By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

Bahamas International Film Festival Hosts Tribute To Chaz Ebert

Together, she and husband Roger Ebert have opened doors to diverse critics, filmmakers

HARBOUR ISLAND, Bahamas, December 9, 2014 – Chaz Ebert, president and CEO of The Ebert Companies and publisher of movie review siteRogerebert.com, will be honored Saturday for her contributions to the cinematic world at the Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF). A tribute to Chaz Ebert will follow a special screening of the documentary “Life Itself” (Magnolia Pictures), the powerful biopic based on her husband’s book about his career, 10-year cancer battle and the Eberts’ inspiring love story.

The festival runs through Sunday and features film screenings at various venues in Nassau and Harbour Island, including a bevy of independent films difficult to access elsewhere. Roger Ebert was a champion of indie films. His famous “two thumbs up” seal of approval was coveted by filmmakers and could help advance their careers. Together, the Eberts opened doors to diverse voices in film criticism, established the Ebert Fellows scholarships for aspiring critics through the Sundance Foundation, and created global access to movie news and opinions in a digital forum (Rogerebert.com).

“I’d like to thank Leslie Vanderpool, executive director of the Bahamas International Film Festival, and her amazing team for this honor and for supporting independent films and putting on this outstanding showcase of diverse works from around the world,” said Chaz Ebert.

She manages Rogerebert.com, the multimedia platform re-launched in April 2013 as a property of Ebert Digital and organizes the annual Ebertfest film festival in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, where Roger Ebert was born. She has participated in a year of touring and promotion of “Life Itself” with the film’s producer Steve James (Kartemquin Films).

“Chaz is a role model for women everywhere,” Vanderpool said. “Not only is she keeping Roger’s legacy alive, but she is a publisher and producer who is continuing to champion cinema as a vital art form. I look forward to the people of Harbour Island getting to know the importance of film through her spirit and legacy. Through her efforts, we will never forget the great Roger Ebert.”

 

 

 

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

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~ David Simon