iEbert

By chicago_chris in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 19, 2004 5:44PM

This Wednesday at 6 pm, our own Roger Ebert will be speaking at the Michigan Avenue Apple Store as part of their "Works on a Mac" speaker series. Apple's website notes, "Roger will discuss how digital cameras and Macs have put filmmaking into the hands of everyone. The tools of production are in the hands of the workers." Granted, this is really just a big promotional event for Apple products, but they are pretty damn sleek and useful, especially when it comes to filmmaking.

Presumably, the genesis for this discussion is the yet-to-be-released Tarnation. A festival favorite, this autobiographical found-footage documentary – following the tumultuous life of director Jonathan Caouette – played to rave reviews at Sundance and Cannes and found champions/producers in John Cameron Mitchell and Gus Van Sant. Ebert even chose it as an entrant to his annual Overlooked Film Festival in Champaign. But the movie probably wouldn't be as big of a sensation if not for the fact that it was edited on Caouette's iMac and cost just over $200 to make. Chicagoist can't freakin' wait to see it.

So head downtown and get inspired to make your own brilliant cheapo movie. And while Chicagoist often takes issue with Ebert's print reviews (four stars for Harry Potters 1-2, but only three-and-a-half for Cuaron's part three?!), in person the guy is kind, engaging, funny, and downright charming.