Majesty of theatre, warmth of Ebertfest keeps longtime usher Mark Williams coming back

Apr. 22—CHAMPAIGN — As he looked into the auditorium at the Virginia Theatre during Ebertfest 10 years ago, watching some special guests speak after a film, usher Mark Williams could feel someone peering over his shoulder.

As his wife, Sandy, looked on, she recognized the person from an earlier movie. It was actress Tilda Swinton, although Williams didn't know it until afterward.

"How many times in the middle of Champaign-Urbana do you have an Oscar-nominated actress peering over your shoulder," Williams said. "I was like, 'This is different.'"

In the midst of a small town, the magnitude of Ebertfest is one of the things that makes the event feel special, even though Williams said he has generally taken time not to bother stars while volunteering at all 23 Ebertfests and many other events over the last 25 years.

"One thing they tell us is, you can't be a fanboy or fangirl," he said. "You have to be quiet and respectful."

Williams' reason for volunteering at the Virginia has nothing to do with rubbing elbows with the stars. He first entered the now 102-year-old theater in the late '90s, when his wife played the clarinet with the Mark Foutch band at the venue.

In 1998, when he was a TV news videographer, he went to Cyberfest, Ebertfest's precursor, to shoot footage for the news.

That event featured a showing of "2001: A Space Odyssey," on the 30th anniversary of its release in its high-resolution 70mm format. As the camera showed a prehistoric desert, Williams watched in awe.

"It was so clear and so beautiful and so lifelike that it looked like you could just walk off into this desert," Williams said.

The majesty of the theater kept Williams coming back. He began volunteering as an usher year-round. Sometimes, he said, he'll venture into the theater before it opens just to enjoy being in the space.

Shortly after he began ushering, his wife, Sandy, joined him. At Ebertfest, the talented musician said she enjoys the silent films, when the theater's giant Wurlitzer pipe organ and an accompanying band fill the theater with sound.

While the importance of the event isn't lost on her, she said, she isn't a movie buff.

"It's just exciting for the community to have a worldwide event," she said. "We have a small-town feel here, but we have a big-city excitement when that happens."

One year, she found herself chatting with a man in between shows for about 15 minutes about various topics, including the weather and local restaurants.

When they stopped talking, Mark walked to his wife and asked if she knew whom she was speaking with.

"She said, 'No, I have no idea.' It was Richard Linklater," Williams said of the famed director of 'Dazed and Confused,' 'Before Sunrise,' 'Boyhood,' and many others.

One interaction, though, sticks out in Williams' mind. One year, as Williams was hauling two bags of trash outside, Roger Ebert approached him. Ebert, by then unable to speak, made a gesture and then approached him, shook his hand, and nodded.

"He was thanking me for being a part of the event," Williams said. "He didn't have to do that. We always tried to let him be alone and just be Roger. But he made a point of thanking me. So, that was pretty special."

To Williams, that warmth is what makes Ebertfest special and what keeps him and scores of moviegoers coming back year after year.

"I think that's one of the nice things about Ebertfest," he said. "Nobody's there to promote anything, nobody's there to sell anything like at Cannes and some of the bigger events. They come to show a movie in a large theater with people who love movies. Just to share in that experience. They're there just to have a nice time like everybody else."