iconLog In  |  Register

A few fine Ebertfest moments

Everyone who has attended Ebertfest more than once has a favorite moment or two or ten. 

Maybe it's seeing Lawrence of Arabia or 2001: A Space Odyssey in 70mm for the first, and probably last, time. 

Maybe it's one of the fascinating or entertaining interviews, from big stars like John Malkovich (who was propositioned by a drunk school teacher on the way to the interview), to the gee-whiz amazement of newbies like Stone Reader's Dow Mosssman, to the utterly captivating Werner Herzog, who is in a category all by himself.

Maybe it's just being at the Virginia, seeing films that were meant to shown there.

We asked a few longtime Ebertfest attendees to share some of their favorite moments, below. Feel free to add your own.

Chuck Koplinski, Smile Politely film critic:

Ebertfest 4 (2002): Without question, the most memorable event for me at Ebertfest was the screening of Metropolis in 2002. The Alloy Orchestra was on hand to accompany the film with their own original score, and while I had seen the movie many times in the past, their performance made it seem as though I were viewing it for the first time.

One of the things I like most about going to Ebertfest is that the audience is made up of people who love film and are eager to drink in the unique cinematic experience that the festival offers. Often, there is a palpable sense of electricity in the air, and that was certainly the case during the Metropolis screening. Spontaneous applause, collective gasps, and an appreciative standing ovation were all part of that evening that made a 75-year-old film seem as fresh as the day it was released.

 

Jamie Newell, Smile Politely Editor and last year's Smile Politely Ebertfest blogger:

Though I can't imagine anything ever topping my previous Ebertfest (c'mon, I met one of my heroes, Bill Nack, and crashed a V.I.P. party), I will say one of my fondest memories of the fest was my second one, in 2003. I came all the way from my hometown of Shelbyville to catch one movie at the festival (Blood and Wine), and when two of my friends opted out at the last minute, I ended up going to the show with a friend who lived in Champaign, and he took me on a tour of the downtown. The tour ended up being more memorable than the movie; we ended up getting married, and now we attend Ebertfest every year together.

 

Dan Schreiber, Smile Politely Editor and contributor to the Unofficial Ebertfest Blog:

Ebertfest 7: Many people rate as their favorite Ebertfest moment the first Werner Herzog interview, as they sat transfixed in their chairs well into the middle of the night. I missed that one, so I will nominate the best interview I attended: Mario Van Peebles. He was at Ebertfest for Baadasssss!, a docudrama about the making of his father Melvin's Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song.

Mario has serious presence in front of a crowd. He told funny story after funny story, weaving social commentary throughout. One was of his re-shooting the iconic scene where Sweetback is running through a dry channel in LA. Out of nowhere during the shoot, a hobo came wandering out of the channel and yelled out, "Hey, it's Sweetback! He's back!  He really did come back!" 

Mario talked with pride about how his father's film broke down racial stereotypes of the day. Then he talked with annoyance that his father made him pay for any original Sweetback footage that Mario used in Baadasssss!.

Mostly though, he brought a family film titled Baadasssss Grandkids!, a parody starring his kids. We were treated to a parody of a docudrama of the first blaxploitation film, with three generations of talented Van Peebles.  This is why we go to Ebertfest. 

Also, I got to stand in line next to Mario in the line to the bathroom. He apparently does his business just like everyone else. Another reason we go to Ebertfest.

 

Brody Finney, Gentleman Adventurer, who has attended every Ebertfest but '06:

Ebertfest 1: I became convinced while standing in line for "Tron" that buying a festival pass was a good idea, as the line stretched down the entire block of Randolph Street and halfway down University.

Ebertfest 5, 2003: After "The Black Pirate" played and after Roger Ebert had chatted with the Alloy guys and whatever other guest he had, they started taking questions from the audience.  A middle-aged woman took the microphone and commented that her 80-some-odd-year-old father was with her and he had seen the film as a young boy on its first run.  Roger asked him what he had thought of it then, to which he replied "Everybody clapped and cheered for the fights, but we didn't think much of the kissing".  The audience laughed about as hard as you expect.

