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Over the next four days, Ebertfest will showcase overlooked, forgotten and underrepresented films at the Virginia Theater, providing a space for casual and expert film enthusiasts to come together and share their love for cinema.
Ebertfest is an annual film festival organized by the College of Media that invites directors, producers and actors to host Q&A sessions with the audience and promote open conversations about film critique.
The festival was founded in 1999 by Roger Ebert, a Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic who famously wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times. He passed away in 2013, leaving his legacy behind to his wife Chaz Ebert, who is now the Co-Founder and Producer of several Ebert Enterprises.
According to Molly Cornyn, project coordinator for Ebertfest, Roger was one of the few critics who wrote digestible reviews that resonated with the average person.
“Roger was one of those people that had such a way of writing and speaking to people, it never felt like he was talking down to you,” Cornyn said. “He was educated … and he was going to give you his opinion, but you never felt like he was telling you were stupid if you had a different opinion.”
Rogers’ work and legacy continue to resonate and shape how people approach critiquing and creating films, including Kevin Lau, a collaborative director of Shatterglass Studios.
“I myself am a huge fan of Roger Ebert’s criticism over the years, that’s part of my own little self-taught film school,” Lau said. “I wasn’t really aware of Roger Ebert after his passing, so it’s a testament to his legacy that even after his passing that new filmmakers and enthusiasts like me still go back to his work to learn about the medium.”
The atmosphere Roger created through his writing transferred to the liveliness of the festival.
Luke Boyce, founder of Shatterglass Studios and director of Ebertfest’s retrospective documentaries, says Ebertfest is an important aspect of film criticism.
“The engagement with movies with the Ebertfest audience is so heightened and special,” Boyce said. “That has always made Ebertfest very special. Now, it’s that way still, but it has this extra layer of importance … because we all are noticing that the art of going to a movie is dying a little bit, unfortunately.”
Despite box office success, Boyce says that going to the theater has become niche and less of a normalcy.
According to Boyce, spaces like Ebertfest are invaluable. They serve as a reminder of the importance of experiencing movies surrounded by strangers.
“If I’ve ever seen a movie that I love, then I can’t wait to see it with an audience at Ebertfest,” Boyce said. “They’ll laugh harder, they’ll cry harder, they’ll cheer. I can watch these movies on my screen at home, but when I watch them at Ebertfest on a massive screen in a movie palace with thousands of people in the crowd, I can look around and see crowds of laughing or tears. It reminds me every year how special that experience is.”
Lau thinks that Ebertfest allows people to meaningfully interact with cinema, despite the change in film engagement.
“Ebertfest wants to shape things,” Lau said. “It wants people to really engage with movies. It has the door wide open, it’s not a closed-knit community.”
While Ebertfest remains a place for community members to share their love for film, it also allows a variety of film styles to be showcased.
This year’s screenings include newer works like “Megalopolis,” which will incorporate a virtual Q&A with Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola, and classics such as “The Searchers,” which was shown Wednesday on a 70mm screen.
According to Cornyn, these films all serve as a way of embracing empathy and understanding, something Roger strived for throughout his time as a film critic.
“One of the quotes from Roger is that he talked about how films were an empathy machine,” Cornyn said. “He talked a lot about how different films allow us to walk in different people’s shoes for a while, to understand a little bit about people who are different than us.”
Ebertfest strives to connect people through experiencing the various facets of cinema. Whether it’s emotionally, visually, or sonically, the film festival promotes intricate engagement. It remains as a celebration of film and a way to connect with Roger’s lasting legacy.
“The longer we go without Roger Ebert in our lives, without his writing, without him being on TV, the less and less the new generations know about him,” Boyce said. “I don’t think there’s been a critic like him since then. There’s amazing critics … but there’s nobody like Roger, and I think this festival is able to keep that legacy alive.”
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