Beginning Tuesday, hundreds of eager moviegoers can buy 5-day passes for all 12 films of the Robert Ebert Overlooked Film Festival that is scheduled for April 26 to 30, 2006.

University alumnus Roger Ebert chooses little-known films for the film festival, which is hosted by the College of Communications.

Mary Britt, assistant director of the event, says the 1,000 passes available are $85 each, the same price as the 2005 event. But individual tickets are set to go on sale April 3, 2006, with 500 tickets available for each film.

Ebert chooses to screen films that have not received the acclaim they deserve, Britt said. The films will be screened at the Virginia Theater, 203 W. Park Ave., Champaign, with a portion of the festival’s proceeds donated to the ongoing renovations of the 1920s-era theater.

“(Ebert) has fond memories of the theater,” Britt said. “As a child he would go there and watch movies.”

Besides helping preserve a city landmark, Britt said the festival is a positive event for the area.

“The entire Champaign-Urbana community benefits from the festival, including the theater, local businesses, hotels and shops,” she said.

Betsy Hendrick, University alumna and member of the University of Illinois Foundation, said she appreciates that Ebert has not forgotten his Champaign-Urbana roots and has kept the festival in the community. The two met while reporting for the Champaign News-Gazette at the beginning of their careers and have remained friends since.

Although bringing an economic boost to Champaign, Britt, a yearly attendee of the festival since its conception eight years ago, said the purpose of the festival is to praise overlooked films and genres. She added that organizers try to develop a sense of community among the audience, filmmakers, guests and scholars. In part, this is accomplished by locating public panel discussions with scholars and professors at the Illini Union.

“Every festival is unique and different by the films Roger screens and the guests that come in,” Britt said.

Marsha Woodbury, a University computer science lecturer, has attended each of Ebert’s previous festivals.

“To bring an event like that to our town is such a wonderful thing,” Woodbury said. “It breathes so much more life into the community, not that we need it, but it’s a great thing.”

Along with her personal financial contribution to the Overlooked Film Festival, Woodbury donates the proceeds from her computer science 105 course packets. Although her students don’t realize it, they too contribute to the event, which she described as a “casual hometown event.”

“I thought it was such a beautiful gesture of Roger Ebert to hold his festival in this community,” she said. “He could have done it in Chicago.”

Ebert graduated from the University in 1964 with a journalism degree. He has gone on to be a Pulitzer Prize winner and famed film critic. Since it began, the Overlooked Film Festival has grown from 8,000 attendees to a sold-out crowd of 18,000 in 2005. Hendrick said she expects the same for 2006.

“I look forward to another year with good crowds,” Hendrick said. “I hope everyone interested in the film industry will come support it.”