Ebert might not attend show

By: Melissa Merli

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

CHAMPAIGN – The 10th annual Roger Ebert's Film Festival opens this evening at the Virginia Theatre with the main man's presence iffy.

Ebert's wife, Chaz, said Monday that whether her husband is able to attend is truly a day-by-day decision.

The critic injured his hip Thursday evening at the Pritikin Longevity Center and Spa in Florida, where he was undergoing physical therapy. On Friday he underwent surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. On Tuesday, Ebert was to transfer back to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago.

"That will be his first full day of formal rehab," Chaz Ebert said via e-mail. "So I can't give you an answer because there isn't one. But his doctor said that a hip fracture causes excruciating pain and you don't want to exacerbate it. On the other hand, the doctor said that theoretically it could be possible for a person to go by the end of the week, but he can't say that for sure in Roger's case because each case is individual."

The festival, a special event of Ebert's alma mater, the University of Illinois College of Media, will feature 13 films and numerous guests.

"There are an awful lot of small, independent films, which I think is good, and we have an abnormally large number of directors," said Nate Kohn, festival director and, like Ebert, a native of Urbana and alumnus of the UI.

The directors include another UI alumnus, Oscar winner Ang Lee, and Paul Schrader, Bill Forsyth, Tom DiCillo, Tarsem Singh, Jeff Nichols, Barry Avrich, Taggart Siegel, Eran Kolirin and Joseph Greco.

"It was Schrader's line from his screenplay for Martin Scorsese's 'Raging Bull' that inspired my acceptance of my bandaged appearance: 'I ain't a pretty boy no more,'" Ebert wrote, referring to his decision to attend his festival last year even though a tracheostomy that followed cancer surgery left him without his speaking voice, and his neck bandaged.

The actors planning to attend are Joey Pantoliano, who won an Emmy for his turn as Ralph Cifaretto in the hit HBO series "The Sopranos," with "Canvas," 8:30 p.m. Thursday; Christine Lahti with the Forsyth-directed drama "Housekeeping," 7:30 p.m. Saturday; and Aida Turturro, with "Romance & Cigarettes," which was directed by her brother, John Turturro, noon Sunday.

As of late Tuesday afternoon, individual tickets were sold out for "Romance & Cigarettes"; "Housekeeping"; Ang Lee's "Hulk," 11 a.m. Saturday; and "The Real Dirt on Farmer John," 7 p.m. Friday.

Appearing with that documentary will be Siegel, its director, and farmer John Peterson, who lives in northern Illinois but will come from New Zealand, the longest commute for this year's festival, according to Ebert.

The festival will open with Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet," a four-hour epic to be screened in 70mm, at 7 tonight, with actors Timothy Spall and Rufus Sewell onstage afterward, and end with "Romance & Cigarettes," in which characters at times segue into pop-music songs.

"It's really an interesting film," Kohn said. "It's sort of a musical but not quite a musical."

Kohn noted that another interesting film, Sally Potter's "Yes," to be shown at 4 p.m. Thursday, has dialogue written in iambic pentameter. Potter was to have attended the festival in person but is unable as she is directing a new film, Kohn said.

In addition to Ebert's possible absence, another poignant festival moment promises to be the 8:30 p.m. Thursday screening of the short "Citizen Cohl: The Untold Story," a tribute to the late Dusty Cohl, a perennial Ebertfest guest and founder of the Toronto and Floating Film festivals.

With Ebert out of the wings or perhaps in the back row, his friends will handle the Q&A following each movie. They include the critic's TV partner, Richard Roeper; his longtime friends, Time magazine film critic Richard Corliss and his wife, Mary, a film expert; Sony Pictures Classics president and frequent Ebertfest guest Michael Barker; and Sports Illustrated's Bill Nack, a UI alumnus.

As Ebert wrote at Ebertfest.com: "So that's the latest. I have been so moved by the messages I've received from so many of you. Thank you. Now let's go to the movies."

Other festival stories

• Famed director to attend this year's Ebertfest
• Veteran British actor to appear at Ebertfest
• Film critics join lineup for annual film festival event
• Die-hard Ebertfest fans not deterred by obstacles for tickets
• How to get tickets
• Ebert celebrates his film festival's 10th year
• Ebertfest panel discussions planned
• Ebert breaks hip, but show will go on
• Oscar-winner Ang Lee says he's still learning with every movie
• 'Housekeeping' Forsyth proud of picture – but done directing
• 'Canvas,' a film on coping with mental illness, to be at Ebertfest
• Ebertfest's star will be absent tonight
• To see, or not to see
• Couple's love of film led them to romance
• British actors feel right at home at C-U fest
• Writer-director dedicates screening of 'Delirious' to absent film critic
• Moving film took writer-director home – and audience with him
• Actor says 'Canvas' first step to taking apart social stigma of mental illness
• Farmer's doc reaps event's first standing ovation
• Academy Award winning director, UI grad returns to town
• Director, distributor 'bask' in warm Virginia Theatre reception
• They don't make 'em like that any more
• Biopic rooted in writer-director's notion of suicidal glory
• 'Romance & Cigarettes' wins praise for filming outside box
• 'Housekeeping' star recalls script as best she ever saw
• Ebertfest: That's a wrap
• 'Begging Naked' paints a real-life story on big screen
• Local volunteers sacrifice time to cater to festival guests
• 'My Winnipeg' a portrait of both city, filmmaker
• 'Chop Shop' director took pigeons under his wing
• Poor health blamed for organist's absence from Ebertfest
• Alloy Orchestra helps audience probe depths of 'The Last Command'