Oak Park, IL Film Festival

09/14/2026

Don’t miss our Industry Panel: What SAG-AFTRA and Stunts Add to a Production. 🎬 💥
It starts at 12:15 on 9/20. Presented by Brian Peters, Leah Hudspeth, Jess Jones.
Included with Weekend Pass or Block 5 ticket.
Leah Hudspeth is a SAG-AFTRA stunt performer and actress, represented by The Rock Talent Agency. Her most recentcredits include Power Book: Force, The Bear, Little 5, and Chicago Fire.
Jess Jones is a Business Representative with SAG-AFTRA Chicago. With almost 20 years of entertainment experience, she advocates for performers while guiding emerging filmmakers through the process of working with union talent.
Brian Peters is a 30 year veteran of stunts. He is a SAG-AFTRA Chicago local board member, co-chair of the Chicago Stunt Committee, and member of the National Stunt Committee.
Block and Weekend tickets are available on our website www.opilff.org/tickets

09/14/2026

🔀 Transitions, as hard as they can be, are part of the human experience.

Come with us on a journey through these 5 filmmaker’s deeply changing moments.

ABEL: photographer who abruptly lost his sight reflects on the paradox of his disability: how his loss of vision has enabled him to truly see. Abel Berumen, the subject of the film, lives in Oak Park. Directed by Brian Zahm, an Experimental Film Production teacher at DePaul.

Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum: A genetic disease slowly takes the filmmaker’s eyesight away. The personal journey of director/ writer/ photographer and Oak Park resident since 1985, Abel Berumen.

In the Realm of the Heart: A loving wife wants to throw a surprise birthday party for her husband. Directed by Doug Burch, whos family lives in Oak Park.

Judgment Day​:Caught in a liminal space between life and death, a young woman named Zoe finds herself confronted with the events of her past as an otherworldly being questions her about humanity and morality. Directed by first time filmmaker and Oak Park resident, Hayley Pellow.

Saying Goodbye: A Personal Documentary of Attachment and Loss at the End of Life: An intimately filmed documentary of family conversations with Dr. Fox’s father as he reaches the end of his life at age 97. Directed by filmmaker, Professor Emerita of Clinical Psychiatry and Adjunct Professor of Medical Education at UICOM, and Oak Park resident since 1989, Geraldine ("Geri") Fox

09/12/2026

🌳 Here in Oak Park IL, we care deeply about the connection we have with our community culture, the environment, and creating a positive impact to pass on to the next generation.

This block explores those themes:

Be the People: Six profiles of people from the Oak Park, IL community striving to make a positive difference in their own ways. Directed OP resident, Columbia College adjunct professor, Wednesday Journal contributor, and previous year OPILFF filmmaker, Risé A Sanders-Weir.

Belly Button - Chapter 2 Mezcal: The sacred journey of mezcal production, where ancient techniques passed down through families reveal how culinary traditions preserve indigenous identity in modern Mexico. Directed by Oak Park resident, Dan Goldberg

Generating Our Future: The growing demand for computing power has spurred the building of data centers all around the Great Lakes region as well as the need for community management of resources. Directed by the following 8th graders from The Childrens School in Oak Park: Amelia Richards, Holly Murphy, Indra Maliik, Jasmine Dola, Otto Bruner, William Peterson

Lou Holtz: 60 Minutes To Play and a Lifetime To Remember: Hall of Fame coach Lou Holtz comes out of retirement to coach his final football game: a team of alumni players as old as 52 to challenge the best players in Japan inside the Tokyo Dome. Directed by Ted Mandell, a professor of Film, Television, and Theatre at the University of Notre Dame for nearly 40 years.

Nasty: Nasty tells the story of Lt. Col. Daniel Nash, an F-15 pilot who was scrambled from Otis Air National Guard Base at supersonic speed on the morning of September 11, 2001, to intercept what was believed to be a hijacked commercial airliner. Directed by John Gerald Scaletta and produced by Stephanie Scaletta of Oak Park Township and a member of the Oak Park Chamber of Commerce.

09/11/2026

We had a great time live on Fox! Thank you everyone who was able to tune in!

