{"id":3276,"date":"2011-04-29T16:30:51","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T22:30:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=3276"},"modified":"2014-09-06T14:54:16","modified_gmt":"2014-09-06T20:54:16","slug":"article-du-c-u-ebertfest-01-pt-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=3276","title":{"rendered":"Article du C-U: Ebertfest ’01, pt.2"},"content":{"rendered":"

“All About Ebertfest 2001”<\/strong>
\nWatching Movies and Other Nonesuch
\nat the 2001 Overlooked Film Festival<\/p>\n

by Jason Pankoke<\/em><\/p>\n

The following was condensed for inclusion in issue 13, Summer 2002, of <\/em>Cashers du Cinemart<\/strong><\/span> film magazine published by <\/em>Mike White<\/strong> of <\/em>ImpossibleFunky.com<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

Prologue<\/strong><\/p>\n

Champaign-Urbana, Illinois<\/strong> is a college town of 100,000 people \u2013 excluding the 35,000+ students and faculty who drift in and out for the University of Illinois<\/strong> (UIUC) academic school year \u2013 which lies two hours south of Chicago<\/strong>. This is also the place where the most famous movie critic in America grew up and went to college.<\/p>\n

He moved to the Windy City in the mid-Sixties and became a staff writer for the Chicago Sun-Times<\/strong><\/span>, and not long afterwards graduated to chief movie critic. He partnered with Chicago Tribune<\/strong><\/span> colleague Gene Siskel<\/strong> for their long-running PBS <\/strong>show SNEAK PREVIEWS<\/strong>, and would eventually earn their own eponymous syndicated series. He travels the world over to attend screenings and festivals, and has won the Pulitzer Prize<\/strong>. He basically lives and breathes movies for a living.<\/p>\n

Inspired by a successful C-U screening of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY<\/strong> in 1997, he subsequently lent his name to an event intended to showcase movies that he feels deserve a second chance with an appreciative audience. Sometimes, his definition applies to contemporary films that experienced limited release. It also refers to international cinema that hasn\u2019t yet made it to American shores, or it can mean abandoned formats such as the silent film, 70mm, and Todd-AO<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Therefore, we have Roger Ebert\u2019s Overlooked Film Festival<\/strong><\/a>, a presentation of the UIUC College of Communications<\/strong> that is hosted at the 1,500-seat Virginia Theater<\/strong> in downtown Champaign each April. Those lazy with their linguistics have dubbed the event \u201cEbertfest<\/strong>,\u201d for the critic hand picks each entry. As Ebert readily admits, no one is guaranteed to like all the movies, but it\u2019s the exposure and viewing experience that count.<\/p>\n

While thousands flock to these screenings, another local bastion of film activity lies not five blocks away from the Virginia. Shrouded in the privacy and obscurity of my living quarters is the studio for MICRO-FILM<\/strong><\/a>, my high-gloss \u2018zine devoted to a league of filmmaking that does not necessarily share common ground with Ebertfest offerings. Yet, both MICRO-FILM<\/strong> and the Overlooked Film Festival do profess a love for the eye-opening movie experience, and the following is my informal tale to tell in regards to the 2001 occurrence of the Overlooked.<\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

April 25, 2001 \u2013 Wednesday<\/em><\/p>\n

There he goes, on the side of that bus! There he stands, looming large on that billboard! There he is, looking at us through those familiar glasses in that newspaper ad! The signals had been apparent for weeks that Ebertfest was upon us once again.<\/p>\n

Things had been a bit rough at MICRO-FILM<\/strong> HQ during the spring; not only had mismanaged time inevitably pushed back the release date of the spring issue to the summer, but talks of bankruptcy and sale had dogged the alternative weekly newspaper where I worked at the time. The Overlooked Film Festival would get me into the world of movies where I belonged, at the very least.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I had previously been posted in the ground floor lobby of the Virginia, but because of last minute reorganization I was asked to set up on the second floor walkway behind the balcony. Not only would that potentially cut out most of the traffic that would otherwise pass by me, but I discovered mere hours before the first show that I had to dig up my own table! Aagh!<\/em> I eventually erected the Temple of MICRO-FILM<\/strong> across from the secondary concession stand, directly in front of a false fireplace. On either side of me stood ferns in heavy concrete pedestals. I felt like I was in a CASABLANCA<\/strong>-style marketplace with only one lonely merchant, and Sydney Greenstreet<\/strong> I was not. If I had remembered to bring along some exotic birds, a camel, and a fedora, the fa\u00e7ade might\u2019ve been complete.<\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m.<\/em> \u2013 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY<\/strong>
\n(1968, 139 min., USA\/UK, released by MGM<\/strong>)<\/p>\n

