The Chicago Underground Film Festival has announced the award winners from its 33rd edition, which concluded Sunday following five days of independent, experimental and underground cinema.
CUFF33 was the festival’s most successful edition in recent years, producing a 20% increase in both attendance and box-office revenue over 2025. The festival presented more than 100 films from 22 countries at the Gene Siskel Film Center and Harper Theater.
At Sunday’s awards ceremony, CUFF also announced that it will begin a new chapter in 2027 by moving to Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre and returning to its traditional early-summer position on the festival calendar. CUFF34 will take place June 9–13, 2027.
The audience greeted the announcement with cheers.
“This year’s growth confirmed that there is a substantial audience for adventurous filmmaking in Chicago,” said CUFF Programmer and Artistic Director Bryan Wendorf. “CUFF has spent more than three decades building a community around films that take genuine creative risks. Moving to the Music Box gives us an opportunity to build on that history and establish CUFF as a major international destination for independent, experimental and underground cinema.”
2026 Award Winners
CUFF has never regarded filmmaking as a contest. Each year, however, the festival celebrates work that leaves a particular impression. Rather than imposing fixed categories in advance, CUFF invites its jurors to create awards reflecting the films and ideas they encountered within that year’s program.
The 2026 award recipients are:
- Best Documentary: A Stranger Has No Eyes — C.S. Nicholson
- Best Essay Film: Every Contact Leaves a Trace — Lynne Sachs
- Best Archival Exploration: Daria’s Night Flowers — Maryam Tafakory
- Best Emotional Collapse Film: Placeholder — Jesse McLean
- Best Environmental Collapse Film: Document With No End — Kym McDaniel
- Best Artistic Process Collapse Film: Domestic Weights and Measures — Paul Tarragó
- Made in Chicago Award: Sistas in the Pit — Monet-Chanel Khanyahl
- Audience Award: Driven — Gabrielle Fitzpatrick and Max Fitzpatrick
2026 Jury
The 2026 jury consisted of Tom Colley, Anahita Ghazvinizadeh and Dirk Matthews.
Tom Colley directs New Channels Initiative, a research and development project addressing changes in nonprofit experimental and independent media distribution. During more than 25 years at Video Data Bank—first as archivist and later as director—he guided its transition from analog distribution to digital collections and educational streaming.
Anahita Ghazvinizadeh is an Iranian-American filmmaker, writer and educator whose work explores personhood, belonging, displacement and outsiderness. Her short film Needle won the Cinefondation First Prize at Cannes, and her debut feature, They, premiered in Cannes’ official selection. Her most recent film, My Life Is Wind (A Letter), premiered at Locarno and has screened internationally, including at the Museum of Modern Art. She is currently an Assistant Professor in Film, Video, New Media and Animation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Dirk Matthews is a practitioner-scholar, filmmaker, photographer and educator who has taught film and the arts for nearly 30 years. Drawing on his experience in clinical practice and arts-based healing, his work examines how creative expression can amplify overlooked voices and build resilience. He currently consults for arts and music colleges, helping creative individuals transition from higher education into sustainable careers. An award-winning architectural photographer, he has also screened films at the Tucson International Film Festival. He is happiest when his day includes coffee and a movie.
A New Home at the Music Box Theatre
Beginning in 2027, CUFF returns to Chicago’s historic, independently operated Music Box Theatre.
Opened in 1929, the Music Box is one of Chicago’s great movie houses and a longtime center for independent, international, repertory and cult cinema. It was ranked No. 9 on Time Out’s list of the 100 greatest cinemas in the world.
The Music Box’s three theaters, lounge and social spaces will give filmmakers and audiences room to move between screenings, conversations and special events throughout the festival.
What Does CUFF Mean by “Underground”?
Underground is not a genre, budget or style.
CUFF looks for films that take risks with form, aesthetics and subject matter—and for filmmakers willing to follow an idea wherever it leads. Experimental, narrative, documentary, animation, hybrid work, essay film, personal cinema, genre deconstruction and expanded media are all welcome. The festival values ambition over category.
If a film takes genuine creative risks—or simply could not have emerged from a studio mandate or streaming algorithm—CUFF is interested.
As Roger Ebert famously wrote of the festival:
“What you get for your money is not just admission to the films but admission to a subculture.”