An Ebertfest without Ebert.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 | 10:28 AM

It seems Roger Ebert won't be making it to the 10th anniversary of the Illinois film festival he established after all. He writes:

After consulting with my doctors, I have decided it may not prudent to try to make the journey today with a fractured hip.
Sigh. I was really happy with this one. The films, the guests, the friends. Chaz, Nate Kohn, Mary Susan Britt and I had all the pieces in place. The only tweak I didn't have time for was a proper full-length review of "Shotgun Stories." It was on the to-do list. What I'm using now is what I wrote after seeing it at the Chicago Film Festival. The rest is almost a turn-key operation---the little festival that runs itself, with the help of countless volunteers.

It's hard to express what it means to me that the festival is in my hometown. People never seemed to think I quite had a job. "And how is Roger?" my mother's friends would ask. "Is he still just... going to the movies?"

In other news, it seems Ebert has joined the ranks of the bloggers. Here's his other post to date, on Arthur C. Clarke's fondness for Cinemania and his helpfulness as an Answer Man source.

[Photo: A past Ebertfest, Roger Ebert's Film Festival, 2008]