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Margo Price

We often hear the legends of a musician’s “big break,” but what happens before that? In her memoir Maybe We’ll Make It, Grammy-nominated country singer-songwriter Margo Price gets real about the struggles to survive and succeed in a music industry that is often unkind to women. Aspiring musicians, join Price and CHF at the Old […]

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  • In Person
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  • Wheelchair Accessible

Chicago International Film Festival – My Sailor My Love (Open Captions)

DIRECTED BY Klaus Härö RUN TIME 103 minutes SYNOPSIS Concerned for the welfare of her irascible father (James Cosmo), a retired sea captain, harried nurse Grace (Catherine Walker) hires local widow Annie (Brid Brennan) as his housekeeper. When the pair embark on an unexpected romance, Grace is forced to face the feelings of resentment and […]

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Jeff Garlin: Our Man in Chicago

Jeff Garlin is a man of many talents: he is a writer, producer, director, actor, photographer, and stand-up comedian. His impressive filmography includes: Curb Your Enthusiasm, WALL-E, Toy Story 3 & 4, and Paranorman, among others. At CHF, Garlin returns home for a chat with fellow comedian Susie Essman about his career, his city, and […]

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Extremism in America: Pushing Back on Radicalism & Saving our Democracy

America is witnessing a frightening trend: the rise of extremist groups, like the Proud Boys, infiltrating our politics. At CHF, leading extremism reporter Andy Campbell (author of We Are Proud Boys: How a Right-Wing Street Gang Ushered in a New Era of American Extremism) sits down with Michael Fanone, a former Trump supporter, DC Metropolitan […]

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Will Bunch on the Higher Education Divide

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Will Bunch calls higher education the great political and cultural fault line of American life. Join Bunch and Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Anthony S. Chen, as they explore the central question of Bunch’s latest book After the Ivory Tower Falls: How has the fracturing of American people […]

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Innocent & Behind Bars with Daniel S. Medwed

At CHF, renowned legal scholar Daniel S. Medwed explains how America’s judicial system is stacked against the innocent. Join him and Lake Forest College legal studies professor Stephanie Caparelli for a conversation demystifying the procedural rules, systemic bias, and court culture that make up the barriers to exoneration. We’ll discuss how our justice system operates, […]

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Miranda July on Art in All its Forms

Miranda July has gained a cult following over the span of her award-winning career as a filmmaker (Me and You and Everyone We Know and Kajillionaire), writer (No One Belongs Here More Than You), and artist (her latest project, Services, is both a sculpture and a book). Chill with July at CHF for a chat […]

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Rick Lowe on the Transformative Power of Public Art

For artist and MacArthur Fellow Rick Lowe, art doesn't only hang on walls in museums, art is all around us. Art is street murals celebrating Black-owned businesses. Art is the Project Row Houses in Houston’s historic Third Ward. Art is the act we take as members of our communities. At CHF, Lowe reflects on community-based […]

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Is the Public Still Persuadable? A Conversation with Anand Giridharadas

Anand Giridharadas, author of Winners Take All, on-air political analyst for MSNBC, and publisher of The.Ink joins CHF for a conversation with David Corn, Washington DC Bureau Chief for Mother Jones, about how to change people’s minds in order to change how things are. If you’ve been up at night wondering how to save democracy […]

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FUN FIT FLEX CHICAGO

We invite you to our newest fundraising campaign, in which we raise awareness and funds for people with myositis. Funds will help patient programs, enhance professional education efforts, and research for cures. We will have a non-competitive walk, fitness demonstrations and activities, nutrition and wellness components, and family fun! We support patients with this rare […]

  • Free Event
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Black Women Will Save the World with April Ryan

It’s time—and long overdue—for everyone to acknowledge Black women’s unrivaled contribution to American life and democracy. At CHF, trailblazing White House correspondent April Ryan highlights the incredible work of “sheroes” like Valerie Jarret, Kamala Harris, Brittney Packnett Cunningham, and LaTosha Brown. Join her for a conversation with Valerie Jarrett about how Black women will save […]

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Celebrating the Poets of Forms & Features (Online)

Join us for a reading and celebration of the diverse voices, rich experiences, and powerful words of poets from around the country, and the world. Participants from the online poetry workshop series, Forms & Features, will share work created in this online creative community. Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to […]

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Chicago International Film Festival – Bard (Open Captions)

DIRECTED BY Álfrún Örnólfsdóttir RUN TIME 87 minutes SYNOPSIS If This Is Spinal Tap had been centered on an all-female group of Icelandic performance-artist musicians, it would look a lot like Band. singer-turned-filmmaker Álfrún Örnólfsdóttir’s hilarious and poignant portrait of the misadventures of her Post Performance Blues Band. Renowned in the underground Reykjavik music scene […]

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Holland Cotter Lecture

Join us in person for a lecture by art critic Holland Cotter followed by an audience Q&A. Location: The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall, 111 S. Michigan Ave. (doors open at 5:45pm) Holland Cotter is co-chief art critic and a senior writer at the New York Times. He has received the Pulitzer Prize for […]

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  • Free Event
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  • Wheelchair Accessible

Chicago International Film Festival – The Visitors (Open Captions)

The Visitors Návštěvníci DIRECTED BY Veronika Lišková RUN TIME 85 minutes SYNOPSIS After a young Czech anthropologist, Zdenka, moves with her family to the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard to study how life is changing for this unique polar community, she quickly falls in love with her new home. But all is not sweeping Arctic beauty […]

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Everyone At Play

Kohl Children’s Museum was specifically designed to be inclusive of all children and adults regardless of ability. The Museum’s 17 exhibits and 2 acres of outdoor explorations are designed for […]

  • Free Event
  • In Person
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Chicago International Film Festival – Art and Pep (Open Captions)

DIRECTED BY Mercedes Kane RUN TIME 88 minutes SYNOPSIS Art Johnston and Pepe Peña are civil rights leaders whose celebrated gay bar Sidetrack has helped fuel movements and create community on Chicago’s Halsted Street for decades. Bringing together a wealth of archival video footage, photographs, and lively animated sequences, Art and Pep chronicles the story […]

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Chicago International Film Festival – The Year Between (Open Captions)

DIRECTED BY Alex Heller RUN TIME 95 minutes SYNOPSIS Making her darkly funny assured feature debut, Chicago filmmaker Alex Heller writes, directs, and stars as a defiantly independent woman struggling to get her life back on track. Kicked out of college for bad behavior, cranky and acerbic Clemence returns to her suburban Chicagoland home where […]

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Modern Poetry: Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué’s Madness

Al Filreis will conduct a collaborative close reading of poems from Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué's book Madness (Nightboat, 2022). Participants include Laynie Browne, Al Filreis, Lisa Fishman, and Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué himself. A recording of this event will be made available in a free open-to-all online course called ModPo (on modern & contemporary U.S. poetry) hosted by the […]

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