March 27th - 29th, 2026 at FACETS (1517 W. Fullerton) in Beautiful Lincoln Park Chicago
2026 OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
A Celebration of Independent Cinema
FRI
SAT
SUN
6pm-7pm
Check-In, Cocktail Hour, Red Carpet
630pm-7pm
Music Videos
Von dutch, Delusion, Sasquatcher, What If We Run Away?, Dead Calm, Middle of Nowhere, The Price, ClerbY
7pm-8:30pm
Kick-Off Film Screenings!
Project Eden, Quiet, Come Out Wherever You Are, Huck & Jim
830pm-10pm
Red Carpet Q&A's
& Kick-Off
Networking Party!
10pm-Midnight
Late-Night Screenings
The Winding Sheet, Delicate Arch (Main),
The Dogumentary (Studio)
1030am-Noon
Film Screenings: Time Block A
Smile for the Dead,
Fuck You Cupid, 88
Noon-130pm
Film Screenings: Time Block B
Fine, Drawn Together Torn Apart, The Last Rung On The Ladder, Lotus, Sing Me To Sleep, A Pickle and a Coke
145pm-230pm
Puppetry for TV Workshop:Frank Cesario
2pm-4pm
Film Screenings: Time Block C
The Cancer Card, Birds of a Feather, Stay, Down Safe, In Formation, The Girl From The Village
230pm-430pm
Meet & Greet w/
4 Star Casting
4pm-6pm
Film Screenings: Time Block D
Sentiment, The Pipes, Dr. Rooney's Office, Followers, Toby, Bay For Blood
6pm-8pm
Film Screenings: Time Block E
Foggy's Odyssey, The Five Steps of Irish Catholic Grieving, JOY!, Don't Feed The Unicorn, Nine Awkward Dates, The Terror, Crimes of Santa Claus
8pm-10pm
Film Screenings: Time Block F
Bush, Rent Boy, We Live Here Now, The Picture In The House, Cowboy Boots, Night Wire (Main)
PAPmusic - Animation for Fashion (Studio)
10pm-Midnight
Late-Night Film Screenings: Time Block G
The Tempest (Main Theater), Zombie Jesus Vampire Hunter (Studio)
1130am-130pm
Film Screenings: Time Block J
Shepherds Club, The Spades Club, Clancy Sigal: Hollywood Blacklist to A List
130pm-330pm
Film Screenings: Time Block K
Symbionic, The Reappearance of Joy, Face Time, You Are Home, Still Pushing: A Skateboarder's Push Through Time, Keep the Fight
2pm-3pm
Creating a Scene w/ Light: Featuring DP Austin Vinas
3pm-4pm
Post Production Workshop: Featuring Kyle Delso of Third Beacon
330pm-530pm
Film Screenings: Time Block L
Wellness Check, Rutabaga, Incubus, Up in Michigan, Gralloch, MUTE, After The Rain
530pm-730pm
Film Screenings: Time Block M
AGENTES DE SU PROPIO DESSARRE, IRON BROTHERHOOD, VULTURE CITY WYOMING, TRACING OUR PATH THROUGH PILSEN
730pm-930pm
Film Screenings: Time Block N
Rose, Is This True Love?, Alphabet Soup, Kick the Can
*all screening blocks will have a red carpet photo session before/after and a Q&A session*
*awards will be given during the Q&A session after each screening block*
*click each time block for trailers, summaries, and more info regarding each film*
BEST ANIMATED NOMINEES
Birds of a Feather
Don't Feed the Unicorn
PAPmusic - Animation for Fashion
The Winding Sheet
Stay
SymBionic
BEST DRAMA NOMINEES
After the Rain
Cowboy Boots
Huck & Jim
Project Eden
Up in Michigan
BEST COMEDY NOMINEES
Kick The Can
JOY!
Nine Awkward Dates
The Crimes of Santa Claus
BEST MID LENGTH DOC NOMINEES
Keep the Fight
Agentes de su Propio Desarrollo
Tracing Our Path Through Pilsen
BEST DOC FEATURE NOMINEES
Clancy Sigal:Hollywood Blacklist to "A" List
Smile For The Dead
BEST SHORT DOC NOMINEES
In Formation
Iron Brotherhood
You Are Home
Still Pushing: A Skateboarders Push Through Time
BEST STUDENT COMEDY NOMINEES
Down Safe
Dr. Rooney's Office
Is This True Love?
