worldwide, with Chicago being the only U.S. stop and the festival’s inaugural location.
Dylan Polacek, head of strategic partnerships at MUBI, shared the company’s reasons for returning to Chicago, highlighting the city’s strong film community.
“Chicago has always been a market for us because we think there’s a really strong film community here and the people here come out, maybe not in as many numbers as New York or L.A., but with a passion for cinema that we find to be really exciting,” Polacek stated.
Over an action-packed two-day event, the festival featured seven films, each selected under this year’s theme, “Lost in Translation.”
Polacek described the films as tales of miscommunication, aimed at immersing viewers in unique worlds of confusion, but in a positive way.
The lineup included five classic films: Brian de Palma’s “Blow Out,” Michael Schultz’s “Cooley High,” Elaine May’s “Ishtar,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Inherent Vice,” and Tarsem Singh’s “The Fall.”
In addition, two new film debuts, Alex Ross Perry’s “Pavements” and Amalia Ulman’s “Magic Farm,” were screened, showcasing the festival’s variety.
After the screening of “Pavements,” director Alex Ross Perry participated in a Q&A session where he discussed the film’s focus on the indie rock band Pavement.
The film explores the band’s journey through various lenses, including a jukebox musical, a Hollywood biopic, and a museum exhibit, highlighting performances from the 1990s to their 2022 reunion.
As a fan of the band, Perry expressed how personal this project was to him, stating, “To me, making this movie was an ode to this era that I loved and lived through most of. This era to me is so gone and is so lost.”
While film was at the heart of the festival, the second day introduced the MUBI Market at The Salt Shed, featuring local businesses ranging from record shops to thrift stores.
Aidee San Miguel, co-founder of VOLVERde, a sustainable lifestyle brand, represented one of the local vendors at the market and spoke about her involvement.
San Miguel, who was contacted by MUBI to participate, noted the alignment between the festival’s goals and her brand’s mission of uplifting female and BIPOC-owned businesses.
“(Both MUBI Fest and VOLVERde are) trying to help and foster creative work through our art, whether that’s filmmaking or this artisan work,” she remarked.
The festival’s message resonated with both vendors and attendees, including Kayleigh Jensen, a substitute teacher with a background in film studies.
Jensen emphasized the significance of the arts, saying it was a “no-brainer” to attend the festival after its announcement.
“I think the arts are just so important. I feel like everything kind of took a hit with COVID-19, so it’s really cool to see films that people might not be going to see in the theater be brought together by a festival like this,” she said.
Overall, MUBI Fest’s return to Chicago not only highlighted the power of film but also the importance of community and local creativity.
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