The 36th Chicago International Film Festival runs October 5-21. I spent two days attending the Festival and I saw four movies. There are over 100 films being screened this year. The four films I've seen are: The Day I Became a Woman, One Week, The Visit, and George Washington. I use a five-star rating system.

The first movie I will be telling you about, The Day I Became A Woman, is from Iran. The spoken language is Farsi, with English subtitles. The first part is about a girl who at the age of nine has her childhood life grabbed away. In Iran a girl is considered a woman at nine. She has to wear the long clothes and cover her hair and face, and she can no longer play with boys. This young girl was born at noon, so she has one hour to still be a little girl and to play with her best friend, the boy next door. The second story in this movie is about a 27 year old woman who wants to ride a bike. But her tribe does not allow this. The third character is an old woman who spends her money on things she's never had in her life. Appliances like a refrigerator, "So I can have cold water", she says. I give this movie 3 ***.

The film One Week shows us seven days in the life of the main character, Varon, a professional, young black man, who is about to get married on Saturday. On Monday he finds out he might be HIV Positive. Does he tell his fiancee or does he just keep quiet and hope for the best? This is a dramatic cliffhanger story. The film won critical praise at the Black Film Festival in Acapulco, Mexico, last summer.Even though there's a lot of profanity and some violence, I still give it 4 ****.

The Visit is the story of a 29 year old, black man, who's been in prison five years. He's serving a 25-year sentence, convicted of a rape, which he says he didn't commit. His name is Alex. His parents have never visited him. He tells his older brother, Tony, "It took you ten months to visit." Alex has been living with AIDS. Alex always dreams of getting out of jail and having some time with all of his family. This is the story of how a family is finally brought together. My rating is 4 ****.

The fourth and final movie I saw is George Washington. This movie is about a 13-year old black boy, who has a brain problem, but he's not handicapped. He wears a protective helmet, but he tries to live his life the way he wants. His best friends are Buddy, Vernon and Sonja. Their games and play are often rough, and one day Buddy is accidentally killed. He's pushed and slips in a puddle of water, as they play in the bathroom of an abandoned warehouse. Buddy's head lands on the cement floor. At first he just seems dazed, but a minute later he's banging on the bathroom door and screaming, then he falls and dies. This is a story I'll remember for a long time and I give this film 5 *****.