I was out at dinner with a group of friends who were experts in various fields when one observed that whether you are talking about psychology, photography, astrology or cryptology, 2025 proved to be a very strange year indeed. He continued with more hope, however, opining that 2026 is already giving glimmers of vast improvements to come. From his mouth to God’s ear!
On this first day of January 2026, I invite you to sit back with a cup of hot cocoa and savor the writing of our contributors here at RogerEbert.com as they offer a more joyful and fulsome view of things from both the big and small screen. It starts, of course, with our super Editorial Team: Managing Editor, Brian Tallerico; Editor-at-Large, Matt Zoller Seitz; Contributing Editor, Nell Minow; Associate Editor, Robert Daniels; and Assistant Editor Clint Worthington. I give thanks to them all along with our super Corporate Team: Sonia Evans and Daniel Jackson.
Before my late husband Roger Ebert passed away April 4, 2013, we had many conversations about continuing the website. I knew how much he loved it. I could see both the calming influence it had on him, and the joy it brought him. Although he said he didn’t care about his legacy, there was no doubt that he found pleasure in sharing his many years of output. There were times, I must confess, when I thought continuing the website without Roger would be sacrilegious. But as I amassed the team at RogerEbert.com, it became clear to me that this was the perfect way to offer my respect and admiration, not only to Roger as my spouse, but to Roger whose partnership with Gene Siskel created a cottage industry of film criticism that was accessible to the public. To that end, I am also grateful to the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and the Chicago History Museum who jointly hosted celebrations of fifty years of Siskel & Ebert all over the city.
And now, I am happy to share the work of our team from 2025. All throughout the year, we were fortunate to have incisive film reviews and opinion pieces from so many whose names are too numerous to mention, but they include our editorial team mentioned above, as well as Sheila O’Malley, Glenn Kenny, Christy Lemire, Tomris Laffly, Monica Castillo, Peyton Robinson, Simon Abrams, Richard Roeper, Marya E. Gates, Isaac Feldberg, Godfrey Cheshire, Carlos Aguilar, Katie Rife, Peter Sobczynski, Craig Lindsey, Jourdain Searles, Zachary Lee, Michael Phillips and many others.
Brian Tallerico was joined by a phenomenal TV review team including Richard Roeper, Kaiya Shunyata, Cristina Escobar, Rendy Jones, Nandini Balial, and Clint Worthington, who brought us the 25 Best TV Series of 2025.
Read all of their work here.
We had incredible conversations with prominent artists this year, including Rian Johnson, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Wagner Moura, Hikari, Payal Kapadia, Elle Fanning, Stellan Skarsgård, Lynne Ramsay, Jennifer Lawrence, Sepideh Farsi, Nia DaCosta, Jafar Panahi, Kelly Reichardt, Mary Bronstein, Constance Tsang, Euzhan Palcy, Carson Lund, Pamela Anderson, and many more. Read them all here.
We also owe thanks to our Far Flung Correspondents, a name given by Roger to Film Critics representing many nations from Egypt to Mexico, Canada to England, Pakistan to Japan and France. Some of these writers lived abroad, while others were Americans with knowledge about films from those countries. Gerardo Valero, Seongyong Cho, Scott Jordan Harris, Omer Mozaffar, Wael Khairy, Lisa Nesselson, Olivia Collette, and Jana Monji.
In January 2025, we returned to the Sundance Film Festival, publishing dispatches from our editors Brian Tallerico and Robert Daniels and our regular contributors Marya E. Gates, Zachary Lee, and Monica Castillo. And of course, our film reviews.
In February, Tim Grierson saluted the movies that were overlooked during the Oscar season, while Sarah Knight Adamson reported from the Critics Choice Awards.
Our annual Women Writers Week occurred in March and featured incisive pieces ranging in topics from Niani Scott writing about films coming from South Africa to Marya E Gates sharing an excerpt from her book Cinema Her Way: Visionary Female Directors in Their Own Words. Along with those topics, many more incredible female writers contributed: Sherin Nicole, Jourdain Searles, Abby Olcese, Cristina Escobar, Miriam Balanescu, Danielle Mathias, Jen Johans, Carla Renata, and Laura Emerick.
