Word: ebertfest
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Dates: during 2007-2007
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...time being treated in hospitals and recovering at home. Last month he missed his first Cannes Film Festival in, I'm guessing, 30 years. But in late April he did show up, resolute and cheerful, at the Roger Ebert Overlooked Film Festival - yes, he also runs his own Ebertfest, or uberfest - at his alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, flanked by his brilliant, loving attorney-wife Chaz Hammelsmith and surrounded by a thousand well-wishers. His appearance had changed, but, he wrote on his website, "I still have my brain and my typing fingers...
...last June, Roger, who has fought good fights for so many others, now had to fight for himself. The cancer that had troubled him for a few years returned, and he endured months of operations, complications, confinement. He missed the Toronto Film Festival in September, and might have skipped Ebertfest if he hadn't learned that all tickets sold out within a few days of their becoming available. His fans needed him as much as he needed to get better...
...There's no word for Roger's determination but heroism. His appearance at Ebertfest had the impact of the climax from some inspirational movie - of the triumph over daunting odds and the public display of steely humanity - except that it's still the beginning of his recuperation. It was a heartening and therapeutic event, not only for Roger and Chaz but for the audience who had learned so much from...
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