Ebertfest 7: Kino!  Kino!  KINO!!!!!! 

They showed Guy Maddin's short, The Heart of the World, at least three times due to audience demand.  Me likes me some Guy Maddin.

 

Katherine Bartel, Artist and Ebertfest enthusiast:

Asking a question in public does not come naturally for me, so the special guests that appear after the film usually don't know that I exist. However, I had read that Werner Herzog was frustrated with the professional crew given to him to shoot Rescue Dawn because they wanted to make it look good. He had told his cinematographer to just shoot it, that it didn't matter unless it moved the story along. As an artist, I was fascinated by his lack of interest in visual quality, so I asked him to clarify his view of the relationship between aesthetics and filmmaking.

Herzog humbly claimed to know nothing about art, and saw beauty in things like the dancing chicken he shot in Cherokee, North Carolina. Anyone who can find beauty in the trashy strip of tourist stands along Cherokee's main road is seeing something I do not, and hence his accomplishment. And asking one of my heroes a question makes my life complete.

At an earlier festival, my husband Rus was standing outside on the sidewalk talking to the director and main subject of the documentary Stone Reader, which focused on a search for the author that took much longer than one might expect. Another fan came up to them and said, "Oh, good, I have all three of you here." No one corrected him.

 

Collin A. Bullock, Smile Politely movie reviewer

I've been going to Ebertfest since the very first one, back in 1864 or whenever it started.  Needless to say, I have a plethora of Ebertfest memories. Be sure to ask me about the time I tried to defend Tom Green against Mr. Ebert's attacks while a packed Virginia theatre looked on.  As you might imagine, the crowd did not take my side.

The best guest ever was Mark Bortchardt, subject of the film American Movie. I don't know if I have ever seen an audience enjoy anything quite as much as the audience enjoyed that movie when it was shown here. The next year Mark showed up just to hang out. I caught him outside the theatre having a cigarette.

"You are the coolest person alive," a 17-year-old Collin A. Bullock said.

"No," Mark replied, "that's Jesus Christ, motherf**ker."

The next year I was living in a house on Green Street, and after the Saturday night after party Mark and his good friend Mike Shank were looking for a house to party at, and so I suggested my place. They stayed around for a few warm PBRs, but they left pretty quickly. I think they found my place too disgusting to spend any time in, which is almost a badge of honor if one considers that Mr. Bortchardt used to have a job cleaning toilets in a funeral home.

Add A Comment

A note about our commenting policy.


Comment
  1.  captcha arrow

Most Recent Arts Comments

{username}

The main character’s name is actually Lisbeth, in case you want to correct.

{username}

Karen Vaccaro is a remarkable person as well as a dedicated performer. I couldn’t imagine a better night at theater!

Kelly Innes avatar

The director should’ve added the wrinkle that the ban on dancing’s the only thing keeping Bomont from attracting the green/tech/jobs of the future!

Tracy Nectoux avatar

Now that’s Class!

emma reaux avatar

I have read several of her books and liked them. I guess because I’m not an overweight, lesbian, intersexed Jewish amputee with divorced parents I can’t comment on the offensiveness of some of her jokes.

{username}

You forgot to mention fat people.  She made fun of obesity.  And divorce.  Children of divorce were lampooned, too.  Jewish people.  She hit on a lot of “groups.“  I fit into a number of them.  If you didn’t like her speech you won’t like her books.  If…

emma reaux avatar

Lesbians: Anecdote about her mom being a lesbian, and getting her mom introduced to Rosie O’Donnell, and mom and Rosie talking about oral sex, and Weiner acting disgusted. She probably meant the disgust in a “don’t wanna hear about my mom’s vag” kind of way, but all…

Tracy Nectoux avatar

Oh. Wow.   What exactly did she say, Emma? Do you remember?

emma reaux avatar

I went to this. In the first 5 minutes of her talk, she made fun of lesbians, intersexed children, and amputees. I was honestly surprised at how offensve she was—it was like she thought the Champaign Public Library was a venue for Last Comic Standing.   I…

emma reaux avatar

Theresa—are you speaking generally about that monologue, or did you attend the Friday night showing at UIUC?

