Illinois Public Media News

Champaign's Ebertfest is coming to an end at least in its current form. The co-founder and the director of the famous local film festival discuss its history, this weekend’s festivities, and the future of the event. 

For the longest time, Los Angeles has been the capital of the filmmaking industry in America. But that’s been changing in recent years. In Illinois, more than 700 million dollars were spent on film production just last year. Central Illinois has had a share of that.

It’s been 10 days since faculty at the University of Illinois Springfield went on strike. At issue are pay raises, salary minimums, protections against the use of artificial intelligence in the classroom, and more.

Sheryl Weikal’s parents were deeply conservative, and for many years she and her sisters were homeschooled. At eight years old, she had never heard the word “transgender,” but she understood that there was a disconnect between who she was and what she saw in the mirror. She tried to come out to her family as a child. In the years that followed, her parents reacted negatively — and often violently. She writes about that experience and more in her memoir, “I Was An Abomination: A Story of Trans Survival in Conservative America."

Actor Jonathan Butler-Duplessis attended high school and college in Champaign. After more than a decade in regional theater, he made his Broadway debut in Hamilton. He discusses his life, growing up in the C-U area, and his work.