The Chicago International Film Festival is nearing the end of its 61st run — it wraps up on Oct. 26 — but there’s still time to catch some can’t-miss films. Thursday especially brings five impressive movies worth adding to the list. Most screen at indicated times at AMC NewCity 14, 1500 N. Clybourn Ave. unless noted otherwise.
“Train Dreams” (U.S.) Clint Bentley sublimely directs an indelible drama about a late 19th-century orphan turned logger, railroad laborer, husband and father. Joel Edgerton plays Robert, a deeply thoughtful man keenly attuned to majesty and tragedy in the Pacific Northwest. Scarred by scenes of injustice targeting outsiders and industrial crimes against nature, this character is a study in equanimity. Felicity Jones stars as his wife. Will Patton narrates this screen adaptation of a novella by Denis Johnson first seen in a 2002 issue of The Paris Review. (2 p.m.)
“Two Times João Liberada” (Portugal) A Lisbon actor named Joao (played by Lisbon actor June Joao) is cast in a biopic to depict a historical figure named Joao Liberada. A victim of Portugal’s Inquisition, the title character thwarts a cinematic re-victimization by haunting the low-budget independent production. Their ghost assumes an executive producer role and their film gets a reset. Intriguing takes on gender politics and film craft inspire this reflexive exercise shot on 16mm. Filmmaker Paula Tomás Marques will be there. (2:30 p.m. at Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St.)
“We Are Pat” (U.S.) Rowan Haber conducts an entertaining seminar of sorts with assorted trans and nonbinary comics to share personal, professional and political thoughts about the gender-ambiguous “Saturday Night Live” character Pat once played by Julia Sweeney. They invite her to an improvised TV writers room to re-imagine her ’90s sketch “It’s Pat!” and play clever dress-up, donning the character’s iconic wig and garb. This affectionate, insightful documentary is best at showing how Pat’s tangle of issues evolves over time. Haber and Sweeney will attend. (2:45 p.m.)
“The Kidnapping of Arabella” (Italy) Carolina Cavalli, who is scheduled to come for her North American premiere, writes and directs a road movie about a wildly willful 8-year-old daughter of a famous novelist father (played by Chris Pine) and a wacky, wrongheaded 28-year-old physics grad school dropout who imagines bratty Arabella is her young double. I’ts not really a kidnap-and-chase plot, but rather an entertaining back-and-forth between two characters doing a mutual remake. It’s just one among several fest films this year about a dad searching for a lost daughter. (5:15 p.m.)
“The Holy Boy” (Italy/Slovenia) A former judo champ gets a gig as a substitute gym teacher in a little village located in The Valley of Smiles, as a road sign and the film’s Italian title translates. Fifteen years ago a horrific train wreck traumatized locals. Thereafter, they seek healing hugs by a boy, now age 15 — except for those who there’s something awfully wrong about a kid who absorbs your hurt. Horror-tinged theology ensues. Director Paolo Strippoli will attend and take questions. (10:15 p.m. Oct. 23 and 2 p.m. Oct. 24 at Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St.)