"He promoted it, but Kubrick was there first. If it wasn't for '2001', Lucas wouldn't have gotten off the ground." They're probably referring to the fact that "Attack of the Clones" was the first major cinematic release to have been shot entirely using digital cameras, although if I recall correctly, "Toy Story 2" was the first major film to be shown digitally (in the very few theaters that were specially equipped with digital projectors.) (Also, "Young Indiana Jones" and "Radioland Murders" used digitally generated sets.) Ultimately, true "father" credit should probably go to the creators of "Tron," which was the first major release to blend live action with CGI. Anyway, and I know I'm picking nits, while Lucas has been pushing for all-digital filmmaking for several years now, he can't accurately be said to be the father of digital cinema, but then, neither can Kubrick, who only dreamed of all-digital cinema, but didn't have faith in CGI until he saw "Jurassic Park," which prompted him to toy with the idea of filming "A.I." digitally. By the time he was wrapping up "Eyes Wide Shut," he'd already decided that Spielberg would probably be a more appropriate director for "A.I." Maybe so, but the "A.I." that Steven made was sorely compromised by typically Spielbergian sacchrine turgidity, a half-baked attempt at Kubrickian mannerisms, and overlength. Again, picking nits, nothing about "2001" was digital, IIRC even the computer readouts you see on the Discovery's screens were animated conventionally. Maybe, just maybe the "father" label comes from the fact that even on the first Star Wars film, ILM used computers to track and match multiple model and background shots. I dunno, it's hype. :-) It's true that "2001" was a landmark film (and that Kubrick was by far the superior director.) It set the tone, look, and feel for mainstream science fiction films (e.g. "Silent Running") until the space opera called "Star Wars" came along to set a new standard ... the action-based blockbuster with all the commercial tie-ins. Hopefully, Mr. Lucas' keynote will be interesting and of substance. He tends to talk a lot without saying much these days. :-) Alas, my contacts who worked on "Revenge of the Sith" say the film stinks, except for truly spectacular space battles. Not that bad reviews will prevent many of us from going to see it. :-)