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2006 CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PREMIERES,
FEATURING THE TRADITIONAL RED-CARPET TREATMENT
by Mike Hertenstein
"IT'S OPENING NIGHT, EVERY NIGHT!
— that's the slogan for the 42nd Chicago International Film Festival.
But it seems fair (if somewhat party-pooping) to observe that most people who
love the festival most are probably overjoyed that this is not
literally the case. For, as everyone knows, the real Opening Night at
CIFF is as glitzy an affair as Cinema/Chicago can mount, with red carpet,
movie stars, and the premiere of an expected Hollywood blockbuster. Last
night's opener for 2006 was no exception, featuring Marc Forster's
Stranger Than Fiction, a movie made in Chicago. The event proved a
neat opportunity for CIFF founder and artistic director Michael Kutza to do
something he said he's been trying to do for the past decade or so, present
the festival's annual Golden Hugo for Career Achievement to Dustin Hoffman,
who has a supporting role in the film.
Prior to the award presentation, host Bill Kurtis introduced two different
sets of film clips presented as a representative sampling of Hoffman's
forty-year career, showcasing his range of memorable characters with the
moments and lines ("Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs. Robinson?") that have
become classics, and made the actor one of the Great Ones of Hollywood
cinema. Woven into this mix was a clip from Hoffman's latest film,
Stranger Than Fiction , though it seemed a little perfunctory an
inclusion next to such films as The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, and
even Tootsie. The actor was gracious and humble in accepting the
award, and had good things to say about the importance of film
festivals, independent film, and those artists and craftspeople whose first
commitment is to good work in a world that has come to prioritize commerce
over art. The irony, of course, is that the CIFF Opening Night film tends to
come from the commercial end of the spectrum, with an eye to filling the house,
paying the bills, and making a splash — since people always love to come
out for the red carpet treatment.
Not entirely immune from such blandishments, I've made it to a few of these
over the years, but mostly because I love the feeling of a beginning, a
starting of the festival with a bit of a bang, some kind of communal
consecration. In the light of this, it was interesting to consider how the
premiere film touched on the narratives we use to make sense of our lives and
the relation of fiction to managing, as one critic has put it, our "sense of
an ending." I'm still mulling over whether or not Stranger Than
Fiction plumbed those philosophical depths as deeply as it could have.
But it was great to begin the festival together, to share some laugh out loud moments, not
least when the film's star Will Ferrel came on stage, gooning around with
Dustin Hoffman and the audience as only he can (he was embarrassed because he
thought the award was going to be presented to him, and he apologized to the
900 people he said he'd invited for the occasion).
Films that probe the philosophical questions more deeply and more
satisfyingly (or less, perhaps, according to popular tastes) are what some of
us hope to find after Opening Night, during the rest of the festival,
when we get to sample the range of films gathered from a broad spectrum of
filmmakers from around the world. There won't be any red carpet treatment
for these films: indeed, any filmmakers present generally pass through the
screenings all but anonymously. But, as Dustin Hoffman said, it is they who
bring the real excitement to contemporary cinema, the artists who value above
all good work, and who make international film festivals so precious and
exciting. Each night is an opportunity to see something we've never seen
before: a way of life, an idea, a truth, an unexpected new vision of the
world — and even of oneself. As C. S. Lewis puts it about literature,
My own eyes are not enough for me. Even the eyes of all humanity are not
enough. Very gladly would I learn what face things present to a mouse or a
bee… In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain
myself. Like the night sky in a Greek poem, I see with a thousand eyes, but
it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in
knowing, I transcend myself: and am never more myself than when I do.
And so it is also with great films. In this way, an international film
festival presents a rare opportunity, in a program of works from a multitude
of perspectives, to "see with a thousand eyes", to have reality open up for
audiences in a new and unexpected way. In that sense, each night really
can be opening night. And those of us with a voracious appetite for
new visions come expecting to be filled — at least until the next night,
or next year.
* * * * * * * *
Meanwhile, the phrase "Next Year" has a metaphysical gravitas here in
Chicago, which brings me to this year's film rating scale. In what now seems
a distant past, there was a frightening possibility that CIFF might actually
coincide with local post-season baseball, creating some agonizing schedule
conflicts. (Note: I'm not talking about last season. Perhaps its
just as well I didn't make it to CIFF in 2005, as my baseball rating scale
would have been problematic for a North Sider. But let's not talk about
that.) With things back to normal in this town, there will be no conflict
between CIFF and baseball. However. Dustin Hoffman didn't get where he is
without a sense of how to play to an audience, and he brought down the house
with his exit line — "GO BEARS", for indeed, this year we are talking
in this town about Da Bears. And so the question of missing a game to go to
the movies is a serious one. Therefore, following my scientific calculus
created during the brief, shining moment of the Cubs' recent hey-day, I offer
this 2006 CIFF rating system, based on the relative value that a fan of both
football and cinema might assign to going to a movie versus staying home to
watch the game.
This year's rating scale consists not in stars, nor baseballs, but footballs:
 Easy call. Skip the movie and watch the game. Real life can be better than a movie.
 Watch the game. Not the worst movie ever made, but not worth missing da Bears.
 You make the call: from where I sit, it's a tossup between the movie or the game.
 Go see this film. There is more to life than football.
 Extraordinary, maybe even masterpiece. As in, "Football? What is football?"
See you at the movies. And Go Bears.
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