More from Ebertfest

Posted on April 29, 2012 at 9:49 am

Many thanks to Melissa Merli of the News-Gazette for her superb coverage of Ebertfest, especially her fine pieces about the two events I moderated. She wrote about the discussion following “Higher Ground:”

Nell Minow, who with Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, joined Briggs on stage, asked how the writer would now fill out a form asking her religion.

Briggs replied she would probably “leave that little box blank” and then quoted the poet Rainer Maria Rilke: “Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves … .”

Now an associate professor of English at Marshalltown Community College in Iowa, Briggs decided to write “This Dark World” while working on a master of fine arts degree in creative writing at the University of Arkansas, where a professor told her it would sell if she told the truth.

And for our discussion following “A Separation:

When “A Separation” was announced as the Oscar winner for foreign film earlier this year, the four rows of other nominees for best foreign film all rose to give director Asghar Farhadi a standing ovation.

“He turned around and saw that, and he had tears in his eyes,” Barker related. “It’s such a testament to the power of the film.

“It defies all odds.”

Barker called the taut family drama a perfect film in every regard and Farhadi an amazing observer of social behaviors.

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Watch Ebertfest Streaming and Follow on Twitter

Posted on April 25, 2012 at 11:46 pm

Ebertfest began tonight and I’ll be there tomorrow. You’ll hear my thoughts but you can also be there yourself — virtually. And follow us on @ebertfest

Note my appearances with “Higher Ground” and “A Separation.”

The intros will be brief; the Q&As can run 30-45 minutes. Start times for Q&As are approximate. Onstage personalities are subject to change.

For Ebert’s intro and comments on every film in the festival, see his blog entry here.

The master list:

• April 25, 7:00 p.m.
“Joe Versus the Volcano” introduction with Chaz and Roger Ebert: http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 25, 8:30 p.m.
“Joe Versus the Volcano” Q&A. Moderator, Christy Lemire. Guests: Stephen Goldbatt and Brazillian film critic Pablo Villaca. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 25, 10:00 p.m.
“Phunny Business” and “The Truth about Beauty & Blogs” introduction by Chaz Ebert. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 25, 11:45 p.m.
“Phunny Business: A Black Comedy” Q&A. Moderator: Chaz Ebert. Guests: Director John Davies, producer Raymond Lambert, comedians Ali LeRoi, Kelechi Ezie. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 26, 9:00 a.m.
Panel: “The Personal and Political in Film.” Moderator, Nate Kohn. Guests: Paul Cox, Robert Siegel, Jacob Wysocki, Seema Biswas, Azazel Jacobs, Alrick Brown, Prashant Bhargava, Kevin B. Lee, Ali LeRoi (tentative). http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 26, 10:30 a.m.
Panel: “Far Flung Correspondents: What’s New in Cinema Around the World?” Regular columnists for Ebert’s website. Moderator: Omer Mozaffar, Chicago. Members: Micha? Oleszczyk, Poland; Gerardo Valero, Mexico; Pablo Villaca, Brazil; Grace Wang, Canada; Wael Khairy, Egypt; Ali Arikan, Turkey; Krishna Shenoi, India; Scott Jordan Harris, Great Britain; Olivia Collette, Canada. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 26, 1:00 p.m.
“Big Fan” introduction with star Patton Oswalt. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 26, 2:30 p.m.
“Big Fan” Q&A. Moderator, Christy Lemire. Guests; Patton Oswalt, Robert Siegel, Steve Prokopy of Ain’t It Cool News. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 26, 4:00 p.m.
“Kinyarwanda” introduction with director Alrick Brown.

• April 26, 5:30 p.m.
“Kinyarwanda” Q&A. Moderator: David Bordwell. Guests: Alrick Brown, writer/director; Darren Dean, producer; Ishmael Ntihabose, executive producer and story; producers Tommy Oliver and Deatra Harris. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 26, 8:30 p.m.
“Terri” introduction with writer-director Azazel Jacobs and Chaz Ebert: http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 26, 10:15 p.m.
“Terri” Q&A session. Moderator, Christy Lemire.
Azazel Jacobs, writer-director; Jacob Wysocki, actor. http://ustre.am/JauL

•April 27, 9:00 a.m.
Panel: “Underrepresented Cinematic Voices.” Moderator: Eric Pierson, Guests: John Davies, Doc Erickson, Carolyn Briggs, Darren Dean, Michell Davis, Hadidja Zaninka, Richard Leskosky, Ishmael Ntihabose, Jaideep Punjabi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Kelechi Ezie, Raymond Lambert. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 27, 10:30 a.m.
Panel: “ON DEMAND: Movies without Theaters.” Featuring critics on Ebert’s web site who write advance reviews of films On Demand. Moderator, website editor Jim Emerson. Guests: The Demanders (Steven Boone, Odie Henderson, Jana J. Monji, and a shout-out to Jeff Shannon in Seattle). Other guests: David Bordwell, Steve “Capone” Prokopy, Nell Minow, David Poland. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 27, 1:00 p.m.
“On Borrowed Time” introduction: Paul Cox and Chaz Ebert, http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 27, 2:30 p.m.
“On Borrowed Time” Q&A. With Paul Cox, Chaz Ebert and Nate Kohn. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 27, 4:00 p.m.
“Wild and Weird” introduction with David Bordwell. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 27, 5:30 p.m.
“Wild and Weird” Q&A. Moderator: David Bordwell. Guests: The Alloy Orchestra (Terry Donahue, Ken Winokur, Roger Miller), David Poland, David Lee. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 27, 8:30 p.m.
“A Separation” introduction. With Michael Barker. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 27, 10:30 p.m.
” A Separation” Q&A. Moderator: Nel Minow. Guests: Michael Barker, Ali Arikan. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 28, 1:00 p.m.
“Higher Ground” introduction. By Michael Barker. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 28, 2:45 p.m.
“Higher Ground” Q&A. Moderator, Nell Minow. Carolyn S. Briggs, writer; Michael Barker. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 28, 4:00 p.m.
“Patang (The Kite)” introduction, by Prashant Bhargava. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 28, 5:30 p.m.
“Patang (The Kite)” Q&A. Nate Kohn, moderator. Guests: Prashant Bhargava, director; Jaideep Punjabi, producer; Seema Biswas and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, leading actors; Vijay Bhargava, executive producer; Omer Mozaffar. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 28, 8:30 p.m.
“Take Shelter” introduction by writer-director Jeff Nichols. http://ustre.am/JauL

