I can tell you now about what I got from Melinda for Christmas! It was/is a trip to
Ebertfest - the film festival organized and run by Chicago film critic Roger Ebert for 15 years! Of course, this is the 16th year, and the anniversary of his passing was just a couple weeks ago. So while I actually swapped e-mails with him a few years ago, there is no way to turn back the clock and shake his hand.
Many of us became fans of his when he and Gene Siskel had a give-and-take movie review show that stretched back to the 70s and made them media stars. Over the years Gene died of brain cancer in '99, and Roger had thyroid and salivary gland cancer, which in 2006 required surgery that left him unable to speak, eat or drink. Like a blind man's developing extraordinary hearing, the loss of his ability to speak and depend on the written word (he had been a newspaperman his entire lie) improved his writing skills further. It was during this time that I became a big fan of his writing, looking forward to frequent posts on his journal.
It is still on line and easy to lose hours in his reading. I've got favorites among his posts -
his entry on Steak 'n' Shake is a classic - years after his feeding tube was installed, he describes the emotions and tastes of a burger and fries he enjoys in his dreams... Another is
his perfect description of growing up in a small town in the Midwest. I contributed occasionally to his comments - just about the happiest day in the last 5 years was when he responded to one of my comments (rare for him) in my response to some of his complaints of 3D movies. Anyway, Melinda and I had talked of going one of these years, and she surprised me with festival tickets for Christmas!
Fortunately, his widow Chaz stepped up with festival organizers and an army of volunteers and picked out the slate of this year's movies. Melinda and I are looking forward to a couple of the classics that are already favorites, and expect to enjoy the rest as well. Directors Spike Lee and Oliver Stone will be here to introduce the 25th anniversary showings of their movies "Do The Right Thing" and "Born on the 4th of July" in the coming days. There are 12 movies over the 5 days, so it should be a great time!
After arriving in Champaign, IL late yesterday, we stopped by the Virginia Theater this afternoon for our passes, and took the obligatory pictures and noted the honorary street renaming.
The
Virginia Theater is a REAL theater, not a little multiplex like you see these days! Built in the 1920s, it served as a vaudeville stage, legitimate theater and movie house. Seating nearly 1500, it is HUGE and underwent a massive restoration in the early 2000s. It has served as the home of Ebertfest for many years, if not its full 16 year run. The first offering was tonight, and we got into the Virginia for the first time. Arriving 90 minutes before showtime, we got in a block-long line, which grew to 2 blocks long before they opened the door 60 minutes before the 7:30 screening. After talking to a fellow next to us in line (a 12-time veteran!), we decided to join him in the balcony and take in the show from the front row. We enjoyed an organ recital with the old Wurlitzer pipe organ (from memory w/no sheet music!), while ads from supporters and images from Roger and Chaz' life were projected.
Appropriately enough, tonight's opening offering was a documentary about the life and career of Roger Ebert named "Life Itself", based on his autobiographical memoir. Director Steve James was given unrestricted access to film Roger and Chaz, unknowingly only 4 months before his untimely death. While his daily life and medical struggles towards the end of his life were shocking, the archival footage and interviews with friends, family and cinema insiders made for a very entertaining feature. Of course the entire house, being Ebert fans, loved it - there were lots of laughs and tears flowing, and afterwards there was a panel discussion with Chaz (who also greeted us and introduced the movie at left), director Steve James (who won a "thumbs up" award), and Bill Nack, a coworker and lifelong friend featured prominently in the film. It was interesting to hear some of the behind-the scenes info and be able to ask questions to the principles involved - one of the traits of the film festival - interactions with the directors or actors after the showing.
Enough for now, but likely more as the week progresses...
The morning after our last post and the end of day one of
the festival was an emotional event. The
night before was the regional premier of “Life Itself”, an emotional review of
his career and last months of his life. On Thursday morning was the unveiling of a statue of Roger that is to
grace the front of the Virginia Theater, home of Ebertfest. It was a race against time to get the financing and casting finished in time for this year’s event, and it should be
permanently located by the city of Champaign (requires some rework of curbs and
planters) before next year’s version. The
image at left shows the noontime unveil, with a good sized crowd with Chaz and
artist Rick Harney looking on at the right side. At right, Chaz has a private moment seeing her husband’s image for the first time. While eventually the emotions settled down, the double whammy of “Life
Itself” and the statue unveil the first 24 hours of the festival affected her a
lot. By today she was back to her
lively, energetic self as she introduced each screening, or one of the
principles who made the movie, director, actor or producer...
