BWiFF 2025

2025 Screening Schedule

2025 Virtual Events

2025 Features Official Selections

• An Autumn Summer (United States)
• Battersea (United States)
• Dawn Dusk (United States)
• Never Not Yours (United States)
• The Pantone Guy (United States)
• Segal (United States)

2025 Shorts Official Selections

• Allure (United States)
• Audio Description (United States)
• Back of the Net (United Kingdom)
• Cascades (United States)
• The Deep Rolling: Magma (United States)
• Flush (United States)
• Get Your Line In & Pray (United States)
• Gillyfish (Ireland)
• Triskaidekaphobe (United States)
• Just Be Awesome (United Kingdom)
• Nothing Safer (United States)
• Sally, Get the Potatoes (United States)
• The Seas Between Us (Canada)
• Shouting at the Sea (United States)
• Smoothie (United States)
• Telekinetik (United States)
• The Therapy Room (United States)
• Water Baby (United States)
• When Everything Was Blue (United States)
• Why (United States)

2025 Beyond Official Selections

• Discovering Catharine (United States)
• Eugene O’Neill’s The First Man (United Kingdom)
• Shiners: Voices from Owsley County (United States)
• Stampila (Republic of Moldova)
• Taste the Revolution (United States)
• Traumnovelle (Germany)

About the 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. The 2025 Blue Glass Awards ceremony will be privately recorded and premiere on Wednesday, May 14, 2025 on YouTube and the festival website.

Award-winning films will be featured in a special BWiFF 2025 Encore event following the festival at the historic Music Box Theatre, located in the Wrigleyville neighborhood of Chicago’s north side.

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 Q&A’s moderated by a festival judge and any potential filmmaker panels. Each accepted filmmaker will receive two (2) festival passes.

Beyond the summer festival, BWiFF is proud to present exciting programming year-round, including screenings, networking events, roundtables, and more through the organization’s Cinema Centennial and Imbibe Cinema programs. For information on year-round events and partnership opportunities, contact us.

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.

Awards & Prizes

Best of Fest
Audience Favorite
Best of Illinois
Best Narrative Feature
Best Documentary Feature
Best Narrative Short
Best Documentary Short
Best Music Video
Best Animation
Best Experimental
Best Director
Best Screenplay
Best Lead Performance
Best Supporting Performance
Best Achievement by a Young Actor
Best Editing
Best Sound
Best Cinematography
Best Production Design
Best Original Score

*Awards are subject to change without notice. There must be at least two films in each category to be eligible. Each year, awards may be added or subtracted from the list above at the discretion of our guest judges.

Classic Cinemas Elk Grove XQ
1050 Elk Grove Town Center
Elk Grove Village, Illinois 60007

Classic Cinemas Tivoli Theatre
5021 Highland Avenue
Downers Grove, Illinois 60515

Music Box Theatre
3733 N Southport Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60613

Facets Film Forum
1517 W. Fullerton Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60614

Palatine Public Library
700 N. North Court
Palatine, Illinois 60067

Hyatt Place Chicago/Itasca
1150 N. Arlington Heights Road
Itasca, Illinois 60143