Chicago International Film Festival Awards Top Prizes to ‘Vermiglio,’ ‘All We Imagine as Light’

The Chicago International Film Festival is wrapping up its 60th edition by handing out its prizes. In fact, though the New York Film Festival has been around longer (it just wrapped its 62nd festival), Chicago is the longest running fest in North America to give out awards. And as you’d expect from this festival that’s especially focused on international film, its winners have also been standouts at Cannes and Venice.

The Best Film winner, or Gold Hugo, at the Chicago International Film Festival is Maura Delpero’s “Vermiglio,” a World War II drama centered in the Alps that drew praise out of Venice, though received a mixed reception from IndieWire. Italy has named the film its entry for next year’s Best International Feature competition at the Academy Awards. The previous three winners of the Gold Hugo at Chicago are Gabor Reisz’s “Explanation for Everything,” Hlynur Palmason’s “Godland,” and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria.”

The Silver Hugo Jury Prize, a kind of runner-up in a way, went to Payal Kapadia‘s Cannes Grand Prix-winner “All We Imagine as Light,” the Sideshow-Janus acquisition that’s one of the year’s most beautifully rendered character studies. About lives of three women in Mumbai dealing with work and love and encroaching gentrification, the film, perhaps because of its portrayal of a growing wealth gap in India, was snubbed by India as its Oscar submission.

The Silver Hugo for Best Director went to Miguel Gomes for “Grand Tour” — he took Best Director at Cannes as well. The film also won Best Editing. Benjamin Voisin won the Silver Hugo for Best Male Performance for “The Quiet Son,” and Elin Hall won the Silver Hugo for Best Female Performance for “When the Light Breaks.”

And Mohamad Rasoulof won Best Screenplay for his Cannes favorite “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.”

Read the full list of 2024’s Chicago International Film Festival award winners below:

Gold Hugo – Best Film

VERMIGLIO (Italy, France, Belgium)
Dir. Maura Delpero

Silver Hugo – Jury Prize

ALL WE IMAGINE AS LIGHT (France, India, The Netherlands, Luxembourg)
Dir. Payal Kapadia

Silver Hugo – Best Director

Miguel Gomes
GRAND TOUR (Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, China)

Silver Hugo – Best Male Performance

Benjamin Voisin
THE QUIET SON (France)

Silver Hugo – Best Female Performance

Elín Hall
WHEN THE LIGHT BREAKS (Iceland, The Netherlands, Croatia, France)

Silver Hugo – Best Screenplay

Mohammad Rasoulof
THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG (Germany, Iran, France)

Silver Hugo – Best Editing

Telmo Churro and Pedro Filipe Marques
GRAND TOUR (Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, China)

Special Mention

The Female Ensemble of BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL (Zambia, U.K., Ireland)
Dir. Rungano Nyoni

NEW DIRECTORS COMPETITION

Gold Hugo

THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE (Austria, France, Germany, Somalia)
Dir. Mo Harawe

Silver Hugo

MY FAVOURITE CAKE (Iran, France, Sweden, Germany)
Dir. Maryam Moghaddam & Behtash Sanaeeha

Roger Ebert Award

HANAMI (Switzerland, Portugal, Cape Verde)
Dir. Denise Fernandes

INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

Gold Hugo

MISTRESS DISPELLER (China, U.S.)
Dir. Elizabeth Lo

Silver Hugo

MY STOLEN PLANET (Germany, Iran)
Dir. Farahnaz Sharifi

OUTLOOK COMPETITION

Gold Q-Hugo

THESIS ON A DOMESTICATION (Argentina, Mexico)
Dir. Javier Van de Couter

Silver Q-Hugo

FOUR MOTHERS (Ireland)
Dir. Darren Thornton

THE CHICAGO AWARD

A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY (U.S.)
Dir. Rachel Elizabeth Seed

Honorable Mention

SAVING SUPERMAN (U.S.)
Dirs. Adam Oppenheim, Samuel-Ali Mirpoorian