Ebertfest co-founder Chaz Ebert poses for a photo with actor Eric Roberts during the 2024 festival’s opening reception at the University of Illinois President’s House in Urbana.
CHAMPAIGN — After a 26-year run at the Virginia Theatre, the curtain is closing on Ebertfest in Champaign.
In a Friday afternoon letter to friends of the film festival, host Chaz Ebert and UI College of Media Dean Tracy Sulkin wrote: “As is often said, all good things must come to an end — or, in this case, a new beginning. Thus, we write to share the bittersweet news that 2025 marked the festival’s last year in Champaign-Urbana.”
There were no details in the 612-word letter about the future of what’s officially known as Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, only that the namesake’s widow, Chaz, and festival director Nate Kohn “are actively exploring inspired ideas for reinventing Ebertfest and will be sharing updates as those plans crystallize.”
The letter cited “financial considerations facing both universities and film festivals” as the reason behind needing to reimagine an event that has brought A-listers (John Malkovich, Spike Lee, Oliver Stone, Norman Lear), up-and-comers and unsung stars to town for screenings and conversations since launching at the Virginia in 1999.
As things stand now, there is “not a clearly sustainable path for the festival in its present form,” Chaz Ebert and Sulkin wrote.
The late Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic who founded the festival will still have a presence on the UI campus, the letter went on to note, in the form of the College of Media’s three-year-old Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies.
Its first of four fall screenings and discussions was just this week, when the Ryan Coogler 2025 blockbuster “Sinners” was shown at the Spurlock Museum’s Knight Auditorium.
Other films scheduled for free, public screenings this semester: “Blue Heart Ocean Soul,” by underwater photographer, UI alumna and homecoming Illini Comeback Award honoree Annie Crawley, on Wednesday; the 1929 British silent film “Piccadilly” on Oct. 23; and 2018’s “Hereditary” on Nov. 13.
“So, while Ebertfest itself is evolving,” Chaz Ebert and Sulkin wrote, “other things remain steadfast — our recognition of the profound impact Roger Ebert had on film and film criticism, our appreciation for our quarter-century of partnership and our commitment to continuing innovative programming for the public.”
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