What if this movie were not directed by acclaimed filmmaker Gus Van Sant? What if it had not been honored with a special prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival? What if it had not been an official selection of the Toronto and New York Film Festivals? What if it wasn’t nominated for three (Independent) Spirit Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Producer? What if Manohla Dargis didn’t consider it, “one of the most moving and delicately felt films of Gus Van Sant’s career”? Would Paranoid Park still seem that appealing?

Not to me, but then I’ve seen enough films involving teens covering up an intentional or accidental murder. And that’s despite having enjoyed most of them, including Mean Creek, Bully, George Washington and even (though much, much less so) I Know What You Did Last Summer. Honestly, if this new domestic trailer for Paranoid Park didn’t mention all its prestigious claims, I probably wouldn’t be that compelled to see it. In fact, even if it simply mentioned that it was directed by Van Sant and featured one or more positive review blurbs, that wouldn’t be enough to sell me. Van Sant did direct such lame films as Finding Forrester and Even the Cowgirls Get the Blues, so he’s not a name that is completely synonymous with greatness. And this specific film has received enough negative reviews that critical acclaim is also not constant enough to attract my attention.

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Karina Longworth is contributing posts from Tribecca in New York (check them out–we’re so excited to have her here on SpoutBlog). I’m here in the cornfield-embedded college town of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Sigh.

But I was feeling compelled this morning, nonetheless, to write a post about the ability, even in a small Midwestern town, to see great movies on a big screen. Besides the fact that we have a much-loved art film theater and all kinds of mini film festivals through the University of Illinois, we have our own annual festival, taking place this week–the 9th annual Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival. Ebert grew up here, going to movies (including Gone with the Wind) at the 86-year-old Virginia Theatre, where the festival is held.

Much is often overlooked where I live–the Midewest in general, this town, Ebert’s festival. But the most important things being overlooked (by all kinds of people everywhere) are great films. This is what Ebert is hoping to change through his festival. The first year I went, in April of 2002, I was skeptical. I thought the films would be good in a slightly-left-of-mainstream way. But I was genuinely impressed by what I saw and the way Ebert talked about each of them, before the movie started, and after it ended, often in conversation with the director or other guest. He is really passionate about these overlooked films. He’s far more complex than a black or white, thumbs-up or -down man. (That first year I heard the Alloy Orchestra accompany the silent classic Metropolis, and I saw David Gordon Greene’s George Washington, followed by a conversation between Ebert and Greene. I still carry those and other Overlooked Film Festival movie experiences with me.)

At this year’s festival, for the first time, Ebert won’t be talking before and after the films. Last year he underwent significant jaw surgery in his battle with cancer, and he isn’t able to talk. (See this piece by him and this CNN story about him.) But he is here, with his wife Chaz and other friends as his voice, which is pretty darn impressive. And even though there’s not much in the movie realm that could seem more mainstream than Roger Ebert, I’m glad that he’s doing so much to promote great films that a somewhat mainstream audience might not otherwise see–especially in a small town like this.