Since Ebert lost his ability to speak, the festival has needed extra help to fill in for Ebert, primarily for the after film discussions that he used to lead. Chaz Ebert took over the introductions. While she was a bit shaky at first, she has become adept at the job, aside from dropping the Golden Thumb award this year. It's a testament to the build quality of the award that it did not break when it landed with a thud onto the stage.
People like David Bordwell and Michael Phillips were pros at taking over the discussions when Ebert fell ill. But this festival likes to present a lot of viewpoints, and this year's festival saw the welcome additions of Kim Morgan, Christy Lemire, and Elvis Mitchell, and even the inclusion of the far flung correspondents worked for the most part. The after film discussions and the generally less interesting morning panel discussions are available here. The Synecdoche panel is available on YouTube.
I find it astonishing that some people with festival passes skipped the Apocalypse Now screening. You wouldn't know it from the packed Virginia, but a couple people indicated in their writings that they didn't attend the showing of one of the great achievements of the cinema. What a waste.
