CHAMPAIGN - At noon Thursday, one hour before the start of a film about a Pakistani immigrant who operates a push cart, hundreds of people lined up outside the Virginia Theatre.

They come every year to see films they otherwise would never be able to see on a large screen and to listen to insiders tell about their adventures in the movie trade.

Unlike other festivals, the stars tend to blend in, rather than attract a lot of fawning attention.

The biggest star appearing at this year's festival is John Malkovich, two-time Oscar nominee.

Before the first movie was shown Thursday, Malkovich was in the theater lobby, just another guy going to the movies, unnoticed by most who streamed by on the way to their seats.

Malkovich's 2002 movie, "Ripley's Game," will be shown at 8 p.m. today. It has never had a theatrical release in the United States.

Lynn Phillips of Urbana has been at every festival since it debuted in 1999. She comes because she enjoys foreign films and ones that depart from the Hollywood formula. She was at the Virginia with her friend Allison Bell. "I really love movies," Phillips said. "We can't stand 99 percent of what's in the theaters."

Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival, presented by the University of Illinois College of Communications, showcases independent films and those that have not had widespread release.

After each screening, Ebert appears onstage to interview people involved with the film's production.

"Man Push Cart," a gritty film about a former Pakistani rock star who gives up everything to follow the woman he loves to New York, was noticed by Ebert at the Sundance film festival. Largely shot at night on the streets of New York, it has a sustained emotional charge as it reveals that the push cart merchant, Amez, lost his wife and is desperately trying to regain custody of his son.

The director, Ramin Bahrani, and actor Ahmad Razvi received enthusiastic ovations as they stepped onstage while the credits rolled.

"I love this film," Ebert said. "It is so sad. It is about the human condition, about people we see every day."

Ebert said it made him see people who do menial jobs, such as pushing a cart, in a different way.

Bahrani said the highest compliment he has received about his movie is when people told him they now talk to those who serve them coffee and bagels.

While the film did not focus on the idea that Muslims have not been treated well since 9/11, there was one scene that clearly demonstrated the change in the cultural climate.

When Ahmad buried his kitten, breaking a city ordinance, a neighbor warned him that his act might bring some kind of retribution to them.

Ebert said the kitten scene was especially moving to him. He understands what it means to be from a group that is under suspicion. Ebert's father, who spoke German at home, stopped speaking the language after the United States entered World War II.

"He was suddenly ashamed," Ebert said. "He was the enemy."

Ebert said he especially likes films that have characters he would not ordinarily get to know, with whom he can empathize.

He contrasts the kind of movies he enjoys with those commonly presented at the multiplex theaters.

The mass distributed films usually present characters who closely resemble those who fill the theaters - only more stupid.

"You can't learn anything that way," Ebert said. "If you look at enough of them, you can get to be that stupid."

Independent and art films were discussed by a panel Ebert moderated Thursday morning in the Illini Union.

Malkovich recalled when he lived in Central Illinois as a student, he had to go to Champaign to see "Last Tango in Paris," a groundbreaking, raunchy production with Marlon Brando.

"If you didn't do that, you didn't see it," Malkovich said. "You never would see it otherwise; it wouldn't be on TV."

Now, movies have a significant afterlife with videos and DVDs.

"Now, that business is a huge part of the business," he said.

Bahrani, who has not found a distributor for his film, complained much of the movie business is geared toward 14-year-olds, as well as toward selling movie-related products such as watches and lunchboxes. As an example, he saw a trash bag commercial that morphed into an ad for the movie "King Kong."

"I don't think King Kong is going to be selling 'Man Push Cart,' " Bahrani said.

Huey Freeman can be reached at hfreeman@herald-review.com or 421-6985.