Word: ebert
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...Even those who couldn't see the Dreamgirls excerpts shared the excitement. As we approached the hotel with Roger and Chaz Ebert, we heard the enthusiastic screams of hundreds of onlookers, as Beyoncé Knowles and Jamie Foxx, two of the film's stars, strode down a carpeted sidewalk. Besides Foxx and Beyoncé, most of the principal cast lent their luster to the evening. Anika Noni Rose, a 2004 Tony winner for Caroline, or Change, was brought up on stage, as were Jennifer Hudson from American Idol and star-of-the-future Keith Robinson (who got his chance when...
...last weekend were fascinated by David Mamet's enigmatic Spartan, and John Malkovich's performance as a shrewd killer in Ripley's Game, But it was perhaps the least known film of all, the coming-of-age comedy Somebodies, that sent this crowd - a mix of local residents, visiting Ebert fans and industry VIPs - into hysterics. A low-budget digital comedy produced by festival director Nate Kohn and filmed in Georgia, where Kohn teaches film, the film was written by one his students. Three months after it had its debut at the Sundance Film Festival, Ebert introduced Somebodies...
...Ebert showered all his overlooked favorites with praise. He said it was a "crime" that Malkovich's performance in Ripley's Game was never seen in American movie theaters; he hailed Lodge Kerrigan, director of Claire Dolan, a drama about a prostitute, as a personal "hero" who makes only the films he wants to make the way he wants to make them; and he hailed Junebug as a "spiritual and transcendental" experience, after revealing that a bout with food poisoning caused him to fall asleep during the film's initial screening at Sundance...
...Filmmakers are finding the festival an increasingly attractive place to get rediscovered. "I've been approached by so many directors who have said they've never seen their film projected on such a big screen and in front of such a large audience, and appreciative audience," Ebert said...
...Mark Danford-May, writer and director of U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, based on a South African opera, which premiered at last year's Cannes Film Festival but has yet to find an American distributor, said he believes the film's inclusion at Ebert's festival will be a big help. "His support really can help open doors," Danford-May said. "We're hoping to find an American distributor, and after being picked to come here, we know that his opinion matters...