Chicago-Made ‘Ghostlight’ Leads IFC Films’ Four Highly Anticipated Films at Chicago Critics Film Festival

IFC Films today announced that four of its most anticipated films of the summer will screen at the Chicago Critics Film Festival, running May 3 – 9, 2024 at the historic Music Box Theatre. One of those films is the Illinois indie Ghostlight, fresh off premieres at Sundance and SXSW.

Click here for the full festival lineup, including tickets and times for all screenings.

About the films: 

GHOSTLIGHT

When melancholic construction worker Dan finds himself drifting from his wife and daughter, he discovers community and purpose in a local theater’s production of Romeo and Juliet. As the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life, he and his family are forced to confront a personal loss. 

Guests in attendance: Co-directors Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan, real-life Chicago family of actors Keith Kupferer, Tara Mallen, and Katherine Mallen Kupferer. 

Screening: Thursday May 6, 2024 at 8:30 p.m.

DANDELION

Dandelion (KiKi Layne), a struggling Cincinnati singer-songwriter in a downward spiral, takes a last-ditch-effort gig at a motorcycle rally in South Dakota where she meets Casey (Thomas Doherty), a guitarist who walked away from his dream long ago. As Dandelion joins Casey’s nomadic group of struggling musicians, the kindred spirits make music together and strike up a whirlwind romance. The experience moves Dandelion from a narrow view of success to a deeper appreciation of her artistic journey, and the discovery of a voice that is authentically her own.

Guests in attendance: Director Nicole Reigel, star KiKi Layne

Screening: Monday May 6, 2024 at 7 p.m.

IN A VIOLENT NATURE

When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it. The undead golem hones in on the group of vacationing teens responsible for the theft and proceeds to methodically slaughter them one by one in his mission to get it back – along with anyone in his way.

Screening: Saturday May 4, 2024 at 9:45 p.m.

ODDITY

When Dani is brutally murdered at the remote country house that she and her husband Ted are renovating, everyone suspects a patient from the local mental health institution, where Ted is a doctor. However, soon after the tragic killing, the suspect is found dead. A year later, Dani’s blind twin sister Darcy, a self-proclaimed psychic and collector of cursed items, pays an unexpected visit to Ted and his new girlfriend, Yana. Convinced that there was more to her sister’s murder than people know, Darcy has brought with her the most dangerous items from her cursed collection to help her exact revenge.

Screening: Saturday May 4, 2024 at midnight

Click here for the full festival lineup, including tickets and times for all screenings.

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