Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

‘Being There,’ ‘Pleasantville’ and Cole Porter biopic among final slate for ‘Ebertfest’

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Organizers today filled out the slate of films and announced the schedule for this year’s Roger Ebert’s Film Festival hosted by Chaz Ebert, coming April 19-23 to downtown Champaign.

Tickets for individual films will go on sale Saturday (April 1) and festival passes are still available.

"De-Lovely" tells the story of composer Cole Porter through his songs.

“De-Lovely” tells the story of composer Cole Porter through his songs.

The five added feature films and one short, with associated guests:

  • “Being There” (1979), about a simple and sheltered gardener, played by Peter Sellers, who becomes a trusted business adviser and Washington insider. Caleb Deschanel, the film’s cinematographer, will be a guest.
  • “De-Lovely” (2004), a musical biopic about the legendary composer Cole Porter, starring Kevin Kline and Ashley Judd, which will close the festival. Producer/director Irwin Winkler will be a guest, and singer Jimmy Demers and pianist Donnie Demers will perform a collection of Porter’s songs following the screening.
  • “The Handmaiden” (2016), a South Korean love story and revenge thriller.
  • “Pleasantville” (1998), about two teenage siblings, played by Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon, who are trapped in a 1950s TV sitcom and cause disruptions for its outwardly perfect residents. Director Gary Ross will be a guest.
  • “They Call Us Monsters” (2017), a documentary that follows the lives of three teenage boys sentenced to decades in prison. Director Ben Lear and producer Sasha Alpert will be guests.
  • Screened prior to “They Call Us Monsters” will be the short film “July and Half of August” (2015), about how a certain kind of smart person talks, with writer Sheila O’Malley as a guest.
Two teenage siblings are trapped in a 1950s TV sitcom in "Pleasantville."

Two teenage siblings are trapped in a 1950s TV sitcom in “Pleasantville.”

The seven other films and other festival guests were announced in two previous releases (links here and here). Among those guests will be directors Charles Burnett, Rick Goldsmith and Tanya Wexler; actors Hugh Dancy, Isabelle Huppert and Robert Townsend; and TV producer Norman Lear.

The full schedule of screenings can be found at the festival website, ebertfest.com, along with additional information about films and guests, most of whom will participate in on-stage Q&As.

Also attending the festival will be film executives, critics and scholars – many of whom will participate in Q&As and panel discussions – as well as Ebert Fellows, a group of emerging writers, critics, filmmakers and technologists mentored through various Ebert programs.

All of the festival films will be screened at the 1,500-seat Virginia Theatre, a downtown Champaign movie palace opened in 1921 and restored to its early grandeur though extensive renovations prior to the 2013 festival.

The panel discussions, previously held on the University of Illinois campus, will be held this year at the Hyatt Place Hotel, 217 N. Neil St., Champaign, two blocks from the theater. All will be free and open to the public. The discussions schedule will be announced at a later date.

Those unable to attend the festival can livestream Q&As and discussion panels through the festival website.

“They Call Us Monsters" follows the lives of three teenage boys sentenced to decades in prison.

“They Call Us Monsters” follows the lives of three teenage boys sentenced to decades in prison.

Roger Ebert died in 2013, but Ebertfest includes films from lists he drew up over the festival’s first 15 years, as well as others selected by festival co-founder and host Chaz Ebert, Roger’s widow, and festival director Nate Kohn, based on Roger’s established criteria.

Roger Ebert was a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for the Chicago Sun-Times for 46 years and co-hosted movie review programs on television for more than three decades. He also was a 1964 University of Illinois journalism graduate and adjunct journalism professor.

Ebertfest is held in collaboration with the College of Media at Illinois.

Festival passes covering all 12 screenings are available for $150 plus processing, and for the first time, festival-goers will receive a 15 percent discount when they purchase a four-pack. Also, a small number of U. of I. student passes will be made available at $100 each.

All passes can be purchased through the Ebertfest or Virginia Theatre websites, or at the Virginia Theatre box office, 203 W. Park Ave., Champaign, 217-356-9063.

Tickets for individual movies can be purchased starting April 1 at $15 for adults and $13 for students and seniors.

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