Ebertfest: Roger Ebert’s Film Festival 2008
April 3rd, 2008 by Andre Soares
Among the screenings at this year’s Ebertfest — the Roger Ebert Film Festival, to be held from April 23–27, are Sally Potter’s Yes, an interethnic (Joan Allen & Simon Abkarian) romantic drama told in verse; Paul Schrader’s psychological-political drama Mishima; Eran Kolirin’s The Band’s Visit, about an Egyptian police band stranded in a small Israeli town; John Turturro’s little-seen musical Romance & Cigarettes; and Josef von Sternberg’s silent crime melo Underworld (above, Clive Brook and Evelyn Brent), accompanied by the often off-key Alloy Orchestra.
Potter, Schrader, Tom DiCillo, Timothy Spall, Bill Forsyth, Aida Turturro, Ang Lee, and Christine Lahti are some of the personalities expected to attend the festival.
A brief quote from Ebert’s review of Yes (above):
"Sally Potter’s Yes is a movie unlike any other I have seen or heard. Some critics have treated it as ill-behaved, as if its originality is offensive. Potter’s sin has been to make a movie that is artistically mannered and overtly political; how dare she write her dialogue in poetry, provide a dying communist aunt, and end the film in Cuba? And what to make of the housecleaner who sardonically comments on the human debris shed by her rich employers? The flakes of skin, the nail clippings, the wisps of dead hair, the invisible millions of parasites.
"I celebrate these transgressions."
Ebert, by the way, will reportedly resume his film-reviewing chores in the near future.
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FYI
The Big Ten Network is premiering a documentary about the 2008 Ebertfest at 5:30 PM on July 17th.
The program will probably repeat in August, but BTN has not finalized the August Schedule.
Tim