Life Itself

What better way to open this year’s Critics' Choice programme than with an acclaimed film about the world’s most famous film critic? In a career spanning six decades, Roger Ebert shared his deep love for movies with a voice filled with intelligence and empathy. As a cinephile with deeply humanist values, Ebert believed that movies were not only a way to better understand the world, but to bring the world closer together in a passionate conversation about life. He pursued this mass conversation through his award-winning movie reviews and phenomenally popular television show; but a career-threatening illness profoundly changed his relationship with the movies and people in his life.
Using Ebert’s own words from his bestselling memoir and candid moments recorded in his final months, this documentary traces a remarkable life spent in the world of movies.