During March, Brian Tallerico, Zachary Lee, and Matt Zoller Seitz traveled to Austin, Texas for SXSW, the South by Southwest Film Festival, filing dispatches about eclectic indies, crowd-pleasing studio films, and rare discoveries.
In April, we held our latest installment of Ebert Fest at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign, Illinois where we welcomed Rosanna Arquette, Susan Seidelman, Michael Barker, Francis Ford Coppola, Barbara Kopple, Azazel Jacobs, Guy Maddin, David Fortune, and many more. Roger absolutely loved Ebertfest. Not only did it take place in his hometown, but it was held in conjunction with his alma mater, the University of Illinois, College of Media. He said the University was the best partner he could have wished for. I concurred with him. And even after his death in 2013, the University continued to proudly host this very special film festival.
However, due to financial considerations, in September of 2025, I was saddened to join the University in announcing the end of Ebertfest after 26 years. It was just an unfortunate situation affecting many institutions across the country. The University had served the community well all of those years, but they had no choice. So Dr Nathaniel Kohn, the Festival Director, and I began working behind the scenes to see if there was some way to resurrect Ebertfest for one more year. In a stroke of good luck, it looks like we may be able to host the Festival for a final edition in 2026 that will take place April 17–19, at it’s old home, the beautiful Virginia Theater. All of the details have not been worked out, so expect one more press release before the end of January. And please keep your fingers crossed (and your donations coming).
In May, I returned to the Cannes Film Festival along with Scott Dummler of Mint Media Works, where we produced a series of video dispatches featuring our contributors Brian Tallerico, Ben Kenigsberg, Jason Gorber, Isaac Feldberg and Robert Daniels.
We further celebrated Black Writers Week in June, publishing keen work from contributors like Odie Henderson, Brenda Butler, Kaiya Shunyata, Danielle Scruggs, Sherin Nicole, Sonia Evans, Soraya Nadia McDonald, Brandon David Wilson, Mack Bates, Craig D. Lindsay, and others.
July was a packed month for major film events: Katherine Tulich wrote from Bentonville; Isaac Feldberg covered Karlovy Vary International Film Festival; Clint Worthington checked in from Fantasia; Cortlyn Kelly highlighted Cinema Femme Short Film Festival, which presented Lauren Melinda with the inaugural Chaz Ebert Phenomenal Person in Film Award; Nell Minow and Jana Monji shared their personal experiences at Comic Con.
In August Robert Daniels ventured to Locarno Film Festival, while Cortlyn Kelly returned to Telluride.
At the Toronto International Film Festival in September, Cameron Bailey presented Guillermo del Toro with the Ebert Director Award. Brian Tallerico helmed a team that included Marya E. Gates, Zachary Lee, Jason Bailey, and Monica Castillo — covering a staggering 71 films out of a stacked lineup.
During October, not only did the site report from the 61st Chicago International Film Festival, but Chaz Ebert also stepped into the Criterion Van during its limited-time visit to the city.
As a follow up to my book It’s Time to Give a FECK: Elevating Humanity Through Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion and Kindness, I announced the FECK Awards which will take place at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Chicago, Saturday, April 4, 2026. The book, among other things, celebrates Roger’s saying that movies are a machine that generates empathy, resulting in understanding others.
November, meanwhile, brought the 50th anniversary of Siskel & Ebert. To celebrate, a screening series at Claudia Cassidy Theater featured showings of “Eve’s Bayou,” “Breaking Away,” “Drugstore Cowboy,” “Siskel & Ebert at 50: A Live Performance,” and “Lone Star,” while our writers considered the enduring legacy of the show.
IN MEMORIAM: We lost many extraordinary people this year, including Rob Reiner, Gene Hackman, Dianne Ladd, and David Lynch. We also honored many more luminaries in our Tributes section.
These are but a small percentage of the film reviews and articles you will find when visiting our site. I know that Roger would be proud.
