CHAMPAIGN, IL (CelebrityAccess) – The Aretha Franklin concert film Amazing Grace is set to open this year’s Roger Ebert film festival in Champaign-Urbana, reports The Associated Press.
The recently restored 1972 film directed by Sydney Pollack has reportedly been stored in a vault for decades.
Organized by the College of Media at the University of Illinois, Ebertfest, which honors Ebert, the late Chicago Sun-Times film critic and Illinois graduate, will take place April 10 to 13 at Champaign’s Virginia Theatre.
The screening will be followed by a live community choir performance, which Ebertfest co-founder Chaz Ebert says will kick off the year’s festivities on “a glorious, gospel-infused high note.”
Franklin died in August of 2018 from pancreatic cancer. She was 76.
