The Embarrass Film Festival will honor the belated Burl Ives, an Eastern alumnus, at the third annual Embarrass Film Festival scheduled for September 20-23, 2006, at the Tarble Art Center and Mary J. Booth Library.

The festival is a free, family oriented event including guest speakers Jennifer Cutting and Steve Winick, archivists and musicians from the Library of Congress, and James Jones.

According to Joy Pratte, the festival director, Ives was chosen to be presented this upcoming September because his notoriety. His musical endeavors with folk song helped him to gain his widespread popularity. Not only was he was a musician, he was also an accomplished actor, appearing in many 1950 films, such as “East of Eden” and his Academy Award winning role as best supporter actor in the 1958 film ” The Big Country.”

“He was a natural choice. The people know who Ives is,” said Pratte.

Films have evolved from the classic films of Ives era. Ives films and other films of the 50s influenced the public viewers indirectly and mild manner response to censorship, which the opposite of the sex charged, violent, multi-million dollar motion pictures of today.

“Well, T.V. doesn’t show these old films as much anymore. What these old films have to show us is that a person doesn’t need in-your-face kind of action all the time to be able to have a good film. These movies prove that,” said Pratte.

Compared to the former festival honorees, Gregg Toland and Bill Phips, Ives is often recognized more. On the other hand, all honorees follow one important mission upheld by the festival.

“Our major mission, the Embarrass Valley film festival, is for people in this area to realize what the possibilities are. Coles County is not just a poor, dark county with nothing in it,” said Pratte, “Coles County has had famous residents who come through and come from here and be successful and bring things back to the community.”

Prior to and after his death in 1995, Burl Ives impacted the world through his contributions in the film and music industry, and still continues to impact the residents of Charleston and Coles County today.

“He has impacted Eastern and the rest of the world because he has shown possibilities,” said Pratte.