Roger Ebert is bringing some big names to his 2011 Roger Ebert's Film Festival at the Virginia Theatre: Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton. Director-producer-actor Norman Jewison. Director-writer Richard Linklater. And director, writer, singer and actor Tim Blake Nelson.

But the biggest ovation, Ebert promises, will be for an elderly Swedish lady and Holocaust survivor named Hilde Back. She will attend the festival in connection with the screening of "A Small Act," a documentary about how Back anonymously sponsored the primary and high school education, for $15 per term, of Chris Mburu in Kenya.

He grew up to attend Harvard and become a human-rights lawyer for the United Nations.

After he discovered the identity of the woman who had put him through school, Mburu tracked down Back and eventually founded the Hilde Back Education Fund, which helps children from poor families in Kenya complete primary and secondary school education.

"A Small Act" has been shown at film festivals in America, including Sundance, and in the United Kingdom and the Caribbean.

Ebert will open the festival the evening of April 27 by showing a restored print of the great silent film classic, "Metropolis," with live music by the Alloy Orchestra. The festival will close on May 1 with the documentary, "Louder than a Bomb," which follows four Chicago-area high school students as they prepare to compete in the biggest youth poetry slam, or competition.

In between, the Urbana native, University of Illinois graduate and first movie critic to win a Pulitzer Prize will show 10 other films:

Two additional documentaries; an Italian neo-realist film; an animated film about the love between a man and dog; the feature debut of a 24-year-old New York woman; and a 1994 romantic comedy directed by Jewison, who is better known for his social-issues films, among them "In the Heat of the Night" (1967).

The 12-movie lineup also features four dramas, one of which is set in South Africa and will make its U.S. premiere at Ebertfest.

The release dates of the movies range from 1927 to 2010, with most of the films made in recent years.

As usual, the festival will feature at least three academic panel discussions at the Illini Union. Those are free and open to the public.

Festival passes are sold out. Individual tickets for the movies are $13 for adults and $11 for students and senior citizens. They will go on sale starting April 4. To buy tickets call the Virginia box office, 356-9063.

Following is the schedule, which Ebert said is tentative.

"More guests may be added," he said.

Wednesday, April 27

– 7 p.m., Metropolis, with Alloy Orchestra. This 1927 German expressionist film directed by Fritz Lang, set in a futuristic urban dystopia, explores the social tensions between workers and owners in a capitalist society.

Thursday, April 28

– 10:30 a.m. Panel discussion at the Illini Union with Ebert's "Far Flung Correspondents" – bloggers from throughout the world whose essays he posts on his own website. Moderator: Omer Mozaffer.

– 1 p.m. "Umberto D," a 1952 Italian neo-realist film directed by Vittorio De Sica, In 2005, Time magazine listed it as among the "All-Time 100 Movies."

– 3:30 p.m., "My Dog Tulip," with directors Paul and Sandra Fierlinger in person. The 2009 animated film is about a man who rescues a German shepherd and their friendship.

– 8 p.m., "Tiny Furniture," with Kyle Martin, producer, and David Call and Alex Karposky, both actors.

Written and directed by its star, 24-year-old Lena Dunham, her feature-film debut is about Aura (Dunham), who moves back to her New York City home after graduating from a Midwest college. "Tiny Furniture," which has received a lot of buzz, is showing now at the Art Theater in downtown Champaign.

Friday, April 29

– 9 a.m. Panel discussion, with Eric Pierson, moderator, at the Illini Union.

– 10:30 a.m. Panel discussion, with festival director and Urbana native Nate Kohn, moderator, Illini Union.

– 1 p.m. "45365," with directors Turner Ross and Bill Ross in person. This 2009 documentary explores daily life in an American town, making connections among its residents.

– 4 p.m., "Me and Orson Welles," with director Richard Linklater. This 2008 drama tells of a teenager (Zac Efron) who is cast in the 1937 Mercury Theatre production of "Julius Caesar" directed by a young Orson Welles. British actor Christian McKay is spot-on as Welles.

– 8:30 p.m. "Only You," with director Norman Jewison. The 1994 romantic comedy stars Oscar-winning actress Marisa Tomei, who searches for her soulmate, a man named Damon Bradley. Also stars Robert Downey Jr.

Saturday, April 30

– 11 a.m. "A Small Act," with Patti Lee, producer; Jennifer Arnold, director; and Hilde Back.

– 2 p.m. U.S. premiere of "Life, Above All," with Oliver Stoltz, producer. The 2010 drama tells of a touching mother-daughter relationship that reflects contemporary South Africa. With Khomotso Manyaka, who plays Chanda, and distributor Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics and a perennial Ebertfest guest.

– 6:30 p.m., "Leaves of Grass," with writer-director-actor Tim Blake Nelson. The 2009 movie, written and directed by Nelson, who also has a role in the film, is about an Ivy League professor who is lured back to his Oklahoma hometown, where his twin brother, a small-time pot grower, has come up with a scheme to take down a local drug lord. The movie stars Edward Norton and Keri Russell.

– 9:30 p.m., "I Am Love," with actress Tilda Swinton. The critically acclaimed 2009 movie tells the story of the wealthy Recchi family in Milan, Italy. Swinton portrays matriarch Emma, a Russian immigrant who has adopted the culture of Milan and become a loving and attentive mother. Her world is rocked after she falls in love with a young man and carries on a passionate affair with him.

Sunday, May 1

– Noon, "Louder than a Bomb," with Jon Siskel and Greg Jacobs, directors, and Kevin Coval, producer. After the screening five poets will perform. Siskel is a nephew of the late Gene Siskel, who was Ebert's partner in the TV series, "Siskel and Ebert at the Movies."

The 2010 documentary follows four Chicago-area high school poetry teams as they prepare to compete in the world's largest youth poetry slam.

The local Anti-Stigma Alliance also will offer a free post-festival screening, at 4:30 p.m. May 1, of "Louder than a Bomb," at the Virginia. The Alliance addresses and challenges the stigma attached to people with mental illness. The free screening will be followed by a panel discussion.