The 43rd Chicago International Film Festival (CIFF) opened the evening of October 4 in the legendary Chicago Theater with a red carpet send-off. The Kite Runner, in its U.S. premiere, was featured as the film version of the critically acclaimed bestseller by Afghan-born, naturalized U.S. citizen Khaled Hosseini.

Directed by Marc Forster (Stranger than Fiction, Finding Neverland, and Monster’s Ball) the film chronicles the emotional saga of two childhood Afghani friends, Amir and Hassan, torn apart by war and betrayal.

Honored with this year’s Hugo Award for Lifetime Achievement was none other than Chicago’s own illustrious film critic, Roger Ebert. Presented with the high honor from the CIFF’s festival founder and artistic director Michael Kutza, in tandem with the evening’s host, Bill Kurtis from A&E’s Investigative Reports, Ebert is synonymous with the Chicago Sun-Time’s coverage of film and the nationally syndicated film review show, Ebert & Roeper. The original inceptor of the thumbs-up symbol, this year’s festival is being exclusively dedicated to Ebert.

Highlights of this year’s CIFF include: Ben Affleck’s directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone; appearance and career retrospective of Hungarian film director, Istvan Szabo; the CIFF Black Perspectives’ career achievement award presented to Jeffrey Wright (Syriana, Broken Flowers, Angels in America, Lackawanna Blues); first time director Tony Gilroy (screenwriter of the Bourne Identity/Ultimatum films) fielding of a Q&A session following the debut of the film, Michael Clayton; and a closing night showing of The Savages at which both the film’s director Tamara Jenkins (Slums of Beverly Hills) and leading actress, Laura Linney will be in attendance.

The CIFF spans 13 days and nights, running through October 17. This then not only makes the CIFF one of the world’s longest film festivals, but founded in 1964, it is also one of the oldest.

Spotlighting more than 160 films in total: 102 feature films, 33 shorts and student films, and 14 documentaries emanating from 44 countries; this year’s CIFF festival purports to continue its mission of presenting quality works by both well-known and promising filmmakers.

The opening night festivities moved further south down Michigan Avenue to the Chicago Cultural Center where, in Preston Bradley Hall, a cocktail/hors d’oeuvres reception was held to commemorate the official start of the CIFF.

The festival line-up for the 13 days is taking place at a handful of theatres and venues throughout the city including: AMC’s River East 21, the Claudia Cassidy Theater (part of Northwestern University), the Harris Theater, Landmark (Chicago’s host forum for Indie films), and the Music Box, the city’s long-standing independent film house.