The Five Steps of Irish Catholic Grieving
The Cancer Card
BEST STUDENT DRAMA NOMINEES
Alphabet Soup
MUTE
Shepherds Club
Sing Me To Sleep
Vulture City, Wyoming
BEST SERIES PILOT/PROOF OF
CONCEPT NOMINEES
The Dogumentary
Project Eden
BEST DIRECTOR NOMINEES
Huck & Jim - Frank Tovar
Project Eden - Dave Salvi, Chris Sattel
Delicate Arch - Matt Warren
RENT BOY - Shay Van Lue
Up in Michigan - Jack Lawrence
Come Out, Wherever You Are - Caitlin Presberg
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY NOMINEES
Delicate Arch
Come Out, Wherever You Are
Huck & Jim
Shakespeare: The Tempest
Up in Michigan
Vulture City, Wyoming
BEST EDITOR NOMINEES
Still Pushing: A Skateboarders Push...
Followers
The Crimes of Santa Claus
Night Wire
BEST PERFORMER DRAMA NOMINEES
MUTE - Christopher R. Wilson
After the Rain - Matthew Mosley
Face Time - Abigail Hindle
Cowboy Boots - Michael Ridley
Huck & Jim - Brody Behr
Huck & Jim - Will Wamba
The Last Rung On The Ladder - Seth K. Hale
The Last Rung On The Ladder - & Brian Belz
Incubus - Krista Rose Coniglio
BEST LATE NIGHT/EXPERIMENTAL NOMINEES
Bush
Delicate Arch
The Picture in the House
Shakespeare: The Tempest
Zombie Jesus Vampire Hunter
BEST PERFORMER
COMEDY NOMINEES
JOY! - Christina Hilliard
The Cancer Card - Elvis Garcia
The Crimes of Santa Claus - Tony Calkins
TOBY - Emily Isabel Norton
TOBY - Robert Baulderstone
BEST "CHICAGO" NOMINEES
The Dogumentary
The Terror
We Live Here Now
BEST SCRIPT NOMINEES
After The Rain
A Pickle and a Coke
Huck & Jim
JOY!
The Picture in the House
BEST SCORE NOMINEES
The Last Rung on the Ladder
Shakespeare: The Tempest
Project Eden
BEST STUNTS NOMINEES
Delicate Arch
Night Wire
The Last Rung on the Ladder
BEST FX NOMINEES
Delicate Arch
Night Wire
Shakespeare: The Tempest
The Crimes of Santa Claus
The Picture in the House
BEST PRODUCTION
DESIGN NOMINEES
Come Out, Wherever You Are
Delicate Arch
Fuck You, Cupid
Huck & Jim
Project Eden
Sentiment
Shakespeare: The Tempest
BEST MUSIC VIDEO
ORIGINAL SONG NOMINEES
Dead Calm
Sasquatcher
The Price
What If We Run Away?
BEST MUSIC VIDEO NOMINEES
Delusion
Middle of Nowhere
Sasquatcher
The Price
Von dutch
BEST LGBTQIA+ NOMINEES
Cowboy Boots
Is This True Love
RENT BOY
The Picture in the House
BEST ENSEMBLE NOMINEES
Fine
Project Eden
Delicate Arch
JOY!
Rent Boy
Kick the Can
Wellness Check
AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER
Project Eden
BEST ANIMATED NOMINEES
Draft Paper
The Lone Angler
Oliver Cosmic
Onion Dog
Roadkill
Wanderfaust
Wide Awake
BEST PICTURE NOMINEES
The Driftless
The End of Nowhere
Kings
The Last Fry
Local Area Network
Nebuchadnezzar
The Otherkind
This is Book Club
BEST COMEDY NOMINEES
Just Another Day
The Last Fry
No More Mr. Nice Guy
Red Nose
Rerun
Thanks, Babe
UberFriends
BEST FEATURE DOC NOMINEES
Food Roots
For Your Amusement
Surviving Zendik Farm
BEST MID LENGTH DOC NOMINEES
The Good News
The Green Mill:A Real Chicago Joint
Still Pushing:A Retrospective Curriculum
BEST SHORT DOC NOMINEES
Data Disaggregation in Illinois
The Monk's Robe
Toons by Steve
Zastava Brothers
BEST STUDENT DIRECTOR NOMINEES
American Dream-Dylan McCully
Bored-Jack Smith
Fading Colors-Jay Bell
Giving In-Kateryna Sazonova
Horse-Akkhiel Nambbiar
Right Hook-Jaden Dueñas
BEST STUDENT DRAMA NOMINEES
Fading Colors
Flicker
Giving In
HORSE
Intrusive
Motel Matinee
Nebuchadnezzar
Skate or Die
BEST STUDENT HORROR/THRILLER
The Gardener
It Ends
Lluvia
Pesticide
BEST DIRECTOR NOMINEES
Cat Cam-Sara Werner
The Driftless-Tim Connery
The End of Nowhere-Peter Mattei
Hamster in My Head-Jerry S. Gonzalez
The Otherkind-Mary C. Russell
This is Book Club-Robyn Okrant
SilverSizzle-Brian Russell
SPUDS-Vance Mellen
BEST STUDENT ENSEMBLE NOMINEES
Foresight
Haunt
Horse
Normal
Right Hook
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN NOMINEES
1-800-GET-SEXY
The Government Inspector
Hamster in My Head
Peter
Transmit
BEST PERFORMER NOMINEES
The End of Nowhere-Savannah Welch
How to Sell Your Soul-Brian Kowalski
How to Sell Your Soul-Mark L. Montgomery
The Last Fry-Mel Rodriguez
Peter-Oliver Torres
SilverSizzle-James Naughton
SPUDS-Vance Mellen
This is Book Club-Robyn Okrant
A Thousand Paper Cuts-Kacie LaCombe
BEST SCRIPT NOMINEES
Blackout-Logan Nipper
Cat Cam-Hilary Helding
Dead Drop-Kentrell Nichols
The Driftless-Tim Connery
The Otherkind-Mary C. Russell
BEST ROMANCE NOMINEES
Bored
eleven:eleven
Falling
Future Tense
Phrases People Say During Sex
True Love's Miss
Ultrarush
BEST FX NOMINEES
The Driftless-Corey Ruby
and Collier Wilmes
Hamster in My Head-Jerry S. Gonzalez & The Banditry Co.
