Ebert Doc Will Have Its Midwest Premiere At Ebertfest

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 17, 2014 2:30PM

Moviegoers without festival passes wait in line for last-minute rush tickets to "Apocalypse Now Redux" during Ebertfest 2010.

The full lineup for this year’s Ebertfest won’t be announced until March but one film that will screen is Life Itself, Steve James’ biopic of the late Sun-Times film critic.

Life Itself will screen later this month at the Sundance Film Festival and have a private screening next month at the Siskel Film Center for people who pledged to the film’s Indiegogo campaign. The Ebertfest announcement will be the film’s Midwest premiere and continues James’ quest to “further involve the community and celebrate the film,” as he wrote in an open letter on The Daily Beast in December.

Roger told Chaz when we began this film, “I want the film to be a portrait of the real man, not the icon.” My hope is that Life Itself will do justice to both. What I’ve learned through this entire process is that Roger’s significance continues to be felt throughout film culture and by all of us who love movies, and interacting with the crowd is just an extension of what Roger inherently stood for as both a film critic and humanitarian.

The 16th annual Ebertfest runs April 23-27 at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign. Festival passes are now on sale.

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Ebert Documentary To Screen At Siskel Next Month