Filmgoers began lining up before 9 a.m. on Friday. We planned to join our daughters for a late breakfast before heading to the festival, but for a tiny moment, I wondered if I should make camp outside the Virginia Theatre. In the end, we joined the line at 11:40 a.m. and had located terrific seats by 12:10 p.m. No camping required!

Anecdote: On March 30, I followed a link from the University’s site to the official Ebertfest site and scrolled through the films. The documentary immediately attracted my interest, but then… I couldn’t believe my eyes! Sheila O’Malley’s short film July and Half of August was scheduled to be screened just before They Call Us Monsters. What synchronicity, eh? (I recently republished my post about seeing the reading of her play in Chicago.) With her powerful short still on my mind, I send prayers to the film gods that it has attracted the sort of attention that will result in feature-length treatment. More people need to meet Neve. Two enthusiastic thumbs up!

Ben Lear’s documentary weaves the debate surrounding a California State bill concerning whether juveniles should be tried as adults with the story of three juvenile offenders enrolled in a script-writing class while awaiting their sentences. Thumbs up!