Chicago Critics Film Festival Announces 2024 Rotten Tomatoes Audience Award Winners, Exponential Festival Growth
(Chicago, IL) — The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA), the Chicago-area print, online and broadcast critics group that celebrates the art of film and film criticism, today announces the Rotten Tomatoes Audience Award winners following the 11th Chicago Critics Film Festival. Audiences selected the hometown premiere and Closing Night feature presentation GHOSTLIGHT as winner of the Rotten Tomatoes Audience Award for narrative features; the film screened to a sold-out crowd during the festival’s eleventh edition at Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre.
Additionally, FLIPSIDE, the story of one man’s journey to save a New Jersey record store and confront a mid-life crisis, received the Rotten Tomatoes Audience Award for documentary, while the short films Bob's Funeral and Welcome to the Enclave earned audience appreciation in that category.
The eleventh edition of the festival also boasted the largest crowds to date, proving that filmgoers rely on the Chicago Film Critics Association to provide critical and artistic programming that celebrates the best new films of the year. Special guests this year included Pamela Adlon (BABES); Greg Kwedar, Paul Raci and more (SING SING); India Donaldson (GOOD ONE); Jane Schoenbrun (I SAW THE TV GLOW); KiKi Layne (DANDELION); Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thomspon and more (GHOSTLIGHT); as well as select short film filmmakers.
An album of select images from this year’s festival is available here; credit Brigid Presecky/Hilltop Photo Co.
The Chicago Critics Film Festival annually features a selection of acclaimed films chosen by members of the Chicago Film Critics Association, a combination of recent festival favorites and as-yet-undistributed works from a variety of filmmakers, from established Oscar winners to talented newcomers. It is the only current example of a major film critics group that hosts its own festival. The next edition of the festival will return in May of 2025.
About the Chicago Film Critics Association
The Chicago Film Critics Association supports and celebrates quality filmmaking that has something to say about our world, our lives, and our society. In the past, while the CFCA’s priority was to support and fight for the continued role of film critics in the media, the CFCA's public interaction was limited to the announcement of its annual film awards. In recent years, the CFCA has expanded its presence on the Chicago arts scene, promoting critical thinking about cinema to a wider base through several initiatives, including the re-launch of a late-winter film awards ceremony; CFCA-hosted film screenings throughout Chicagoland; and an Emerging Critics Grant program in partnership with Rotten Tomatoes. The annual Chicago Critics Film Festival further builds on the organization’s goal to be an active part of the Chicago film landscape.
