Ebert's Overlooked fest to debut with 'Tron'

Borack , Rosenbloom, Wilson among guests

By LEONARD KLADY

New films from Australia and France, a classic silent masterpiece and a groundbreaking science fiction fantasy will highlight the 1st Overlooked Film Festival, debuting Wednesday in Champaign, Ill.

The unusual venture evolved out of an earlier event organized by the College of Communications of the U. of Illinois and alum Roger Ebert. Two years ago, film critic Ebert hosted an event celebrating the birth of "2001's" HAL 9000, fictionally created at IBM in neighboring Urbana -- Ebert's home town.

"I was asked if I'd consider helping organize a film festival and, frankly, I wasn't," said Ebert. "But it got me thinking, and I came back to them with the idea of screening a selection of films that, for a variety of reasons, never received their full due or deserved to be re-examined and appreciated."

The school gave the thumbs up, and Ebert began to compile a list of possible selections. He said that it was important to him that the program include, among other things, both a silent film and a 70mm movie. Ironically, his latter choice, the 1982 special effects "Tron," is available only in a 35mm print.

"This simply isn't meant to be a selection of pictures I continue to champion," he said. "That's just a jumping off point to get discussion going on a lot of issues -- preservation, distribution and content."

In addition to the screenings, the Overlooked fest will have daily seminars involving guests with participating films, as well as professors in film and communications at the university. Among the topics to be discussed during the five-day event are overlooked films, independent filmmaking and women in film.

Confirmed guests include producer Carl Borack and director-writer Dale Rosenbloom and actor Scott Wilson, presenting the 1997 family drama "Shiloh"; actor-filmmaker Kevin Di Novis, whose "Surrender Dorothy" won top prize at the 1998 Slamdance festival; Richard Guay, producer-co-writer of "Household Saints" (1993); "Tron" filmmaker Steven Lisberger and co-star David Warner; and indie filmmaker David Williams of "13." Also attending will be Heather Rose, the actress-writer with cerebral palsy behind the Australian film "Dance Me to My Song," which screened last year in Cannes.

Other screenings and events include a presentation of the 1925 "Battleship Potemkin" with live music accompaniment by Concrete Orchestra, director Eric Rohmer's concluding seasonal cycle "Autumn Tale" and "Hamsun," a biopic about the Nobel Prize winner starring Max Von Sydow.

Further information on the program is available by contacting the Urbana-Champaign campus at [phone].