Chaz Ebert, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to announce The Ebert Center in the College of Media

Chaz Ebert, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to announce The Ebert Center in the College of Media

**MEDIA ADVISORY**

EMBARGOED UNTIL APRIL 2 AT 8 A.M.

ATTENTION: Assignment desk editors; entertainment, film, higher education editors and reporters; features desks; talk show segment producers; booking.

WHAT: Chaz Ebert and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will officially announce the creation of The Ebert Center in the College of Media.

WHEN: April 2, 2015, two days before the 2(nd) anniversary of Roger Ebert's death on April 4, 2013. Chaz Ebert is available to conduct interviews starting on Monday, March 30. She will also be available for interviews in Los Angeles on the date of the announcement, April 2. Dean Jan Slater, College of Media, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is also available for comment.

VISUAL: Video clip of Roger Ebert's memorial service (below).

BACKGROUND: Film critic Roger Ebert's legacy continues to influence and inspire his fans around the world. The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was Roger's alma mater. The Ebert Center is being established, in part, with an endowment Roger and Chaz made to the College of Media at Illinois before his death. The Center will combine interdisciplinary studies with the study of film, production and ethics to encourage writers and filmmakers to think critically about movies and challenge them to craft more humanitarian films that tell stories that matter. The announcement will also kick off a fundraising campaign to raise $5 million to support the Center, half of which has already been raised.

Scholarships and internships will be awarded, and the University and Chaz Ebert will invite professors, and writers and filmmakers from the U.S. and abroad to become involved with the Center.

Throughout his career, Roger Ebert was as passionate and outspoken about human and civil rights and expanding opportunities to emerging and diverse writers and filmmakers as he was about movies. He earned a deep respect and affection among movie goers of all racial and ethnic groups, and a global following.

Potential outreach for comment:


-- Chaz Ebert, CEO of The Ebert Company, Ltd, and Publisher of
RogerEbert.com
-- Jan Slater, Dean, College of Media, University of Illinois - Champaign
Urbana
-- "Selma" director Ava DuVernay, who paid homage to Roger Ebert at a
public memorial held a week after his death at the Chicago Theater. Send
requests to Tilane Jones at tilane@affrm.com or call 818-995-0050.
The Ebert Center will be publicly announced on April 2. This information is embargoed until then.

Media contact: Robin Beaman | Beaman Incorporated | rbeaman@beamaninc.com | 312-751-9689 w, 312.208.1212 c or Shawn Taylor | tshawntaylor@yahoo.com | 312-371-6260.

/PRNewswire/ -- March 30/

Video - http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/PRNA/ENR/Ebert-Tribute-Sizzle-033015-1.mp4

SOURCE The Ebert Company

Video:http://origin-qps.onstreammedia.com/origin/multivu_archive/PRNA/ENR/Ebert-Tribute-Sizzle-033015-1.mp4
The Ebert Company


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