The Otherkind-Shanalyse Barnett
BEST "CHICAGO" NOMINEES
Bored
Chicago 1968
Chicago's New Theme Song
The Good News
Green Mill:A Real Chicago Joint
BEST SCORE NOMINEES
The Driftless-Gregory Polzak
Kings-Ethan O'Neal
Oliver Cosmic-Daniel Brady Lynch
BEST MUSIC VIDEO NOMINEES
Chicago's New Theme Song
Digging My Own Grave
Ghost: Marital Bed
I Love You Sometimes
JaSha: Too Late
Kway La Soul: Poetry In Chicago
Onion Dog
Yawhooligans
BEST FILM FOR A CAUSE NOMINEE
(Films that bring awareness to important topics)
Giving In
Intrusive
Model Professor
Mother, Protect Us
Normal
Snooze
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY NOMINEES
1-800-GET-SEXY-Trina Mulligan
Digging My Own Grave-J.B. Lawrence
The Driftless-Jackon Cooper Gango
The End of Nowhere-Ellie Ann Fenton
Kings-Taylor Hoos
Nebuchadnezzar-Shahan Rao
The Otherkind-Ben Meredith
BEST ENSEMBLE NOMINEES
The Government Inspector
Live A Little
Local Area Network
MAC
The Residential
Rusty Pipe
SilverSizzle
Sweet Goodbye
This Is Book Club
BEST SERIES/TV/EPISODIC NOMINEES
Breakout
Crip Trip: Episode 4
Family Relapse
Platonic Girlfriend: Season 2
Puke Bitch: Episode One
BEST HORROR/THRILLER NOMINEES
Cat Cam
The Driftless
Eye Candy
Just Me and the Graves
The Otherkind
Peter
Ríos de Sangre
This Is Book Club
BEST EDITOR NOMINEES
The Driftless-Michael Zak
For Your Amusement-Justin Tolliver
Spectrum-Jake Bevins
Still Pushing...-Stan Nalewski
We Severed Our Brains-Mychael Calkins
AUDIENCE AWARD WINNER
TBD
2026
Featured Speakers & Workshops
ABOUT
OUR MISSION
Get ready for a whirlwind of cinema at the second Chicago Film Frenzy! From March 27th-29th at FACETS (1517 W. Fullerton in Chicago), the Windy City film scene will be buzzing with excitement as filmmakers, movie lovers, and creative minds come together to celebrate a vibrant mix of films.
Chicago FiIm Frenzy is all about energy, diversity, and the power of film to ignite conversation and inspiration. Our lineup will feature a dynamic range of films, from gripping narratives and groundbreaking documentaries to daring experimental shorts and everything in between. Each selection has been chosen for its ability to captivate, challenge, and/or entertain audiences, offering fresh perspectives.
Beyond film screenings, the festival will include lively panel discussions, filmmaker Q&A's, intriguing workshops, & a special networking party. Join us in celebrating another exciting year of the Chicago Film Frenzy!
WHO WE ARE
Billy Surges
- Co-Founder of Chicago Film Frenzy
- Owner of Surging Films
- Award-Winning Director for TV Pilot and International Doc Short (Africa)
- On-Set Coordinator for various Chicago films and shows such as Divergent, Shameless, At Any Price
Emma Widlowski
- Co-Founder of Chicago Film Frenzy
- Producer at Surging Films
OUR PARTNERS
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