She embraces cinema in all aspects of her career and told Hosea Sanders how her late husband, film critic Roger Ebert, still inspires her life.
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The Facets benefit celebrating Chaz is sold out but you can still take part in the online auction for movie lovers by bidding on VIP access to top film festivals, theater tickets, film memorabilia and more!
"Sometimes when people think I'm so strong, yes, I am a strong woman but there are times when I had doubts or I didn't know what to do," Chaz said when talking about coping with the illness that would eventually take Roger's life.
They savored the years after she left her legal career to join her husband in artistic pursuits.
"All forms of storytelling, whether it's in books, on film, at the opera, in television or just in circles talking to friends," Chaz said.
Facets has long been a haven for indies and foreign films, and the people who make them.
"Roger used to call Facets the temple of cinema," Chaz said. "Let's have a place so that filmmakers who like to tell stories don't think they have to go to New York or LA - they can stay right here in Chicago. It's great to be honored, but it's more gratifying to me when I'm being honored in a way that I can help the organization that's honoring me."
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RogerEbert.com carries on his legacy of film criticism, with Chaz at the helm.
"To hear from some Black women critics, to hear from some Black male critics, to hear from people of other ethnicities or people from other countries," Chaz said.
Ebert now produces movies like "Passing" and now her films are being reviewed!
"Roger was tough, he could dish it out, but he could take it, too, so I had to learn that as well. Sometimes other people are going to criticize my projects, they may not like them, but que sera sera," Chaz said.
She still lives in the home she shared with Roger.
"It's like a warm hug, I love being here because we did create this together, he loved it," Chaz said. "It has a lot of memories. Some of the things I've had to move on a little from because I was a widow and after a certain time I had to start dating, and it was probably a little intimidating to come and have Roger all over everywhere but people understand, he was my husband."