The 22nd Annual Roger Ebert's Film Festival Cancelled For 2020

The 22nd Annual Roger Ebert's Film Festival, co-founded and hosted by Chaz Ebert and also known as 'Ebertfest", announced today that this year's event has been cancelled due to the situation with the coronavirus (COVID-19) and has been rescheduled for April 14-17, 2021, and will take place at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign, IL. The festival was informed by the University of Illinois that all University sponsored events with more than 50 attendees will be suspended indefinitely, effective Friday, March 13.

"I love everything about Ebertfest, as did our co-founder, my late husband Roger," said Chaz Ebert, co-founder and host of Ebertfest. "You, the audience, along with our filmmakers, help make our festival so special and so beautiful that it hurts to cancel it, but we must put concern for your health and welfare foremost."

The Virginia Theatre will help coordinate reimbursements to festival pass holders who can't make the 2021 festival, but festival organizers hope audience members will take advantage of keeping their passes for next year so that the festival can return stronger than ever. Simply hold on to your 2020 ticket, which will be honored at next year's festival.

This year's festivities were to include previously announced screenings of Francis Ford Coppola's THE COTTON CLUB ENCORE, The Farrelly Brothers' THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY and Ari Aster's HEREDITARY.

The festival, sponsored by the U. of I. College of Media and Chaz Ebert, presents celebrated films and other cinematic works overlooked by audiences, critics or distributors.

Roger Ebert was an Urbana native, U. of I. journalism graduate and Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times who died in 2013. He co-founded the festival with his wife, Chaz, with the first festival in 1999.

For additional information, please visit http://www.ebertfest.com.

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