One theater; 51 countries.

This is what us three University students walked into, alongside hundreds of other moviegoers, Saturday morning in downtown Chicago.

Held annually during the month of October, the Chicago International Film Festival offers something of value to adventurous film lovers, wherever they’re from, wherever they’re going. We filed the following reports as the 2018-19 College of Media Roger Ebert Fellows in Arts Criticism.

We spent an afternoon and evening at the Chicago AMC River East 21 multiplex, near Navy Pier. (This year’s festival concluded over the weekend.) Some of the films we saw will screen at a theater near you in a few weeks or a couple of months. Most of the titles hailed from outside of the U.S. and many films are still seeking theatrical distribution.

Many of these films are worth your time, if or when they become available online or in theaters.