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Though the show didn’t go on for a few years due to COVID-19, Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, known as Ebertfest, has graced Champaign-Urbana since 1999. The festival’s presence has brought a ton of overlooked films to open-minded audiences, attracted a slew of actors and individuals in the film business to town for in-depth discussions, and enlivened downtown Champaign and other areas of the community for a few days every April.

Roger Ebert was a well-known film critic who graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and went on to become the first person in his occupation to win a Pulitzer Prize.

In many ways, Ebertfest has grown beyond the walls of Virginia Theatre, where the festival takes place. Tracy Sulkin, dean of the College of Media at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was the first speaker on the opening night of Ebertfest on its 25th anniversary in 2024. She talked with pride about the Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies at Spurlock Museum in Urbana, which was launched in 2022 and offers film screenings and discussions that are free and open to the public.

Given how Ebertfest has spread its wings in various ways over the decades, and how the festival is so embedded into the community, it was discouraging to see so many empty seats in the balcony section during the 25th anniversary of the three-day event.

Nonetheless, opening night was a fun affair, with Chaz Ebert, the former wife of the deceased Roger, telling the audience, in her usual playful way, how the house lights glowing down upon her were overwhelmingly harsh, and how the microphone was exceptionally loud. “Hey, this is a great microphone,” she said, getting laughs from the audience.

Chaz related how proud Roger was to have grown up in Champaign-Urbana, and how pleased he was with the Ebertfest audiences, who, according to Chaz, Roger felt were “some of the most sophisticated film goers” – high praise from a guy who attended film festivals worldwide.

“Roger, if you hear us wherever you are,” Chaz said after a pause, “this weekend, at some point, make yourself known, because this is the 25th anniversary of the Ebertfest Film Festival!”

After opening a gift Chaz presented to him (a leather-bound copy of The Great Movies by Roger Ebert), Festival Director Nate Kohn also spoke on opening night, relating how the idea for Ebertfest was spawned from a 1997 movie festival called Cyberfest at the then just-revamped Virginia Theatre. Roger Ebert attended Cyberfest, which featured the film 2001. He was obviously inspired by the ‘97 film festival because he set out soon afterward to create his own.

Chaz informed the crowed that Ebertfest in 2024 was partially dedicated to the recently deceased David Bordwell, whom Roger regarded as one of the top American cinephiles. In speaking about Bordwell on opening night, festival guest Michael Barker, who cofounded Sony Pictures Classics, said what made the former professor so great was his worldly knowledge.

“He was one of the best-read people you could ever meet,” Barker said. “He knew about history, he knew about philosophy. And that knowledge, that Renaissance knowledge, is what caused him to be the great film historian and film critic that he was.”

Prior to the curtain opening for the disappointing first movie of the festival, Star 80, Chaz Ebert mentioned her new book, It’s Time to Give a Feck: Elevating Humanity Through Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion, and Kindness, which she said was influenced by much of what occurs year in and year out at Ebertfest.

2024 Ebertfest Reviews

Below are my reviews, some of them brief, of the movies I watched at the 2024 Ebertfest Film Festival.

Teacher’s Lounge

Ambiguities abound in The Teachers’ Louge, a riveting film that was nominated for a Best International Feature Film Oscar in 2024.

The story takes place in a German secondary school where Carla Nowak (played by Leonie Benesch) teaches math and physical education. She’s called into a meeting where it’s revealed that stealing is occurring in the school. Two students who are part of the school’s council are also at the meeting and urged by the adults in the room to say what they might know regarding who is committing the crimes. It’s an uncomfortable moment, and only Carla relates to the students that they aren’t obligated to say anything. Carla’s lone support for the two students is ironic given how viciously the school’s student body turns on her later.

Carla is a hardworking, conscientious teacher, but she makes an error in judgment when trying to solve the thievery taking place, using invasive technology. She accuses a school employee of the crimes – a mother of one of her students – leading to her chaotic undoing.

Some who see this film will say the students have too much power; others will say the school has a leadership problem with too much internal strife. Both observations are valid. The action in The Teachers’ Lounge takes place almost solely in the school, further enhancing the film’s nerve-wracking energy. Issues such as racism, overbearing parents, and activist journalism add to the tension of this excellent movie.

The Best Man

Ebertfest guest Malcom D. Lee wrote and directed his debut movie, The Best Man, to show audiences the real-life humanity of educated black men and women in early adulthood. At the time of the movie’s release in 1999, he felt black actors were too often typecast characters, people such as the token black friend or the black person from the “hood.”

“If I can go see Four Weddings and a Funeral and Muriel’s Wedding and My Best Friend’s Wedding and enjoy them,” Lee said after the Ebertfest screening of his first movie, “then everyone should be able to enjoy The Best Man.”

And many folks have enjoyed the film, which racked up solid box-office numbers upon its opening-weekend release and has since grossed more than $34,000,000 worldwide. The Best Man resonated with so many people, in fact, that it spawned an award-winning eight-part series sequel on Peacock, The Best Man: The Final Chapters.

The Best Man will ring true to anyone who recalls with fondness the days of constantly attending friends’ weddings following their college years. The deep friendships and conversations among the four main black male characters in the movie, all of whom are quite different from one another, are perhaps the most endearing aspects of the story, which Lee described as a “drama with comedic parts.”

Star 80

I’m not sure what the giant appeal of this movie was from those involved with Ebertfest. It’s very 1983 with jumpy scenes by Bob Fosse, a director who was constantly on amphetamines, according to one of the lead actors in the movie, Eric Roberts, who was at Ebertfest for a Q&A. I found this movie to be predictable with zero chemistry between Roberts and his love interest played by Mariel Hemingway. For that matter, I felt much of the acting throughout the movie was stilted.

Cookies Fortune

The story takes place in the South and has an engaging southern charm the whole way through. The movie centers around a suicide that is framed as a murder, yet it never feels like any of the characters are in any true danger. Having said that, the ending with Glenn Close acting out a scene from a play in a jail cell is poignant and a bit eerie.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

You gotta see it if you haven’t.

Little Richard: I Am Everything

A good look at a musician that some people, including Little Richard himself when he was alive, feel should have the King of Rock and Roll title. It was disappointing to see how his dedication to Christianity was so one-sidedly frowned upon in the movie since that apparently wasn’t Richard’s authentic identity, but that’s Hollywood and the scholars of today for you.

Albany Road

An incredibly entertaining movie that is funny and meaningful with great dialogue. Most of it was shot in Champaign County, but I swear that’s not why I’m raving about it. A must-see flick!

Photos by Sal Nudo