Big crowds attended an expanded slate of films at this year’s Oxford Film Festival, which stretched through Sunday in the Mississippi college town.
Outstanding films among the more than 130 entrants screened during the five-day festival were recognized at Saturday night’s gala award ceremony at Oxford’s Lyric Theater. The big winner was Embers, the science fiction film by Claire Carré which took home two Hokas: Best Narrative Feature and the Alice Guy Blaché Female Filmmaker Award.
Memphis filmmakers Joann Self Selvidge, Christopher Reyes,and Sarah Fleming celebrate their Best Editing win for the short documentary ‘Viola’.
Memphis filmmaker and video artist Christopher Reyes was awarded a Hoka for Best Editing for his work on Joann Self Selvidge and Sarah Fleming’s documentary “Viola: A Mother’s Story Of Juvenile Justice”.
Best Documentary Feature was awarded to Nick Brandestini’s Children Of The Arctic, with Best Documentary Short going to “The House Is Innocent” by Los Angeles director Nicholas Coles. The Narrative Short Hoka was awarded to the Belgian film “Blazing Sun” by Fred Castadot. The Mississippi awards went to the narrative short “The Gift” by Gabriel Robertson and the documentary “Finding Cleveland” by Larissa Lamb. Clay Hardwick’s “Fallen Star” won the music video award. The Experimental prize went to André Silva’s “cyberGenesis”. The Special Jury Award for Best Director went to Kostadin Bonev for “The Sinking of Sozopol”, and the Lisa Blount Memorial Acting Award went to Robert Longstreet. Other special jury prizes were awarded to “Three Fingers” by Paul D. Heart, “They Crawl Amongst Us!” by Sihanouk Mariona, and “Fitting The Description in North Portland” by Jarrat Taylor. The ensemble acting award went to the cast of the Los Angles comedy “The Week”.
The Hoka awards are named for a Chckasaw princess, and this was the 13th year the festival has awarded them to outstanding films entered in the film festival’s competition.