Ebertfest Film Schedule Announced

Roger Ebert's Annual Film Festival opens Wednesday, April 27th, with a showing of the German science fiction film "Metropolis". Fritz Lang's silent classic has been shown at the festival before, but not in its new 2 1/2 hour restored version.

The five-day festival at Champaign's Virginia Theater will mostly feature newer movies, including "Louder Than A Bomb", a documentary tracking four Chicago-area kids preparing for a poetry slam. An appearance is scheduled by the movie's co-director, John Siskel --- a nephew of Ebert's former TV partner, the late Gene Siskel.

Other scheduled movies include "Me and Orson Welles", which dramatizes the director's early career; "Leaves of Grass" in which actor Edward Norton portrays twin brothers; and the animated "My Dog Tulip", featuring a voice performance by Christopher Plummer.

This will be the 13th year for Ebert's film festival, which highlights often-overlooked films selected by the Pulitizer-Prize winning film critic and Urbana native. Festival passes have sold out --- tickets for individual film showings go on sale April 4th.