I am attending all of Ebertfest with my camera, and I am going to share my 10 favorite shots from each day with you. Here is day one:
The line started forming around 3 p.m. with doors opening at 6 p.m. for the first showing Hair.
The man on the left, Dennis, is here for Ebertfest for the first time. He came and met his friend who is a retired education professor. “This movie [Hair] came out during my San Francisco days. Spelled d-a-y-z. Those were fun times.”
This is Don. He’s been working the festival ever since it started. When I asked him what he has seen change he said—”Relationships. I’ve seen many friendships formed here. Even marriages. I’ve traveled across the country and ran into some of the movie goers. A community has formed around this event.”
Chaz Ebert welcomed the crowd after the organist played Take Me Out to the Ballgame. She said that this year they are dedicating the festival to a principal—empathy. She said that Roger said that films were the best way to give someone empathy. They compress someone’s perspective into a few hours and engage viewers to see life from a character’s point of view.
It was a full house.
There were snacks being sold upstairs and downstairs. No beer, wine or liquor though.
The movies look beautiful on the screen. Chaz Ebert talked about how our theater is special because the projectionist is skilled and running all sorts of types of film. Unfortunately, during the movie, the film slowed down to a stop. Chaz came back on the mic and explained this was the first time this had ever happened and that the movie would be back on soon. It was good to stretch my legs during the 2hr 1m long Hair movie
Michael Hausman (on the right facing my camera), First Assistant Director on the set of Hair dropped in the Blind Pig for a drink and received a healthy round of applause.
Stay tuned for more photo journals.