Ebert will have best seat in the house

CHAMPAIGN – The ninth annual Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival opens tonight at the Virginia Theatre with the famous critic taking on a new role from a specially installed La-Z-Boy – that of an audience member.

The usually loquacious Ebert, who cannot talk due to a tracheostomy, might go onstage a couple of times during his festival but will not introduce each of the 13 films nor lead the discussions afterward, as he always did in previous years.

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