For Immediate Release
Adrian McLaughlin -
THE 20th ANNUAL EBERTFEST ANNOUNCES INITIAL SLATE FOR THE 2018 FESTIVAL
Roger Ebert’s Film Festival to take place April 18-22, 2018 in Champaign, IL
CHAMPAIGN, IL - March 10, 2018 -- The Roger Ebert Film Festival, co-founded and hosted by Chaz Ebert and also known as 'Ebertfest', is pleased to announce today the first three films and special guests of the highly anticipated 20th Anniversary of celebrating overlooked films, genres and less seen formats.
The 20th Annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, co-founded and hosted by Chaz Ebert, announces today that THE 13th, BELLE and DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST will be screened throughout the festival’s five days. Special guests Director, Writer and Producer Ava DuVernay (THE 13th), Director Amma Asante (Belle) and Director Julie Dash (DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST) will be in attendance and participate in panel discussions open to the audience following their screenings.
“What an honor to have these Three Queens of Cinema grace our festival," said Chaz Ebert. “Ava DuVernay first met Roger outside of the practice arena for the Academy Awards when she was 8 years old. She was accompanied by her aunt whose death later inspired Ava's poignant independent film, “I Will Follow”, that Roger gave Thumbs Up. Now she is directing a 100 million dollar movie. But why I am especially thrilled to have her at our 20th anniversary is because of all of the good work she is doing in Hollywood to assure that women and people of color are having opportunities that were not available before. She didn't stop at her own success, she reached out and invited others to come along."
The 20th Anniversary of Ebertfest will be held April 18-22, 2018 at the 90-year-old Virginia Theatre in Champaign, IL with related talks and panel discussions to be held at the Hyatt Place in Champaign. This year’s event will be dedicated to its namesake and co-founder, Roger Ebert, and to the festival’s cherished friend, Mary Frances Fagan. Dubbed Ebertfest’s “Guardian Angel” by Roger Ebert, Fagan worked for American Airlines and made essential travel for filmmakers possible through generous support over two decades.
Festival Passes are available for $150, plus processing. Festival-goers will receive a discount when they purchase a four-pack priced at $510 instead of $600, or 15% off. Additionally, a small number of U. of I. student pases will be made available priced at $100 each. All passes can be purchased through or at the Virginia Theater box office, 203 W. Park Ave., Champaign, 217-356-9063.
Tickets for individual movies will be available April 2. Admission is $15 for adults and $13 for students and seniors.
Chaz Ebert is the festival co-founder and producer and Nate Kohn is the festival director. Major filmmakers, stars, historians, critics and film-lovers from all over the world come to experience this annual celebration that includes films from lists Roger drew up over the first 15 years of the festival, as well as others selected by Chaz Ebert and Festival Director Nate Kohn based on Roger’s established criteria for an Ebertfest film.
SCREENING INFORMATION
THE 13th (2016)
Directed by Ava DuVernay, 100 Mins, DCP
Special Guest Ava DuVernay will be in attendance
The title of Ava DUVernay’s extraordinary and galvanizing documentary refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” The progressions from that second qualifying clause to the horrors of mass criminalization and the sprawling American prison industry is laid out by DuVernay with bracing lucidity. With a potent mixture of archival footage and testimony from a dazzling array of activists, politicians, historians, and formerly incarcerated women and men, DuVernay creates a work of grand historical synthesis.
In his 4 star review on RogertEbert.com, Odie Henderson wrote that THE 13th is “an unflinching, well-informed and thoroughly researched look at the American system of incarceration, specifically how the prison industrial complex affects people of color.”
Ava DuVernay is known for being the first African-American female director who has received a Golden Globe nomination. Her most recent movie is “A Wrinkle in Time”, starring the well-known actors and actresses Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Chris Pine.
Belle (2014)
Directed by Amma Asante, 102 Mins, DCP
Special Guest Amma Asante will be in attendance
Belle is inspired by the true story of Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), the illegitimate mixed race daughter of Admiral Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode). Raised by her aristocratic great -uncle Lord Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson), Belle’s lineage affords her certain privileges, yet her status prevents her from the traditions of noble social standing. While her cousin Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon) chases suitors for marriage, Belle is left on the sidelines wondering if she will ever find love. After meeting an idealistic young vicar’s son bent on changing society, he and Belle help shape Lord Mansfield’s role as Lord Chief Justice to end slavery in England.
Daughters of the Dust (1991)
Directed by Julie Dash, 112 Mins, TBD Format
Special Guest Julie Dash will be in attendance
At the dawn of the 20th century, a family in the Gullah community of coastal South Carolina -- former West African slaves who adopted many of their ancestors’ Yoruba traditions -- suffers a generational split. Young Haager (Kaycee Moore) wants to move to the mainland away from tradition-bound matriarch Nana (Cora Lee Day). Former prostitute Yellow Mary (Barbara-O) gets a cold shoulder when she returns to the island with her female lover, especially from her sister Viola (Cheryl Lynn Bruce).
Roger Ebert called the film “a tone poem of old memories, a family album in which all of the pictures are taken on the same day” in his 3 star review. He went on to say that “at certain moments we are not sure exactly what is being said or signified, but by the end we understand everything that happened -- not in an intellectual way, but in an emotional way.”
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About EBERTFEST -- ROGER EBERT’S FILM FESTIVAL
Roger Ebert’s Film Festival (EBERTFEST) celebrates films, genres and formats that have been overlooked by distributors, audiences and/or critics. These include independent, international and studio films that did not win wide audiences; less seen formats such as 70mm; and genres such as documentaries and musicals. The festival screens one film at a time, so everyone sees the same films at the same time, promoting a strong sense of community among audience members, filmmakers, guests, students and scholars.