And so another vibrant year of programming with the Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF) comes to a close.

As is typical of the CIFF, this year’s line-up featured a significant number of high-quality international films. And, as evident from this year’s list of numerous foreign film award winners, the subtitles did not detract from the critical applause.

Earlier this week, CIFF Founder\Artistic Director Michael Kutza along with, Feature Film Programmer, Mimi Plauché, and the festival’s Documentary and Short Film Competitions Coordinator, Philip Bajorat, enthusiastically dolled out the coveted gold, named after the mythological God of Discovery, silver, and bronze Hugo awards in acknowledgement of this year’s top winners.

Feature Films Competition
Mexico’s receipt of the Gold Hugo award on account of director’s Carlos Reygadas’ Silent Home which managed to captivate both audiences and critics alike with its convincing themes of spiritual soul searching and adultery.

China’s deliverance of the Silver Hugo -Special Jury Prize—was for Tuya’s Marriage directed by Wang Quanan, on account of its poignant depiction of a courageous woman’s fight for the survival of her family while ensconced within an antiquated society and a remote landscape.

New Directors Competition
From the UK, director Saverio Costanzo was presented with the Gold Hugo award for In Memory of Myself, a fascinating of a conflicted seminarian’s internal struggle to understand the teachings of the soul and its connection to religious and spiritual aspirations.

Documentary Competition
Within the non-fictional genre, US’ director Alex Gibney snared the Gold Hugo Award for Taxi to the Dark Side, an unflinching look at the Bush Administration’s torture and inquisition procedures. Through interviews with interrogators, politicians and soldier confessionals, the film provides an uncensored view of the unfounded allegations hedged against one Afghan taxi driver, whose connections to a deadly rocket attack, led to his subsequent demise.