\"\"The choice to kick off Ebertfest with 2001 <\/strong>didn\u2019t readily hinge on the novelty that, both in Sir Arthur C. Clarke<\/strong>\u2019s novel and the Stanley Kubrick<\/strong> film, it was written that the HAL 9000 computer became operational in Urbana, as UIUC has been a computer technology pioneer for decades. Or the fact that, gee, it was <\/em>the year 2001. In reality, Ebert loves big, visionary science fiction movies, as witnessed by his previous \u201coverlooked\u201d picks, Alex Proyas<\/strong>\u2019 DARK CITY<\/strong> (1998) and Steven Lisberger<\/strong>\u2019s TRON<\/strong> (1982). So, why not immerse hundreds of neophytes into 2001\u2019s brave new world on the big screen where the movie belonged?<\/p>\n

I had seen 2001 in a theater years ago, so it wasn\u2019t a personal imperative for me to fight for a seat at this sold-out presentation. As the monkeys and monoliths graced the screen, I instead hoofed it back to the office to make some quick signage for my table. When I returned, it wasn\u2019t three minutes before patrons flooded the hallways and bolted for the upstairs bathrooms! \u201cO lord,\u201d I thought, \u201cam I really misjudging time that <\/em>badly anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n

I quickly realized that they had built a break into 2001, not for its length, but because they had to loop the film on two separate platters to accommodate that evening\u2019s 70mm print, freshly struck by the studio.<\/p>\n

Given the second chance, I ditched my table and sat in for the remainder of the film. It picked up where astronaut David Bowman (Keir Dullea<\/strong>) enters a battle of wits with HAL (voice of Douglas Rain<\/strong>) as the supercomputer doesn\u2019t allow Bowman to dock his pod in the good starship Discovery<\/em>. Maybe this moment, even more than Douglas Trumbull<\/strong>\u2019s celebrated \u201ctrip\u201d sequence, demonstrated the virtues of the extra detail allowed by 70mm as Bowman\u2019s hard, intense eyes and chiseled visage hovered over the audience as each repeated request \u2013 \u201cPlease open the pod bay door, HAL.\u201d \u2013 veered from determination to desperation. Everything afterwards from the solarized landscapes to Bowman\u2019s final, pristine resting-place registered wonderfully on the Virginia\u2019s screen. After 2001 concluded, Dullea and Kubrick brother-in-law Jan Harlan<\/strong> joined Ebert on stage to exchange pleasantries and anecdotes, as well as engaging in conversation with Clarke from Sri Lanka<\/strong> via telephone.<\/p>\n

And yes, when HAL mentioned that it was made operational in Urbana as Bowman shuts it down, the audience erupted in applause. We were all certified dorks for the moment and damn proud of it.<\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

:: Part 1<\/a> | Part 3<\/a> ::<\/p>\n

~~~~~<\/p>\n

Article \u00a9 2001 Jason Pankoke. Used with permission.<\/p>\n

Cover Graphic: \u00a9 Roger Ebert\u2019s Film Festival<\/a>\/Daily Illini<\/a><\/p>\n

2001<\/strong> graphic: \u00a9 1968 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc<\/a>.<\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Back to the fore, MacDuff\u2026<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Visit the Article Index<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Return to Home Page<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our exclusive EbertFlashBackFest continues as editor Jason Pankoke speaks to us from 10 years ago! In this second entry, he hustles to keep up MICRO-FILM appearances and sits in on 2001’s final act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,14,137,25,13,30],"tags":[680,80,72],"class_list":["post-3276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alums-done-good","category-area-festivals","category-article-du-c-u","category-micro-film-du-c-u","category-public-events","category-roger-ebert","tag-2001-a-space-odyssey","tag-micro-film","tag-roger-eberts-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3276\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}