Ebert Symposium 2023: Keynote and Roundtable Discussions

This year's Ebert Symposium will address the theme of Documentary, Violence, and the Media. In September 2022, Chaz Ebert’s beloved grandson, Joseph London Smith, was tragically and unintendedly the victim of gun violence in Atlanta, Georgia. The upcoming Ebert Symposium is dedicated to his memory as we use this occasion to interrogate the power of cinema to mediate violence and ask: How does cinema intervene in this conversation? 

9:30–10:45 a.m.—Keynote Speaker
"To Be Radical"
Amir George, Artistic Director, Kartemquin Films, Chicago
Register to join via Zoom for the keynote speaker.

11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.—Roundtable Discussion #1
"Cinema and Media Interventions into Violence"

Panelists: 

• Rachel Kuo, Assistant Professor of Media & Cinema Studies, UIUC
• Denise Zaccardi, Executive Director and Founder of CTVN, Community TV Network, Chicago 
• Melita Garza, Associate Professor and Tom and June Netzel Sleeman Scholar in Business Journalism, UIUC
• Moderated by Angela Aguayo, Associate Professor of Media & Cinema Studies, UIUC

1-2:30 p.m.—Roundtable Discussion #2
"Cinema and Violence in Challenging Times"

Panelists include the following Ebertfest 2023 filmmaker guests:

• Edson Oda, director of Nine Days (2020)
• Max Libman, teenage founder and director of CU International Film Festival, Champaign-Urbana
• Brenda Robinson, producer of Marian Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands (2022)
• Moderated by Jenny Oyallon-Koloski, Assistant Professor of Media & Cinema Studies, UIUC

See more details: https://media.illinois.edu/EbertSymposium2023.

This event is presented by the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies.