Illini Insider | Get small at the 41st Annual Insect Fear Film Festival

Luke Taylor, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
·1 min read

Feb. 17—Welcome to "Illini Insider," your regular dose of University of Illinois news from beat writer Luke Taylor. Fresh out of college himself, he's always looking for story tips, photo ideas and social media mentions. Email him at ltaylor@news-gazette.com and he'll give chase.

This year's theme for the annual Insect Fear Film Festival is "Ant-Men," including movies about people who shrink down and participate in ant societies.

Of course that includes "Ant-Man," as well as the animated 2006 film "The Ant Bully."

While "Ant-Man" is more focused on being a superhero with some assistance from ants, "The Ant Bully" follows a young boy as he learns a lesson from an ant colony.

(Somehow, the animated box-office flop has an even more stacked cast than the Marvel flick: Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Paul Giamatti, Regina King, Bruce Campbell and Lily Tomlin all voice characters.)

The double-feature closes out the evening, but other events in the Foellinger Auditorium start at 6 p.m. on Feb. 24, including a presentation from Andrew Suarez on "10 Things You Should Know About Ants."

Works entered in the student art competition will be on display, as well.

There will also be other activities and exhibits to check out starting at 5:30 p.m., including an insect petting zoo, a living ant display, Bugscope and more.