Most Recent Comments

{username}

Illinois has simply had no luck at all in these Mizzou games. None. I think maybe we’re do for a couple of bounces to go our way. If we get one or two (or sever or eight) breaks, I think it’s a win. 

Dan Schreiber avatar

Jason, Savoy could easily join the CPL tax district, which is probably closer to most Savoy residents than the Tolono library is.  But my impression is that Savoy residents as a whole don’t want to pay the cost of the CPL (Tolono’s library taxes are cheaper), even…

{username}

Sorry, but I am lagging behind on updates to the map. Also, some construction projects were delayed from their original start date. On a more positive note, I am putting together a map of haunted houses in Central Illinois. I have a few plotted already, and I…

{username}

I’ve never gotten the privilege of all the services CPL cardholders get.  I just want to be able to go out of my way to drive to the CPL to check out books, pay fines, maybe buy some coffee, and enjoy the library.  None of those activities…

{username}

These days, there is more to using a library than checking out books. At one time, paying into the Lincoln Trails system probably would cover the expenses incurred by other libraries in the system. Now, with Internet, videos, coffee shops, wireless Internet hubs, etc., I suspect the…

{username}

(speaking as a Savoy resident)  By paying taxes to support a member of the LTLS, we are paying our “fair share” to use any LTLS library—Tolono, Champaign, Urbana, etc.  This is how library systems work.  The 6% of CPL’s circulation represented by Tolono users is NOT significant…

Rob McColley avatar

I read Timbo’s argument. I think the key word is “speculating.“

{username}

I would be interested to hear more about the “word on the street”—how are individual hauling companies fulfilling their promise to recycle?

{username}

Timbo makes a smart, sound argument. Reread it.

emma reaux avatar

I joined on 09-09-09 after living here over a year, and having to listen to my dad tell me how his best friend is, like, #27 or something crazy like that, and how said friend never lived further than 50 feet from the Illini Inn while going…

Dan Schreiber avatar

And, I might add, no one is being prevented from using the Champaign library. They are just being asked to pay their fair share if they are going to use it as their primary library.

Dan Schreiber avatar

The equation is pretty simple here. If you want social services, then pay the taxes required to run those social services. These things only work if everyone puts in their fair share. As a heavy user of the Champaign Library, I say bravo to this new policy.

Timbo avatar

Curtis Orchard is always good for an hour or three, especially if you have rugrats.

Timbo avatar

What is the increased marginal cost of serving a resident of Savoy or Mahomet? I suspect negligible. What is the increased revenue to be realized by this new policy? I suspect very little. Aside from these financial aspects, what are the most probable results from this new…

{username}

Looks like you are also all members of the killer sideburns club.

{username}

Thanks for the article, Ben.  I was not familiar with this band until now and even though I won’t be able to attend the show on Friday they are now on my radar.  A *good* jam band is hard to find, and these folks appear to fill…

{username}

Nice article, love the Dead quote in the beginning. If they can get down here to Central FL I’ll definitely be heading out to the show. Some of my friends have finally stopped wincing when I say “jam band.“ I’ve now tried my best at more descriptive…

Joel Gillespie avatar

@Annie: Yeah, my bad. That was the best part! Drinking + memory exercises = fun @Rob: According to Ask the English Teacher, “My dictionary says ‘drunk’ is an archaic past tense of ‘drink.‘“ We’re all about the new grammar around here.

Tracy Nectoux avatar

Katie, have the residents of Savoy and Tolono thought about having their taxes raised a little to help their public library expand? That’s a possibility for them. And then everybody wins.

Ben Valocchi avatar

good call on that Herring recording, Josh. Love that version of Exit Music….here’s a clip of the Cinco de Mayo show (from about six months prior). As I recall, this Shakedown went on for roughly a half hour, while getting into the Trampled Underfoot jam in the…

Log In



Auto-login on future visits

Forgot your password?