‘Being’ by Cathleen Dean
For Memorial Day weekend, the Oxford Virtual Film Festival has a strong and varied lineup of shorts and documentaries.
Queen of Lapa by Theodore Collatos and Carolina Monnerat is a stunning vérité portrait of Luana Muniz, the guardian angel of trans kids in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Eventive tickets available here.
Queen Of Lapa /// Trailer from Factory 25 on Vimeo.
Oxford Virtual Film Festival Presents an LBGTQ Hero, a Feminist Sports Doc, and Memphis Filmmakers
In Life in Synchro, one athlete describes synchronized skating as the most feminist sport on Earth. The all-women events have been gaining popularity for years, and this documentary by Angela Pinaglia traces its history and push for Olympic recognition. Appropriately, the film will be offered as a synchronized screening with 40 other film festivals as part of Film Festival Day on Saturday, May 23rd, with an online Q&A with Emily Fitzgerald, a former competitive skater on the Dearborn Crystallettes; Heidi Coffin, a 68-year-old adult skater on the Maine DownEasters; and Peggy MacDonald, who was a skater on the first synchro team in 1956 and went on to coach the first national champions of the sport in 1984. The Q&A will be moderated by Women Sports Film Festival’s Co-Founder Susan Sullivan. Eventive tickets available here.
Oxford Virtual Film Festival Presents an LBGTQ Hero, a Feminist Sports Doc, and Memphis Filmmakers (2)
The Black Lens Shorts bloc’s seven films includes “Soul Man” by Kyle Taubken, which was Indie Memphis’ Best Hometown Narrative Short award winner in 2019. The acclaimed short features an iconic performance by Curtis C. Jackson as a Memphis soul singer facing the end of his life. Eventive tickets available here.
Curits C. Jackson in ‘Soul Man.’
If you’re looking for something a lot more outré, the always entertaining Fest Forward bloc has you covered. Closing out the six experimental and animated offerings is “You Are Headed for a Land of Sunshine” by Memphis filmmaker Laura Jean Hocking, which was originally created for the Response 3 dance and multimedia art show in 2019. Eventive tickets available here.
‘You Are Headed For A Land of Sunshine’ by Laura Jean Hocking