Chaz Ebert, president of Ebert Digital LLC and CEO of RogerEbert.com, is getting into the director’s chair for the primary time.
At this 12 months’s Chicago Worldwide Movie Pageant, she’s going to premiere her brief movie “Wellness Warrior,” which explores the unimaginable lifetime of Deborah Szekely, who has been known as the “Godmother of Wellness” for her advocacy of the fashionable wellness motion.
A synopsis of the movie from a press launch reads:
“As World Conflict II raged across the globe, a professor from Japanese Europe and his 17-year-old bride created an oasis simply throughout the Southern California border in Tecate, Mexico. It turned often known as Rancho La Puerta, a sanctuary for individuals from all around the world to come back and study well being and wellness. That 17-year-old woman, Deborah Szekely, is now 102 years outdated and is the residing embodiment of the whole lot the Ranch aspires to be and to show. The Ranch and its sister property, The Golden Door in San Marcos, California, proceed right this moment to serve celebrities, royalty, and anybody seeking a more healthy life. Szekely is taken into account the founding father of the modern-day spa business, the Godmother of Wellness, and this movie explores her unimaginable life, together with the obstacles and triumphs of being a lady entrepreneur.“
Nonetheless vibrant and vivid in her second century, Szekely spends her days planting bushes in Tecate, taking lengthy walks each day, and constructing the Inexperienced Umbrella Fund to assist that initiative. You might contribute to it right here.
Ebert isn’t any stranger to movie manufacturing, having govt produced movies similar to “Passing,” “The Empire of Ebony,” and “Selah and the Spades.” However having been a frequent customer to Rancho La Puerta and the Golden Door, Chaz has been so impressed by the girl’s superb life, in addition to her “vitality, knowledge, and compassion.”
Chaz mentioned she felt somebody ought to make a movie about Szekely. She by no means dreamed she would wind up directing it.
“Ladies stored saying they have been going to make a film about Deborah Szekely, however nobody began it, so my daughter Sonia inspired me to do it,” Ebert mentioned in a press launch. “I believe Deborah is superb. One of the vital superb issues about her is that she reinvents herself each ten years.”
“Wellness Warrior” is produced by Ebert, Scott Dummler and Sonia Evans. Ms. Szekely will seem on the movie’s premiere, together with a couple of others highlighted within the movie. It is going to be screened on Saturday, October 26, at 3:45 p.m. at AMC New Metropolis 14. Ebert can be the writer of “It’s Time to Give a FECK: Elevating Humanity by Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion and Kindness” (Forefront Books, 2024).
The Chicago Worldwide Movie Pageant runs October 16-27 at venues throughout the town; you could find extra info at chicagofilmfestival.com.
