Ebert's Overlooked film fest reveals lineup
70mm print of Schaffner's 'Patton' to screen opening night
The popular event, which unspools April 24-28 at the historic Virginia Theater in Champaign, Ill., and at the U. of Illinois, is devoted to good movies that didn't get a fair shake in the marketplace or were never distributed.
It also gives local auds in Ebert's hometown a chance to see silent and more recent classics under ideal conditions. Q&As with directors and thesps as well as panel discussions led by Ebert round out the activities.
Films are screened in the 1,500-seat Virginia Theater, a restored 1920s movie palace with a 70-foot screen and 70mm projection. Opening-night pic, in a 70mm print, is Franklin J. Schaffner's "Patton."
Lineup includes "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries," helmed by James Ivory; "Diamond Men," Daniel M. Cohen; "George Washington," David Gordon Green; "Innocence," Paul Cox; "Kwik Stop," Michael Gilio; "Paperhouse," Bernard Rose; "Say Amen, Somebody," George Nierenberg; and "Two Women," Tahmineh Milani.
Ebert considers "Grand Canyon," Lawrence Kasdan's 1992 story about the gulf between the races, to be "timelier than ever."
Also on offer from 1992, Senegalese director Djibril Diop Mambety's dazzling "Hyenes," in which a rich woman returns to a village to settle old scores.
Fritz Lang's silent classic "Metropolis," accompanied live by the Alloy Orchestra of Cambridge, Mass., will be followed by the new Japanese animated film that takes Lang's original as its starting point.
Slated to attend, in addition to most of the directors and several actors, are Sony Pictures Classics co-president Michael Barker and Madstone Films president Paul Speaker.
For ticket information, visit www.ebertfest.com.
