Actress Rosanna Arquette and Directors Azazel Jacobs, Baltasar Kormákur, and Susan Seidelman will attend this year’s festival
CHAMPAIGN, IL (February 3, 2025) — Roger Ebert’s Film Festival, also known as Ebertfest, announced today the addition of three new films to this year’s festival:
- 40th Anniversary Screening of Susan Seidelman’s DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN starring Rosanna Arquette, Aidan Quinn, and Madonna
- Azazel Jacobs’ HIS THREE DAUGHTERS starring Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, and Elizabeth Olsen
- Baltasar Kormákur’s TOUCH starring Egill Ólafsson, Kōki, and Palmi Kormákur
The Virginia Theatre will be partying like it’s 1985 when Susan Seidelman’s DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN celebrates its 40th anniversary with a special screening and Q&A with director Susan Seidelman and actress Rosanna Arquette. Originally released theatrically on March 29, 1985, the film was highly successful at the box office grossing $55.3M in the U.S. and becoming the 31st highest grossing film of the year. DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN, which features an all-star cast including Rosanna Arquette, Aidan Quinn, Madonna, John Turturro, Giancarlo Esposito, Laurie Metcalf, and Steven Wright, received two film awards including a BAFTA Award and six nominations.
DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN tells the story of New Jersey housewife Roberta Glass (Rosanna Arquette) who spices up her boring life by reading personal ads, especially a series of them being placed by a mysterious denizen of New York City named Susan (Madonna). When one of Susan’s ads proposes a rendezvous with her suitor (Robert Joy) at Battery Park, Roberta secretly tags along. But when her voyeuristic jape ends in permanent memory loss and a new jacket, Roberta begins to gather a lot of unwanted attention from some unsavory characters.
“What I liked in Desperately Seeking Susan was the cheerful way it bopped around New York, introducing us to unforgettable characters, played by good actors,” said Roger Ebert in his 3-star review.
“We are thrilled to welcome Susan Seidelman and Rosanna Arquette to Champaign to celebrate this trailblazing movie about women,” said Chaz Ebert, co-founder and producer of Ebertfest.
HIS THREE DAUGHTERS will feature a post-screening conversation with director Azazel Jacobs, who returns to the festival for a three-peat following screenings of TERRI in 2011 and FRENCH EXIT in 2022. The critically-acclaimed film received 10 awards including wins at the Gotham Awards and Film Independent Spirit Awards and is Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh with a 98% score.
From writer-director Azazel Jacobs (French Exit, The Lovers), HIS THREE DAUGHTERS is a bittersweet and often funny story of an elderly patriarch and the three grown daughters who come to be with him in his final days. Katie (Carrie Coon) is a controlling Brooklyn mother dealing with a wayward teenage daughter; free-spirited Christina (Elizabeth Olsen) is a different kind of mom, separated from her offspring for the first time; and Rachel (Natasha Lyonne) is a sports-betting stoner who has never left her father’s apartment—much to the chagrin of her stepsisters, who share a different mother and worldview. Continuing his astute exploration of family dynamics in close-knit spaces, Jacobs follows the siblings over the course of three volatile days, as death looms, grievances erupt, and love seeps through the cracks of a fractured home.
“As a father of three daughters, this film resonates with me on a deeply personal level,” said Festival Director Nate Kohn. “Azazel is masterful at balancing a delicate story with comedic elements when appropriate. Like his other screenings in previous years, I have no doubt that the Ebertfest attendees will appreciate seeing this film and hearing from Azazel immediately following.”
Baltasar Kormákur will make his Ebertfest debut for a Q&A to discuss his critically-acclaimed TOUCH, which received the coveted Audience Award at the 2025 Tromsø International Film Festival in Tromsø, Norway. Additionally, the film was chosen as Iceland’s official entry for Best International Film at the 97th Academy Awards where it was named to the shortlist and is currently Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh with a 92% score.
A romantic and thrilling story that spans several decades and continents, TOUCH follows one widower’s emotional journey to find his first love who disappeared 50 years ago, before his time runs out. “Touch is just flat-out romantic, and so grown-up in its execution,” said Chaz Ebert. “Sometimes we say they don’t make them like this anymore; well, Kormákur proves that they do. This is the kind of movie that takes its time to allow your heart to soar.”
As previously announced, the 2025 Roger Ebert’s Film Festival will open with a new 70mm print of the Western classic THE SEARCHERS (1956), starring John Wayne and Natalie Wood, on Wednesday, April 23. Additionally, Guy Maddin’s RUMOURS will screen and Todd Phillip’s THE HANGOVER will close out the festival on Saturday, April 26.
Additional updates to the festival program will be announced in the coming weeks.
Ebertfest passes are currently available to purchase online or by calling the Virginia Theatre box office at 217-356-9063. Individual festival passes to see all films cost $200, which includes reserved seating.
Roger Ebert was a Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, University of Illinois journalism alumnus, and Urbana native.
Chaz Ebert is also the author of the indie bestseller It’s Time to Give A FECK: Elevating Humanity through Forgiveness, Empathy, Compassion, and Kindness.
Ebertfest is hosted by Chaz Ebert and Nate Kohn, the festival director since the very beginning, in collaboration with the College of Media at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
For additional information, please visit ebertfest.com and follow us on social media:
To become a supporting Festival Sponsor please contact Molly Cornyn, the Festival Coordinator, at mcornyn2@illinois.edu.
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PRESS CONTACTS:
Molly Cornyn
mcornyn2@illinois.edu
217-333-1590
Lee Meltzer
Lee@LeeMeltzerConsulting.com
551-208-8617