09/11/2026

Don’t miss our Industry Panel: What SAG-AFTRA and Stunts Add to a Production. 🎬 💥

It starts at 12:15 on 9/20. Presented by Brian Peters, Leah Hudspeth, Jess Jones.

Included with Weekend Pass or Block 5 ticket.

Leah Hudspeth is a SAG-AFTRA stunt performer and actress, represented by The Rock Talent Agency. Her most recentcredits include Power Book: Force, The Bear, Little 5, and Chicago Fire.

Jess Jones is a Business Representative with SAG-AFTRA Chicago. With almost 20 years of entertainment experience, she advocates for performers while guiding emerging filmmakers through the process of working with union talent.

Brian Peters is a 30 year veteran of stunts. He is a SAG-AFTRA Chicago local board member, co-chair of the Chicago Stunt Committee, and member of the National Stunt Committee.

Block and Weekend tickets are available on our website www.opilff.org/tickets

09/10/2026

Thank you for this excellent feature, Wednesday Journal!!

Venice. Cannes. Toronto. Sundance. Tribeca. South by Southwest.

And — Oak Park?

Major film festivals have long taken center stage as vital cultural and commercial launchpads connecting visionary directors and renowned filmmakers with audiences and critics. But in 2023, a group of Oak Park creatives came together to establish the village’s very own film festival, proving masterful cinema and storytelling doesn’t just happen on global stages.

Now in its third year, the Oak Park – IL Film Festival (OPILFF) has established itself as a celebration of independent cinema right in our own backyard — an annual event honoring filmmakers who share a deep-rooted bond with the community through projects spotlighting Oak Park through content, casting, crew or setting.

Read more: https://www.oakpark.com/2026/09/08/oak-park-centric-film-festival-third-year/

09/09/2026

Planning on buying weekend passes or block tickets?
Don't miss our Early Bird Sale 🦅
The prices rise tomorrow!

Buy tickets at www.opilff.org/tickets

09/09/2026

🌚 The saying goes ‘nothing good happens after midnight’ but nobody said anything about 7pm at OPILFF!

Here’s what you’re in for during our After Dark block:

No Clean Hammer: A solitary man from Bosnia drives from Tuzla to Sweden to recover his mother’s body. Directed by OPRF graduate Brent L. Butler

Last Night: Rose uncovers a sinister video depicting what happened last night with her friends. Directed by Oak Park resident Tyler Lubinus

Enter the void: A paper story: In a never-before-seen episode of hit 90's sitcom, "Doing Well On Paper", Nathan discovers that something isn't quite right. Shot on location in Oak Park and directed by Jacob Mitzenmacher

The Antidote: A married couple discovers reconciliation via [SPOILER]. This film is Dedicated to Oak Park composer Bernie Metzger (1950-2026). Directed by Sarah Falkiner

Here to Help: To combat her loneliness, an isolated dweller of the Northern Territory is assigned a Humanoid – but how far will it go to help? Directed by third year OPILFF filmmaker, Dan Aho.

Clout: What begins as a reckless bid for clout spirals into a toxic obsession that crushes a friendship under the weight of the algorithm. Directed by Kasper Kavalaris DP is OPILFF board member, Gabriel Garavaglia

The Hitchhiker: Stranded after his car breaks down, a man hitches a ride with a seemingly harmless driver, only to discover too late that his savior is not who he thinks he is. Directed by highschool junior Marco Delgado

09/08/2026

👩‍👧‍👦 3 films centered around community systems and self Identity.

(SAHAR): A documentary portrait of Muslim immigrants in Chicago — first generation, second generation, people who have been reduced to stereotype, to headline, to suspicion; people who arrived carrying one world and built another inside it. Directed by Lali Khalid

Sur La Kuro: Two humanoid LAWs (Lethal Autonomous Weapons) achieve free will and refuse to carry out their killing assignments… and form a rock band. Directed by Brett Miller, Vic Butera, Mike Yndestad

Surviving Zendik Farm​: For decades, Zendik Farm promised utopia while calling mainstream society the Death Culture; former members must rebuild their lives in the very world they had forsaken. Directed by Dan Greenstone, Travis Chandler