Enjoy this video clip of Ebertfest put together for us by one our sponsors, Fandor/Cinedigm, one of the premiere independent streaming digital content companies…
And, now I’m proud to present a closer look at some of the films scheduled to screen at Ebertfest 2022…
I. OSCAR CONTENDERS
“GHOST WORLD”
A cherished Ebertfest guest from previous years will be returning to the festival: Terry Zwigoff, the writer and director of 2001’s beloved adaptation of Daniel Clowes graphic novel, “Ghost World.” Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson play sardonic high school graduates whose efforts to prank a lonely man (Steve Buscemi) leads them down an unexpected path of growth in their lives. “I wanted to hug this movie,” wrote Roger in his four-star review. “It takes such a risky journey and never steps wrong. It creates specific, original, believable, lovable characters, and meanders with them through their inconsolable days, never losing its sense of humor.”
Special guests: Terry Zwigoff and Thora Birch
“NIGHTMARE ALLEY”
We are thrilled to be welcoming back Oscar-winner Guillermo del Toro (“The Shape of Water”) along with his wife and co-writer Kim Morgan (previously featured as an “At the Movies” correspondent) with their new noir masterwork, “Nightmare Alley,” an Academy Award nominee this year for Best Picture. Bradley Cooper stars as a carny harboring demons whose powers of manipulation lead him on a dangerous road toward success. Roger wrote that Del Toro “is a director with a genuine visual sense, with a way of drawing us into his story and evoking the mood with the very look and texture of his shots,” and that is certainly the case with “Nightmare Alley,” which will be screened in a special black-and-white version that represents the filmmakers’ original vision for the film. In his four-star review, Carlos Aguilar wrote that the film is “hypnotic with its increasingly tense slow-burning plot progression and alluring atmosphere.”
Special guests: Guillermo del Toro and Kim Morgan
“SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)”
One of the 2021’s most joyous and eye-opening cinematic experiences, Questlove’s “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Be Not Televised”) features extraordinary footage of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival where various Black music legends performed. In his four-star review, Odie Henderson described how he felt after seeing the picture: “I walked down to what is now Marcus Garvey Park and I stood inside, looking around and picturing the energy, the camaraderie and, oh yes, the Blackness that emanated from those concerts. It was hot as Hell outside, but I felt simultaneously exhilarated and haunted, as if some energetic remnant of the Harlem Culture Festival were still hanging in the air, passing through me and touching my soul. That’s what it feels like to watch ‘Summer of Soul.’ Its existence is a testament to Hal Tulchin, to whom the film is dedicated, and to Questlove, who has pulled it all together with immense love and undeniable talent.”