3rd Annual City of Lights Film Festival

September 18 - 20, 2025

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Join us in September and take in all that the downtown area has to offer—small businesses, outdoor art, diverse dining options—and make your attendance at the 3rd annual City of Lights Film Festival a weekend of community and connection...and of course, film!

Whether you come as a film goer, selected filmmaker, or aspiring artist, you are a part of the festival's fabric. Join us!

MOVE YA BODY: THE BIRTH OF HOUSE: This documentary explores resistance through the life of the first person to record a House song, Vince Lawrence. Experience the story of house music and how queer black, brown, and femme dance culture survived the backlash of its existence and grew into something beloved by many. Through archival recreation and interviews with the founders of house music, the events of Vince’s creative life are set against the backdrop of Chicago’s volatile contemporary history of segregation.

23 HORAS: A mysterious object transports Manolo to an alternate reality of Puerto Rico. He and the gatekeeper Lorena discover the object is one of three other pieces that must be put back together to send Manolo home. [Presented in Spanish with English subtitles]

GHOSTLIGHT: GHOSTLIGHT centers on Dan, a melancholic middle-aged construction worker grieving a family tragedy who finds comfort and community in a misfit company of amateur actors. While moonlighting in a low-rent production of Shakespeare’s most protean tragedy, Dan is forced to confront his buried emotions.

EVERY LITTLE THING: Author and wildlife rehabber Terry Masearhas an ambitious goal: to save every injured hummingbird in Los Angeles. This heart-expanding Sundance hit introduces audiences to Terry's diminutive patients through breathtaking slow-motion photography and emotional storytelling. Through Terry's eyes, each bird becomes memorable, mighty and heroic.

SUNFISH (& OTHER STORIES ON GREEN LAKE): Lives intertwine around Green Lake as a girl learns to sail, a boy fights for first chair, two sisters operate a bed-and-breakfast, and a fisherman is after the catch of his life. This anthology film was written, directed, and produced by Sierra Falconer in her feature film debut.

SLICE OF LIFE: THE AMERICAN DREAM. IN FORMER PIZZA HUTS: "Slice of Life: The American Dream. In Former Pizza Huts."is a contemporary portrait of America, observed within the walls of former Pizza Hut buildings across the country. These nostalgic spaces hold memories of a bygone era, but through the power of transformation, they provide something new and special for the communities that continue to flow through them. From an LGBTQ+ church in Florida, to a karaoke bar in Texas, to a cannabis dispensary in rural Colorado, these modern-day portraits are paralleled with the origin story of Pizza Hut - one of America's most iconic brands, and the two brothers who founded the company in Wichita, Kansas in 1958.

Click Here To Purchase Tickets!

Head to our Eventbrite page to view and purchase all screening and event tickets, read about what you can expect at each site, and get your questions answered.

Locations

All venues for films and events will be located in downtown Aurora.

More Information

Please contact the City of Aurora Communications & Marketing Division:

630-256-3367, filmoffice@aurora.il.us