Annual Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival

BWiFF will be presenting its 15th festival at the Classic Cinemas Elk Grove XQ, located in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, from April 27-May 6, 2025.

Every year, the festival exhibits over 30 films from around the globe that compete for a variety of awards that range in genre, production, performance, and audience categories. Each film selected for exhibition and competition is screened in one theater over the course of the festival. Judges experience each film for the first time along with the audience. During the festival's week-long run, filmmakers are encouraged to attend and participate in QandA's moderated by a festival judge and any potential filmmaker panels. Each accepted filmmaker will receive two (2) festival passes.

Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival continues to build a reputation for exhibiting rare and compelling independent films while bridging the gap between the film-goer and the filmmaker.

Schedule of Events:

7:00 pm - 10:00 pm: Dawn Dusk + Short Selections

Dawn Dusk
Feature Documentary
Directors: Blue Gerber, Jason Gerber
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English

Chelli Look, an artist and designer specializing in handbags, faces overwhelming grief after the murder of her sister by her brother in law. In the years that follow, Chelli journeys towards healing, faces emotional setbacks, and moves on from creating out of pain, to make space for deeper restoration. Reconciling her healing with her future as an artist, Chelli has an unexpected revelation that leads her to close her business and brand, and look to a new "pink in the sky."

Preceded by

Allure
Short Narrative
Directors: Jerry van de Beek, Betsy De Fries
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English

A junior astronaut fulfills a dream of going to the moon. Once there, exhilaration gives way to reality. But what has been left behind? Created in a colorful, prismatic, 2D graphic style with a haunting soundtrack that echoes with loneliness.

The Deep Rolling: Magma
Music Video
Director: Robin Scovill
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English

When an explosive Detroit jazz sextet begins rehearsing in a desolate industrial lounge, their music awakens iconic producer Warren Defever from a transcendental hibernation and, guided by unseen forces, he drives his classic Ford to where they are playing, and utilizing vintage gear and old school recording techniques, captures and inspires-live on tape-the band's virtuoso, unrivaled performance.

Gillyfish
Short Narrative
Director: Sarah Sellman
Country of Origin: Ireland
Language: English

When Gillian takes on her partner's identity to confront their father, she finds a connection she didn't expect in the strange exchange she has with him. A short about healing by proxy, and stepping into new identities.

Back of the Net
Short Narrative
Director: Klara Kaliger
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Language: English

Maya, a passionate aspiring young footballer, is torn between her final shot at going professional and caring for the person who first inspired her pursuit of this dream, her grandmother Maggie. Although Maggie was once a skilled footballer of her day, that part of Maggie's memory is fracturing, due to her dementia. Meanwhile, Maya's commitment to training pulls her further away from her grandmother, until she is forced to make one final decision that could risk it all.