The statue of Roger is meant to be interactive. He is shown with an empty theater seats on
either side and the public is welcome to join him. Many took the opportunity to have pictures
taken with his image, and of course, we had to do it too. It wasn’t difficult to find volunteers to
take pictures for you, and Melinda and I got our portrait joining Roger’s
“thumbs up” trademark sign. Eventually
he will be mounted over on the east side of the marquee (he is on the west side
here). The fundraising continued through
the weekend, as they were still $25,000 short. The fellow manning the donation box observed the reverence that the
Ebertfest attendees paid to the artwork...
We had high-profile guests there! It was the 25th anniversary of a
couple big movies – Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing”, and Oliver Stone’s “Born
on the Fourth of July”, and both were here to present the films and discuss
them with the audience afterwards. I had
always been impressed with “Do the Right Thing”, and it was great to see it in
a big theater and screen with an appreciative crowd. For those who have not seen it, it documents
a hot day on a Brooklyn block when racial tension flares into violence. The performances are legendary and feature a
lot of new faces that are now a who’s who of American cinema, including the
screen debuts of Martin Lawrence and Rosie Perez. Commenting on what a strong year for movies
1998 was, when Spike was asked which movie won the best movie Oscar that year,
he said “Driving Miss (^%&#@!) Daisy”, a movie with a slightly calmer
comment on racial relationships... “Do the
Right Thing” wasn’t even nominated for Best Movie, but was nominated for
original screenplay (Spike Lee) and Best Supporting Actor (Danny Aiello),
though won neither...
I’d never seen Oliver Stone’s “Born on the Fourth of July”,
based on the book by Ron Kovic and starring a young Tom Cruise. While the movie starts out as a gung-ho recruiting
poster for the Vietnam War, the returning wounded veteran Kovic becomes
disillusioned and comes out against the war, making Stone’s epic a powerful
anti-war commentary (Stone served over a year in Vietnam). Stone’s movie WAS nominated for Best Picture,
and received a total of 8 nominations, winning Stone the Best Director
Oscar. Realize Stone also directed
“Platoon”, based on his own experiences of the war... In the Q&A session after the movie, he
noted that the movie was initially set for approval 10 years earlier, with Al
Pacino (admittedly much older playing the teenager Ron Kovic than Cruise
eventually did) playing the lead, but the financing fell out, the project
languishing for decade until Cruise came
along after “Top Gun” made him a star. 
It is details like this that make the festival movie-going
experience so much richer. On Thursday
we saw the incredible movie “Short Term 12”, a year-old movie I’d never even
heard of! It tells the story of a foster
care center for at-risk teens, and the young adults who work with them, as well
as work out their own personal problems. Two of the stars, Brie Larson and Keith Stanfield (shown in the left image with "Movie Mom", Nell Minow) were here and held
court at the Q&A session – receiving the first extended standing ovation of
the festival! The story and performances
just blew everyone away – it was difficult to believe it was filmed in 10
days... The next day I ran into Keith (shown in the right image) out
in front of the theater during one of the breaks between movies and I was able
to chat with him for a minute or two (he liked my glasses!), and finding out
what else he has coming out. He is
excited to be involved with a new movie about MLK in “Selma".
While I thought nothing could dislodge “Short term 12” as my
favorite movie of the festival on day 2, on day 4 we saw “Wadjda”, which
changed that! Named after the central
character, played by a 12-year old actress Waad Mohammed, she is a rebellious
girl who more than anything else wants a bicycle to ride with her male friend. It tells her everyday struggles in school and
the innovative way she goes about earning her bike. This is the first feature film made in Saudi
Arabia by a female director, where women cannot drive and are segregated in
public. The director, Haifaa Al-Monsour
was there to receive her full 2 minute standing ovation (shown here with Sony
Pictures Classics co-founder Michael Barker at the Q&A), and told the story
about how she had to film exterior scenes from a van interior; get special
permission from the parents for their children to act in the movie. The real-life parents of the principle
actress are only going to allow her to act until she is 16 when she will be
married off...
So it was a great time – we’re actually talking about a
return to a future version. Chaz seems a
credible hostess- certainly the task seems thrust upon her by the death of her
namesake husband. I like that she does
not imitate the job Roger does as critic, but rather introduces other
acknowledged critics or industry experts to perform introductions and lead the
Q&A sessions. After 5 days, I love
the Virginia theater! It has spectacular
décor, and I may have a post simply about some of those details. The seats aren’t necessarily comfortable for
my “wide load”, and the tiny bathrooms are inadequate for that many days of
full-houses, but I accept that it is a tradition, and after the rounds of rehab
it has gone through, it is a spectacular venue. It sounds like Ebertfest will continue to go on, and after our first,
we’re looking forward to it again as well. 
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