EBERT FIGHTS BACK, ANOTHER COUNTY HEARD FROM

By John Harkness

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times is shocked that people would
call him on behaviour that resembles that of a spoiled Hapsburg
princeling. "I've been amused that writers for two Toronto papers
were shocked! shocked! that a journalist would be aggressive in
pursuit of a story."

Roger Ebert, two-fisted reporter. If he doesn't get into the early
screening of Far From Heaven, Earl Williams goes to the chair! The
Commies will take over the South Side of Chicago! Al-Qaeda will bomb
the buffet in the Fox Hospitality Suite.

Hey, Roger, it's a freaking movie. And you're a movie reviewer. If,
as a movie reviewer with 30 years experience, you are incapable of
interviewing a director or actor without having seen their film, you
should really consider another line of work. But come on. You're
Roger Ebert. You think the distributor won't set up a screening for
you?

Meanwhile, one of Ebert's posse (who also didn't get into the Far
From Heaven screening), Todd McCarthy of Variety, weighs in with this.

"Overflows of 150 or more people for the press screenings of such
highly anticipated titles as Pedro Almodovar's Talk To Her and Paul
Schrader's Auto Focus prevented many critics from getting in, but
things reached a boiling point at the Saturday-evening showings of
Todd Haynes's Far From Heaven, when Roger Ebert and reps from such
other U.S. publications as the New York Times, USA Today, New York
magazine and Variety were prevented from seeing the film despite
having arrived up to a half-hour early. "

Both Ebert and McCarthy complain about the Industry passes, which
"outnumber legitimate press passes."

According to Ebert, "At Cannes and Sundance, accredited press are
guaranteed admission up to 15 minutes before show time."

"In light of this mess," writes McCarthy, "the pecking order of
different badges long established at the Cannes Film Festival begins
to make more sense: If you're a legitimate member of the press, you
know you can get into designated press screenings."

For those of you who do not attend the Cannes Film Festival, this
sounds perfectly reasonable, except that it's not exactly true.

For McCarthy, Ebert and their buddies from USA Today and the New York
Times, it must be nice to live on top of the mountain. Speaking as "a
legitimate member of the press" who has been accredited at Cannes 15
times, let me assure you that Ebert and McCarthy are sadly mistaken.
There are certain press screenings at the Cannes Film Festival which
many press members don't bother with, generally in the 400-seat Salle
Andre Bazin, because they know that they won't get into them.

McCarthy advocates the hierarchy of badges because at Cannes he has a
white card, as does Ebert, the New York Times and other large daily
papers. People with white press cards are guaranteed that access.
People who have pink cards with a yellow dot are pretty much
guaranteed access. People with plain pink cards have a good shot.
People with blue cards might as well go for coffee. (This is not true
at the morning screenings in the big room, where even people with
yellow cards get in. I think the yellow cards are French high school
papers.)

I'm a blue card. Fine. I know to show up early for the evening
screenings in the Salle Debussy, where we plebes get the balcony. A
couple of years ago, I served on the Cannes FIPRESCI jury, which got
me a pink card with a dot for the main Festival venues and a brown
jury card that let me simply ignore the lines at the parallel venues.
It was very nice to have that access, but there are lots of
"legitimate members of the press" who aren't "guaranteed" seating.
And I can't wait to see three press screenings waiting to start, each
with a couple of hundred journos lined up in front of them waiting
for Roger and Todd to assert their divine right to access in the
narrow confines of the Varsity Theatres.

You want to see an in-demand film at the Toronto press screening,
then you show up early. Anybody who's attended the festival over a
period of time - and McCarthy and Ebert both qualify - should know
that by now.

Of course, what they want is not to guarantee that "the legitimate
press" has access. Advocating the "benefit the few, leave the many
gnashing their teeth" system at Cannes, which is roundly hated by
anyone who does not have a high-level accreditation, shows that they
have no interest in the interest of the "legitimate press" in
general, only in specifics. "Treat us like the movie reviewing gods
that we are, or we'll go home."

You want a little cheese with that whine?