Greetings from Ebertfest 2012

Greetings from Roger Ebert’s legendary film festival in his home town of Champaign/Urbana Illinois, also the home of the state university.  Once again, Roger has curated an extraordinary collection of films from the under-seen (Ebertfest was originally known as Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival) to the celebrated (this year’s Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film and Roger’s pick for the best movie of 2011, “A Separation”).  This year’s festival is dedicated to Roger’s friend Paul Cox, a Dutch-born Australian director (“My First Wife,” “Man of Flowers,” “Innocence”), whose illness and liver transplant are the subject of one of the festival’s highlights, the documentary, “On Borrowed Time.”

Yesterday, I appeared on a panel for a discussion of the ways that “On Demand” and other delivery options are changing the world of film and moderated a discussion of “A Separation.”  Today, I will interview author/memoirist Carolyn S. Briggs following the movie made based on her book about her faith journey, “Higher Ground.”