CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, April 27 to May 1 in Champaign-Urbana, has added a 13th film, to be accompanied by its writer/director and one of its stars. Panel discussions and other festival events also have been finalized.
The added film is “Natural Selection,” a comedy that premiered last month at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in Austin, Texas, and won the Grand Jury Prize and other awards. Ebert was one of three members of the panel making the selection.
The film will be shown at 10:30 p.m. on the festival’s opening night, after “Metropolis,” a silent film classic.
“Natural Selection” follows the journey of a suburban Texas housewife called on by her dying husband to track down a drugged-out escaped convict. The husband believes he is the father of the convict as a result of a sperm donation many years earlier.
Appearing on stage after the film will be the writer/director Robbie Pickering. “Natural Selection” was his first feature. Also appearing will be Rachael Harris, who won a jury prize for breakthrough performance at the SXSW festival for her roles as the housewife. (She also has been seen recently in the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” film, as the mother.)
“Ebertfest” films are shown at the Virginia Theater in downtown Champaign, with other events on the University of Illinois campus.
The full schedule of films, including those previously announced can be found at www.ebertfest.com, along with festival updates and information about panelists and guests. Updates also can be followed on Twitter.
Tickets for individual films go on sale beginning at noon April 4 through the theater box office (phone 217-356-9063; fax: 217-356-5729) and online through the theater website.
The schedule of added events, all free and open to the public, and held at the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana:
Thursday, April 28
9-10:15 a.m. – Panel discussion “Personal Stories in Film,” with festival guests, in the Pine Lounge (first floor).
10:30-11:45 a.m. – Panel discussion “Far Flung Correspondents: International Perspectives in Film Criticism,” with Ebert and international film critics, in the Pine Lounge.
Friday, April 29
9-10:15 a.m. – Panel discussion “Ebert Presents: Reinventing the TV Show in the Digital Age,” with on-air hosts Christy Lemire and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky and others involved with the new film-review program “Ebert Presents at the Movies,” in the Pine Lounge.
10:30-11:45 a.m. – Panel discussion “Choices: The Movies We Make, the Roles We Play,” with festival guests, in the Pine Lounge.
Saturday, April 30
9-10:30 a.m. – “An Amateur Guide to No-Budget Filmmaking: Filmmaking for the Rest of Us,” presented by Don Tingle, workshop director for the Alabama Filmmakers Co-op, in the General Lounge (second floor).
