CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The 1979 film “Hair,” based on the Broadway musical of the same name, will open this year’s Roger Ebert’s Film Festival hosted by Chaz Ebert, also known as “Ebertfest,” coming April 19-23 to Champaign.
Organizers announced the selection today along with four other films and guests who will appear onstage for Q&As following each screening.
Festival guest Chamique Holdsclaw is the subject of the documentary “Mind/Game.”
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The other films are “To Sleep With Anger” (1990), described by one reviewer as a “neglected masterpiece of African-American cinema”; “Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw” (2015), a documentary about the University of Tennessee and WNBA basketball star’s struggles with mental disorders; “Hysteria” (2011), a “lighthearted romantic comedy” about the birth of the electro-mechanical vibrator during the Victorian era; and “Varieté” (1925), a German silent film “filled with jealousy, obsession and murder, set against the backdrop of the circus.”
Coming as guests will be Michael Hausman, an assistant director of “Hair”; Charles Burnett, the director of “To Sleep With Anger”; Rick Goldsmith and Holdsclaw, the director and subject, respectively, of “Mind/Game”; and Tanya Wexler and Hugh Dancy, the director and co-star, respectively, of “Hysteria.”
Robert Townsend, a producer, director, writer and actor known for “Hollywood Shuffle” and “The Meteor Man,” also will be a guest, leading the Q&A for “To Sleep With Anger.” The Alloy Orchestra will provide the accompaniment for “Varieté,” as it has for numerous silent films at previous Ebertfests.
Festival guest Hugh Dancy co-starred with Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Hysteria.”
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Two films and their accompanying guests were announced last week: “Elle,” with star Isabelle Huppert; and “Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You,” with Lear, producer Brent Miller, and directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady.
The remaining five films and additional festival guests will be announced at a later date.
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.
Ebertfest is held in collaboration with the College of Media at the University of Illinois. Roger Ebert was a 1964 U. of I. journalism graduate and an adjunct professor of journalism.
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.
For additional information and details about films and guests, visit www.ebertfest.com.
