Your Guide to Ebertfest 2025: Day 2, April 24th

Welcome back to Ebertfest! Every year, fans of Roger (and the movies) flock to the Virginia Theater at the College of Media at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign for Roger Ebert’s official film festival. And we’ve got quite the lineup for you in this 26th year!

You can find all the information (including where to buy tickets) at ebertfest.com. We’ll be giving you daily dispatches of what to expect from the fest each day, including the full panel of filmmakers, scholars, and critics who will follow each screening.

Read on to learn more about what exciting titles and guests you can expect at the fest today:

THURSDAY, APRIL 24

9:oo AM: MEGALOPOLIS — Francis Ford Coppola’s sprawling, ambitious epic of an empire in collapse stars Adam Driver as an architect sacrificing everything to achieve his vision.

(l-r): Introduction: Gio Crisafulli, Chief Entertainment Critic for the National Organization of Italian Americans in Film and Television. Panel: Francis Ford Coppola, Writer/Producer/Director (via satellite); Michael Barker, Co-President and Founder, Sony Pictures Classics; Chaz Ebert, Co-Founder and Producer of Ebertfest; Dion Metzger, Psychiatrist and Best-Selling Author.

1:30 PM: DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN — Susan Seidelman’s touching, hilarious tale of female friendship, with funny and heartbreaking turns from Rosanna Arquette and Madonna.

Panel (l-r): Susan Seidelman, Writer/Director; Rosanna Arquette, Actor; Chaz Ebert, Co-Founder and Producer of Ebertfest; Dion Metzger, Psychiatrist and Best-Selling Author.

5:00 PM: HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A. — The ins and outs of the American working class is laid bare in Barbara Kopple’s incredible documentary, one of the shining stars of the cinema verite movement.

Panel (l-r): Barbara Kopple, Director/Producer; Eric Pierson, Film Scholar; Michael Phillips, Film Critic for the Chicago Sun-Times; Lauren Morton, Education Outreach Manager at Georgia Institute of Technology.

9:30 PM: HIS THREE DAUGHTERS — Azazel Jacobs crafts a suitably intimate tale of three sisters in mourning (Carrie Coon, Elizabeth Olsen, and Natasha Lyonne) for a father (Jay O. Sanders) in his final days.

Panel (l-r): Azazel Jacobs, Writer/Producer/Director; Nell Minow, Contributing Editor, RogerEbert.com; Richard Roeper, former Chief Film Critic for Chicago Sun-Times; Omer Mozzafar, Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Loyola University Chicago.