Roger Ebert may have died earlier this month, but his legacy lives on this weekend through Ebertfest in downtown Champaign. Director Terrence Malick’s “Days of Heaven” kicked off the film festival at the Virginia Theatre on Wednesday night, with special guest Haskell Wexler, the film’s Oscar-winning photographer.

Ebert’s recent passing created a poignant aura for the festival’s opening night. Chaz Ebert, Roger’s wife for over 20 years, introduced Wednesday’s events with a speech, slightly postponed due to the four-minute standing ovation given by the sold-out theatre’s audience.

“I am so happy to be with you this evening,” Chaz said. “I always called Roger my boyfriend … I was hoping that my boyfriend could be here with me, but he’s not. So, for tonight I am wearing his scarf.”

Endearing moments filled the course of the evening, but so did a welcome mix of big laughs and sharp humor. Chaz reminded the audience that she can be a loose cannon at speeches, but that she would do her best to follow the script. A radiant presence, Chaz commanded the stage gracefully, sharing intimate memories of Roger and thanking the Champaign Park District for the Virginia Theatre’s “beautiful” renovations.

Chaz introduced Grace Wang and June Kim to the podium, the filmmakers of “I Remember,” a short-subject film that played before “Days of Heaven.” Wang also served as one of Ebert’s far-flung correspondent film enthusiasts from all over the world. Ebert’s correspondents regularly contributed to his blog and website.

Wang spoke before the short played, describing her experience with Ebert and his family as life-changing. Originally, her parents wanted her to become a doctor, accountant and lawyer — all in that order, she joked. But then she met Roger.

“When Roger came into my life, he taught me what cinema could be and what it could mean,” Wang said in her speech. “Watching Roger champion filmmakers of all different kinds of backgrounds … it made me think of life’s possibilities. Roger never encouraged me to become a filmmaker, only to be the best person that I could be. And for that I am forever grateful.”

“I Remember,” much like Terrence Malick’s feature, is an elliptical wonder. In the short, a woman wallows in an empty gray apartment as forbidding noise from the city outside creeps through the walls and windows. The girl, clad in black, shares enigmatic phone conversation with someone else with the other end of the line muted for the audience.

She intermittently folds clothes and drinks from a glass, but the short is anything but a bore. As quick cuts rush the screen with color and the backstory gradually reveals itself, “I Remember” caused audible reactions from dozens of audience members, signifying Wang’s and Kim’s storytelling talents.

The short also displays a welcomed technical proficiency, taking advantage of digital video’s spectral, desaturated aesthetic. Several takes, including an impressive tracking shot early in “I Remember,” no doubt took several rehearsals and much-needed skill. Ebertfest audiences should keep Wang’s second short “Magical Coincidence” on their movie radars.

“Days of Heaven” followed Wang’s short and Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics and longtime friend of Ebert, introduced Malick’s film. Barker described “Days of Heaven” as one of the most stunning movies ever made, achieving a level of poetry rarely seen in the medium.

His superlatives are well-deserved — “Days of Heaven” took audiences by storm in 1978, and its director’s influence in film has been heavily present since. Set sometime in the early 20th century, Richard Gere plays a brother on the run with his sister and girlfriend from Chicago police, fleeing to be a migrant laborer on a wheat farm in central America. Sam Shepard plays the wealthy farmer who falls for Gere’s girlfriend, which sets in motion thrilling and tragic events for the film’s lead characters.

The film is at once beautiful and puzzling. The wide horizons of farmland are gorgeous but the human drama is compounded by the nature surrounding the characters. In “Days of Heaven” and Malick’s other films, man is viewed as another critter on earth.

Is it a glorified nature documentary, as many of Malick’s harshest critics make his work out to be? Hardly. “Days of Heaven” is full of biblical allusions given elemental, worldly expressions through the grand plain fields and vast array of characters

Cinematographer Wexler shared his experience on “Days of Heaven” in a panel discussion with film and TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz. Although Wexler holds an “additional photography” credit on the film, Wexler shot half of the film’s production after its original cinematographer, Néstor Almendros, had to leave for other projects.

Almendros won an Oscar for his work on “Days of Heaven.” Undoubtably deserving of the film, Wexler said there were “awkward” and “bitter” experiences over who should receive the film’s directory of photography credit. But he said he is over any bad past experience, proud of his work displayed in the film.

Ebertfest’s VIP guests congregated to Neil St.’s Steak ‘n Shake at 11 p.m. after Wexler’s discussion, an experience that Barker noted in his letter of remembrance on the website Indiewire. Filling several long tables with slider plates and milkshakes, the conversations continued the festival’s affinity for film.

Ebert may be gone, but Wednesday night’s sold-out audience indicated that he will remain at the movies in spirit and memory. Ebertfest will continue to run with film screenings special guests, such as Jack Black and director Richard Linklater, until Sunday night.

Adlai is a freshman in Media. He can be reached at [email protected].