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[title]RECOMMENDED: Chicago International Film Festival guide Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased over the phone, online or in person.
PHONE
312-332-FILM
The festival hotline operates Monday–Friday from 10am–6pm. Note that tickets ordered over the phone must be reserved at least 24 hours in advance and will be subject to service charges.
ONLINE
chicagofilmfestival.com
Festival passes can be purchased at the online store. However, in order to exchange your pass for tickets to screenings, you will have to go to the box office.
ticketmaster.com
Tickets to individual screenings can only be purchased online here and, as is always the case with Ticketmaster, they do come with additional service charges.
IN PERSON
AMC River East, 322 E Illinois St
The on-site festival box office is located to the left of the theater's regular ticketing station. You can purchase and exchange festival passes here, in addition to tickets to individual screenings. Until October 9, sales will be open from noon–8pm, seven days a week. From October 10–23, while the festival is on, tickets will go on sale one hour before the start of the first show of the day and cease when the last screening of the day begins.
Festival office, 30 E Adams St, suite 800
Festival passes can be purchased and exchanged here, and individual tickets will also be on sale. The office is open Monday–Friday 10am–6pm through October 23. Try not to get lost because there are a lot of different ticket prices depending on what you're seeing and when. The standard festival ticket price is $14 ($11 for members). Any weekday show that starts before 5pm is $7, while all screenings after 10pm are $10. Special presentations and centerpiece films—the ones with the movie stars in them—are $20 ($16 for members).
Tickets to the opening-night gala screening of Miss Julie are $50–$60 ($45–$50 for members) and the seating is reserved. There are also VIP tickets available on the main floor for $150. Tickets to the closing-night screening of Wild are $25 or $50 if you want to go to the after-party.
That all depends on how much of a resident you plan to be at this year's fest and whether access to the other membership perks get you excited. An individual memberships runs $75 and gets you a discount on festival passes and tickets (except for the already discounted matinee and late evening screenings). Additionally, you a 15 percent discount on fest merch and admission to special screenings throughout the year.
Most screenings will take place at AMC River East, but the opening-night gala will be held at Harris Theater and the Isabelle Huppert tribute screenings are the Music Box.
Some screenings will sell out, especially anything with recognizable names attached to it. The festival does offer discounted rush tickets to sold-out films ($10 for regular screenings, $25 for special presentations). Thirty minutes prior to the film's start time, you obtain a numbered card from the box office, and these can be exchanged for tickets 10 minutes before the movie begins. Seats aren't guaranteed and even if you get in you might have to sit close to the screen or far from your movie date, but that's the price you pay for procrastination.
Yes, the box office opens an hour before screenings start every day. As long the movie you want to see isn't sold out, you can buy a ticket and go on in.