"Hair," "To Sleep with Anger" and More Set to Screen at Ebertfest 2017

The 19th Annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival co-founded and hosted by Chaz Ebert, also known as Ebertfest, announced today that the beloved 1979 musical "Hair" will open the 2017 festival—screening on 35mm from a new print on loan from Michael Moore and the UCLA Film Archive. The festival announces today an additional four films—and special guests including director Charles Burnett, special guest Robert Townsend, director Rick Goldsmith, former WNBA star Chamique Holdsclaw, director Tanya Wexler and actor Hugh Dancy. The festival will additionally include a performance by the Alloy Orchestra as accompaniment to a rarely-screened silent film.

These films will accompany previously announced screenings of "Elle" and "Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You" with special guests Oscar-nominee Isabelle Huppert and Emmy Award-winner Norman Lear in attendance for Q&As following their screenings. The remaining selections of the carefully curated 12 film lineup and more festival guests will be announced at a later date.

“When Roger took his ‘leave of presence’ on April 4th, 2013, he carefully chose the films for Ebertfest that year and uncharacteristically even dictated the order in which they were to be shown,” said Chaz Ebert. “I can tell you without reservation that he would be overjoyed at this lineup of films and talent, especially in this chaotic world in which we find ourselves. We will celebrate so many things at the festival, but especially the humanity that we will find on the screen and in each other.”

"Hair" (1979) – Opening Night Film

Special Guest Michael Hausman, Assistant Director, in attendance

Milos Forman’s critically acclaimed "Hair" is the film adaption to the provocative Broadway musical of the same name that explores the hippie movement of the late 1960s. The film focuses on Claude, a Midwestern farm boy who travels to New York to join the army and fight in the Vietnam War. However, while in Central Park he meets a group of hippies and discovers the ideals of freedom, drugs and his first love, Sheila. "Hair" is an anti-war story full of hippie tenderness, psychedelic fantasies, and successful musical numbers.

Roger Ebert gave "Hair" a four-star review. In his review, he wrote, “I walked into 'Hair' with the gravest doubts that this artifact of 1960s social shock would transfer to our current, sleepier times. In the 1960s we went to angry musicals; now we line up for 'La Cage aux Folles.' My doubts disappeared with the surge and bold authority of the first musical statement: This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius! So maybe it isn't, really, and maybe the sun set on that particular age back around the time they pinched the Watergate burglars. But Milos Forman's 'Hair' opens with such confidence and joy, moves so swiftly and sustains itself so well that I wonder why I had any doubts. 'Hair' is, amazingly, not a period piece but a freshly conceived and staged memory of the tribulations of the mid-sixties.”

"To Sleep with Anger" (1990)

Special Guests Charles Burnett and Robert Townsend in attendance

"To Sleep with Anger," starring Danny Glover and Mary Alice, is the story of a middle-class black family in Los Angeles whose life is disturbed by the arrival of an old friend from the South. What starts out as a charming reminder of their past becomes quite threatening as the strained household heads towards an inevitable conflict. 

In his four-star review, Chuck Bowen says that "To Sleep with Anger" is "another neglected masterpiece of African-American cinema, along with 'Nothing But a Man,' 'Ganja & Hess,' 'Losing Ground,' 'Daughters of the Dust' and others that have been restored and re-released in a limited handful of theaters over the last few years." Bowen also writes: "Burnett sketches the details of the lives of Gideon and his family, bridging theatrical dialogue, portentous omens, and presentational acting with a grace that's so masterful as to appear effortless, capturing enough life and subtext for several films."

Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw" (2015)

Special Guests Rick Goldsmith, Director, and Chamique Holdsclaw

This film is sponsored by the Alliance for Inclusion and Respect, an organization that embodies the four principles this year’s Ebertfest is dedicated to—the principles of empathy, compassion, kindness and forgiveness—principles Roger believed cinema could generate.

Recruited from the rough-edged courts of New York City by Coach Pat Summitt for the University of Tennessee’s Lady Vols, Chamique Holdsclaw was hailed as the "female Michael Jordan," impressing crowds with her artistry, athleticism and drive. A three-time NCAA champ and Number One draft pick in the WNBA, Holdsclaw seemed destined for a spectacular professional career—until her long-suppressed battle with mental disorders emerged to derail her career and threaten her life.

"Mind/Game" intimately chronicles Holdsclaw’s athletic accomplishments and personal setbacks, and her decision, despite public stigma, to become an outspoken mental health advocate. Still, she would face dramatic, unexpected challenges to her own recovery. The film, narrated by Glenn Close, tells a powerful story of courage, struggle and redemption.

In his review, Matt Fagerholm called the film "an inspiring portrait of an extraordinary female warrior" and said that "The open-ended quality of the film’s ending is entirely appropriate since Ms. Holdsclaw’s story is far from over. I cannot wait for the sequel."