•April 28, 10:30
“Take Shelter” Q&A. Moderator, Michael Barker. Guests: Actor Michael Shannon, writer-director Jeff Nichols. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 29, 12:00 p.m.
“Citizen Kane” introduction by Roger Ebert. http://ustre.am/JauL

• April 29, 2:00 p.m.
“Citizen Kane” Q&A. Discussants: David Bordwell, Jeffrey Lerner. http://ustre.am/JauL

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Ebertfest: The Schedule

Posted on April 15, 2012 at 8:00 am

I’m thrilled to be attending Roger Ebert’s film festival again this year. Next week, I will return to Champaign-Urbana Illinois to help present two magnificent films, “Higher Ground” and this year’s Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film, “A Separation.” Can’t make it to Illinois? You can watch all of the presentations online. And of course I will be posting updates. Hope to see some of you there!

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25
7:00 pm	Joe Versus the Volcano (PG; 94 min)	Stephen Goldblatt Cinematographer, DP
10:00 pm	The Truth About Beauty & Blogs (13 min)	Kelechie Ezie Writer, Co-Producer, Actor
10:15 pm	Phunny Business: A Black Comedy (84 min)	John Davies Writer, Director, Producer Raymond Lambert Writer, Producer Reid Brody Producer Ali LeRoi Comedian

THURSDAY, APRIL 26
1:00 pm	Big Fan (R; 88 min)	Robert Siegel Director Patton Oswalt Actor
4:00 pm	Kinyarwanda (96 min)	Alrick Brown Writer, Director, Producer Ishmael Ntihabose Executive Producer, Story Darren Dean Producer Tommy Oliver Producer Deatra Harris Producer Cassandra Freeman Actor Hadidja Zaninka Actor
8:30 pm	Terri (R; 105 min)	Azazel Jacobs Director Jacob Wysocki Actor
10:30 pm	Kind Hearts and Coronets (110 min)*	Hosted by Patton Oswalt, Actor Foellinger Auditorium / University of Illinois campus Free and open to the public

FRIDAY, APRIL 27
1:00 pm	On Borrowed Time (87 min)	Paul Cox Subject (Australian Director)
4:00 pm	Wild AND Weird: The Alloy Orchestra Plays 10 Fascinating and Innovative Films 1906-1926 (PG: 80 min)	Alloy Orchestra
8:30 pm	A Separation (PG-13; 123 min)	Peyman Moadi Actor

SATURDAY, APRIL 28
1:00 pm	Higher Ground (R; 109 min)	Carolyn S. Briggs Writer
4:00 pm	Patang (The Kite) (92 min)	Prashant Bhargava Writer, Director Jaideep Punjabi Producer Vijay Bhargava Executive Producer Ranjana Bhargava Associate Producer Seema Biswas Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui Actor
8:30 pm	Take Shelter (R; 120 min)	Jeff Nichols Director Michael Shannon Actor Michael Barker Distributor

SUNDAY, APRIL 29
12:00 pm	Citizen Kane (PG; 119 min)	Audio commentary by Roger Ebert Intro and Q&A by David Bordwell Jeffrey Lerner Producer for audio commentary

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News-Gazette Report on My Ebertfest Panel

Posted on April 25, 2010 at 9:28 am

Champaign’s News Gazette wrote a nice piece about our panel discussion on “Synecdoche, New York” with writer-director Charlie Kaufman. Reporter Melissa Merli called it “perhaps the liveliest post-screening discussion so far.”

said he explores themes in which he’s interested and that are going on in his life.

“It gets complicated and messy,” he said. “I usually don’t have an outline unless I have to pitch. I try to keep it honest and emotionally kind of naked.”

During the audience Q-and-A, Roger Ebert, who lost his speaking voice due to complications following surgeries for thyroid cancer, had his wife, Chaz, ask the Kaufman panel to discuss the film from the aspect of life and death. The critic said he watched “Synecdoche” at a time of illness and that it “enormously helped” him understand his life.

Kaufman said it was very meaningful for him to hear that. The writer-director also said the most any writer in general can offer as a creative person is to be themselves and to be as honest as they can be “because maybe then you can bridge a distance between you and other people” and make them feel less alone.

“We should recognize we are not in opposition to one another,” Kaufman said. “I think we live in an alienating culture that puts people at odds with each other. To what end, I don’t know.

“Worry about illness and missed opportunities and missed connections with people — that’s what I tried to put in the movie.”

For this panel and more, check out the Ebertfest webcast.

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Today at Ebertfest

Posted on April 24, 2010 at 12:22 pm

I will be on stage following I Capture the Castle today. Unfortunately, the travel delays in Europe kept Bill Nighy from attending the festival as planned, but we will have a good audience discussion. Then, we will see Vincent: a Life in Color, a documentary about a Chicago man who wears suits the color of jellybeans and entertains the crowds on the Chicago River boats by twirling. He is here at the festival and came up to me last night to make a joke about my last name (better than most!).

All that and more coming up. Stay tuned.

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