Roger Ebert's Film Festival Announces 2020 Dates

Roger Ebert's Film Festival, co-founded and hosted by Chaz Ebert and also known as 'Ebertfest," announced today that the 22nd Annual Roger Ebert's Film Festival will take place April 15-18, 2020 at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign, IL with related talks and panel discussions to be held at the Hyatt Place in Champaign and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

"On behalf of the entire Ebertfest team, we are so excited to be returning to Champaign next April for our 22nd festival," said Chaz Ebert, co-founder and host of Ebertfest. "Thank you to the Virginia Theatre, the cities of Champaign/Urbana, our sponsors and our amazing audiences who travel near and far to attend our festivities each year. We couldn't do this festival without their support and we look forward to seeing you all in 2020!"

This year's festival, which was held April 10-13, 2019, opened with Alan Elliott's AMAZING GRACE, the highly-anticipated film presenting Aretha Franklin's live performance at the New Missionary Bethel Baptist Church in Los Angeles in January 1972. Producers Alan Elliott and Tirrell D. Whittley were in attendance to discuss the film and following the screening, the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Choir performed live on stage at the Virginia Theatre. Additionally, this year's lineup featured screenings of ALMOST FAMOUS, BOUND, CANE RIVER, CŒUR FIDÈLE, COLD WAR, MAYA ANGELOU: AND STILL I RISE,RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, ROMY & MICHELLE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION, SIDEWAYS, SEBASTIAN, WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? and A YEAR OF THE QUIET SUN.

Chaz Ebert added, "Over the years, Ebertfest has evolved into not only a place to celebrate cinema, but to celebrate the very best in human nature. We give 'Humanitarian Awards' to filmmakers who exhibit an unusually compassionate view of the world and this year, we honored Morgan Neville for his film WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? about Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. Additionally, we established the "Icon Award" and the inaugural award given to Rita Coburn for her film honoring icon Maya Angelou. The academic panels with the Champaign County Alliance for Inclusion and Respect contained in-depth discussions on eradicating stigma of addiction and mental and physical disabilities through the arts. The films chosen, whether domestic or foreign, result in an understanding of other peoples, other cultures, others in circumstances different from our own, with the core principles of empathy, kindness, compassion and forgiveness being woven into the fabric."

Showings of AMAZING GRACE, CANE RIVER and MAYA ANGELOU: AND STILL I RISE were supported by a Diversity in Film award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Showing of THE YEAR OF THE QUIET SUN, including bringing in its star from Poland, was supported by a grant from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Special guests in attendance in-person and satellite included Directors Rita Coburn, David Mirkin, Morgan Neville, Sam Fragoso and Stephen Apkon; Producers Alan Elliott, Tirrell D. Whittley, Sandra Schulberg and Marcina Hale; Screenwriter Jenny Lumet; Actors Gina Gershon, Maja Komorowska, Virginia Madsen, Tommye Myrick and Jennifer Tilly and additional filmmakers and critics including Sacha Jenkins, Dominique Jenkins, Sony Pictures Classics co-president Michael Barker, critics Nick Allen, Matt Fagerholm, Chuck Koplinski, Jennifer Merin, Nell Minow, Michael Phillips, Eric Pierson, Pamela Powell, Carla Renata, Todd Rendleman, Richard Roeper, Whitney Spencer, Brian Tallerico and Matt Zoller Seitz.

Passes for next year's will go on sale in November this year and will be available for purchase through the festival website, the theater website or the theater box office, 203 W. Park Ave., Champaign, 217-356-9063. Updates will be posted on the festival website and also at RogerEbert.com. Tickets for individual movies will be available in 2020.

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