This year’s Chaz and Roger Ebert Symposium will feature a film screening, keynote speaker, and two roundtable discussions that address the theme of “Documentary, Violence, and the Media.” The events, which are free and open to the public, are presented by the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies.
Chaz Ebert’s beloved grandson, Joseph London Smith, was tragically and unintendedly the victim of gun violence in Atlanta, Georgia, in September 2022. In dedication to his memory, the Ebert Symposium will explore the power of cinema to mediate violence and ask: How does cinema intervene in this conversation?
TUESDAY, APRIL 18
7:30-9 p.m.
Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory, Urbana
Screening of Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968) is an experimental documentary by Black Emmy award-winning filmmaker William Greaves that was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2015. Ebert Symposium keynote speaker Amir George, artistic director of Kartemquin Films, selected the film and will share introductory remarks. Learn more.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19
9:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
Illini Room C, Illini Union, 1401 W. Green, Urbana
Keynote Speaker
9:30–10:45 a.m.
“To Be Radical”
Amir George, Artistic Director, Kartemquin Films, Chicago
Join us in person or register to join via Zoom.