April 24

Today I went with my friends Heather and Janessa to Ebertfest. Also known as the Roger Ebert Film Festival at the Virginia Theater in Champaign, IL. The festival actually runs for 4 days, so we didn't go to the whole thing. But we did drive over today to see two movies (and to go out to lunch and go shopping). Since going to a film festival (and seeing famous people!) is not something that I do on a regular basis, I think this post deserves more than one picture.

I like to watch movies. And I usually enjoy the independent, artsy movies often featured at these festivals. And sometimes I like to critique movies as well. So I would say I am an above average movie connoisseur. But the people at Ebertfest made me feel like I know nothing about movies. First of all, they are not called movies. They are films. I'm pretty sure the word movie was never once mentioned today. But everyone was talking about films! Every conversation I overheard...in line, in the bathroom, in our seats, all conversations were about films! So I felt a bit out of place and not smart at times, but it was still a very enjoyable day! Oh, and to prove that we are truly dedicated film fans, here we are waiting in the pouring rain to get into the theater!

The first film we saw was I Capture the Castle. It was really good; I think we all liked it a lot. It is a sweet and quirky English film about a somewhat disfunctional family. After each film, they have a panel discussion about the film. Bill Nighy (one of the stars of the film--notice how I have now learned to call it a film and not a movie!) was supposed to be there to discuss the film, but he was unable to get out of Europe due to the recent volcano eruption in Iceland. So that was a bit disappointing, but keep reading, because we did get to see some famous people later in the day.

The second film we saw was Trucker. Again we all really liked it. It was a much grittier, realistic film (with lots of bad language) about a female trucker and her relationship with her estranged 11 year old son. It starred Michele Monaghan, who has recently been in more mainstream movies like Eagle Eye and Made of Honor. And she was there today to participate in a discussion after the movie, along with the writer/director James Mottern. In this picture, Monaghan is on the far right in the red. (We were in the balcony for this film. I wish we could have been closer or I would have had a zoom lens with me to get a better picture of these famous people!). Interesting notes we learned about Michele Monaghan during the discusson: she is from Iowa (like me!) and she has a 17 month old daughter (like me!) and she got her CDL license to drive the truck for this film (not like me!)

And I can't end without a picture of Roger Ebert himself. He came out to introduce Trucker. He speaks through a computer. So he types, and then a computer version of his voice speaks. It was interesting. And as we were leaving after the movie, we walked directly past him in the lobby. But I couldn't get Heather and Janessa's attention, so I was the only one that got to see him up close in person.

So it was a long but fun day. And we got to watch two really good movies, I mean, films!