Category Archives: Ebertfest

In case of some people, you miss them dearly when you are apart from them, but then you remember how unpleasant they can be when you are near them. I do not know much about Tom Dark, whom I met … Continue reading →

The last day of Ebertfest finally came, but it was still happy to be get together with others. The last movie of the festival, “Song Sung Blue”, is the documentary about the human spirit. Mike and Claire Sardina, as Lightening and Thunder, had been wonderful performers on the stages. Maybe their acts were not original(Mike sang Neil Diamond songs, and Claire did the songs of Patsy Cline, Blondies, and ABBA), but they were popular with people in Milwaukee and you can see why from their performances in video footage. Even if you don’t have much interest in these songs, they would draw your attentions with the joy of singing. And they were good singers.
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Day 4 was for four movies. Due to the lack of sleep, I was in the worst condition, so I didn’t react well to “I Captured the Castle”. But I enjoyed Q & A just like others and I promised myself that I will check this movie again someday even if I can’t write anything about movies for a while. Continue reading →

Delirium continued to reign on Day 3 and another “the lamb to the slaughter” situation started for us early in the morning. After saying goodbye to Michael Philips at Breakfast room, I went into Pine Lounge on the 1st floor with my friends. Along with them, I was about to participate in panel discussion titled “The Global Web of Film Lovers”. Thanks to Roger’s blessing and Omer’s deft moderation, we went through well and 70 minutes was shorter than I thought. The video clip is available on here, but I do not want to kill myself by watching it.
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I was afraid of Day 2 because I would be on the stage as one of panelists for the first movie of that day, “Munyurangabo”, directed by Issac Chung, Korean-American director from Arkansas. Continue reading →

The madness began in the afternoon on the next day. At first, it seemed to be easy when I woke up in the morning. I had a simple breakfast on the third floor, checked my e-mail, and learned Michael suggested the lunch at that famous Steak ‘N shake. Continue reading →

Maybe I tried to do too much. I tried to enjoy everything from both Chicago and Ebertfest. That was sometimes too much to handle. After being on high by sheer energy of Chicago for two weeks, my brain was immediately challenged by another huge wave of the stimulation from Urbana-Champaign. It was comfortable, but Ebertfest was far busier than I had thought and, again, I was at a loss several times during the festival. Without the help of people I met during the festival, I could have wasted lots of these precious moments of my life. Again, I‘m deeply grateful for their generosity toward an outsider who did not have even a cell phone. Continue reading →