Early birds who want to ensure a seat at the Virginia Theater for next year’s EbertFest can now order festival passes on-line.
EbertFest, formerly known as The Overlooked Film Festival, showcases films that are hand-picked by locally-raised and internationally-beloved film critic Roger Ebert. Often described as the “least pretentious film festival in the world,” the festival showcases films that often deserve better than the reception or distribution they originally received. It also allows locals to rub elbows with film industry insiders and outsiders. Each film screening is followed by a discussion with folks associated with the film, such as the director, producer, writer or actor. Past guests have included Ang Lee, John Malkovich and Alan Rickman.
The festival will be in its 11th year next year and is scheduled for April 22-26, 2009. Festival passes now cost $125.00, up from $100.00 in previous years, but still allow entrance to all twelve films in the festival, plus the added benefit of all-day seat-grabbing.
The film screening schedule will be announced in March 2009 at www.ebertfest.com. Tickets can be ordered on-line via TicketWeb or at the Virginia Theater box office (203 W Park Ave, Champaign).