CHAMPAIGN — As one of Friday’s films came to a close, Chaz Ebert reflected on how each year, the lineup for Ebertfest seems to unintentionally address current events.

She was joined by journalist Brenda Butler and film critics Richard Roeper and Matt Zoller Seitz to discuss “I’m Still Here,” a critically acclaimed 2024 film that follows the story of the Paiva family living under the military dictatorship in Brazil from 1964-1985.

“If I had seen this film seven years ago, I would have looked at as just a film and ‘Oh, it’s so bad that happened in that country,’” Ebert said. “I always said it could never happen here.”

Ebert said one of the film’s stars, Fernanda Torres, had been a potential guest this year but was unable to come to Champaign-Urbana from Canada because she had been warned not to cross the border.

Ebert said while she viewed aspects of the movie as similar to the effects of President Donald Trump’s administration, that wasn’t on her mind as she selected any of this year’s films.

The choices weren’t political, she said. For example, this year’s festival opened Wednesday with the 1956 John Wayne film “The Searchers” because Ebertfest had yet to show a Western movie.

Ebert said the team just chooses movies they think the audience would enjoy.

“I am a person who is concerned with what’s going on in the world at all times,” she said. “I do consume news a lot, it’s just my makeup, so maybe subconsciously or unconsciously, it’s those things that emerge.”

With Friday’s final film and all day Saturday ahead of her, Ebert felt that the festival had been a success as far as audience enjoyment, as well as connecting on an emotional level.

She said it’s important to carry on the wishes of her late husband, iconic film critic Roger Ebert, in finding films that entertain but also have meaning.

They certainly have meaning to her.

“Maybe being in the Virginia Theatre is magic, because I’ve seen each of these films several times before we recommend them, and then by the time I see them on this big, beautiful screen … I’m just a weeping mess after some of these films,” Ebert said.

As for next Ebertfest and beyond? Ebert doesn’t even want to worry about that yet.

“If I start thinking about next year … I still have so many guests and a whole other day of films tomorrow,” Ebert said. “I stay in the moment and that’s what I’m enjoying.”