2025 Roger Ebert's Film Festival will open with a John Wayne classic

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) — Ebertfest returns, kicking it off with a western classic starring John Wayne and Natalie Wood, Searchers.

Searchers will open the four-day film festival named after film critic Roger Ebert on April 23-26. Festival passes go on sale on Monday, November 18.

You can also purchase tickets by calling 217-356-9063 or visiting 203 W. Park Ave. in downtown Champaign.

All films will be shown at the Virginia Theater.

“We are pleased to bring the first Western to our Ebertfest audience, and it just so happens that a film from the Golden Age of Hollywood directed by John Ford was recently restored by Warner Bros. in collaboration with the Film Foundation,” said Chaz Ebert, CEO of the preeminent movie review site Rogerebert.com and cofounder of Ebertfest. “Roger gave the film four stars, but also acknowledged the racial attitudes of the time, asking whether the film sought to endorse them, or dramatize and regret them. We look forward to a vigorous post-screening discussion with film scholars and audiences about representation in film.”

The passes can be purchased through Virginia Theater website. Individual passes are $200, VIP Sponsorship packages start at $1,800 with VIP seating for 2, lunch and dinner with the filmmakers, and invites to special events and parties at the festival.

Chaz Ebert and Nate Kohn will host Ebertfest with the College of Media at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Ezbert is also the author of It's Time to Give a FECK: Elevating Humanity through Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion, and Kindness. And Kohn has been the festival director from the get-go.

Roger Ebert was a University of Illinois journalism alum, Urbana Native, and a Pulitzer Prize winning film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times.

The festival coordinator said to stay tuned for the full festival program. There will be announcements of films and filmmaker guests over the next few months, with the full program to be announced in March.

To find more information and to buy tickets, visit their website by clicking here.

You can also follow their social media accounts for updates.

The festival relies on gifts from donors and sponsors. To make a donation, click here.