Tag: Oxford Film Festival

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The Blues Society, A Song For Imogene Take Top Prizes At Oxford Film Festival ’24

At a packed ceremony in Oxford’s The Powerhouse on Saturday, March 23, the Oxford Film Festival awarded the best films of the four-day festival.

The Blues Society by producer/director Augusta Palmer took the Best Documentary Feature award. The film chronicles the history of the Memphis Country Blues Festival, which was held at the Overton Park Shell from 1966-1970, and had its premiere at Indie Memphis 2023.

Best Narrative Feature went to A Song for Imogene by writer/director Erika Arlee. The film is the story of a musician played by Kristi Ray trying to escape her abusive boyfriend who is faced with big decisions when she discovers she’s pregnant.

Allison Waid won both Best Documentary Short and Best Mississippi Made Documentary Short for her film “Please Ask For It.”

The Best Mississippi Made Feature was Raising Hope by director Theo Avgerinos, a cinematic portrait of poverty in the Mississippi Delta. For Mississippi Made short films, “The Chair At The Edge of the Woods” by Mary Charles Ramsey was chosen by the jury as Best Narrative.

Here’s the full list of winners from the 21st Oxford Film Festival:

Best Foreign Language Short

Specter of Innocence dir. Mathis Tayssier

Best LGBTQ Short

“Panic Attack” dir. Anthony Assad

Best Documentary Short

“Please Ask For It” dir. Allison Waid

Best Music Video 

“Comfort Zone” dir. Jason Affolder

Best Animated Short 

“Slower Animals” dir. John Christopher Kelley

Best Experimental Short 

“Living Reality” dir. Philip Thompson

Best Narrative Short 

“The Old Young Crow” dir. Liam LoPinto

Bests Sci Fi or Horror Short 

“Marbles” dir. Kyle Hatley

Best Family Friendly Short

“Wider Than The Sky” dir. Philip Taylor

Best Comedy Short 

“Barely Breathing” dir. Derek Evans and Neal Reddy

Best Mississippi Made Music Video

 “Black Boy Cry” dir Kira Cummings

Best Mississippi Made Narrative Short

“The Chair At The Edge of the Woods” dir. Mary Charles Ramsey

Best Mississippi Made Doc Short 

“Please Ask For It” dir. Allison Waid

Best Mississippi Made Documentary Feature 

Raising Hope dir. Theo Avgerinos

Best Documentary Feature 

The Blues Society dir. Augusta Palmer

Best Narrative Feature 

A Song for Imogene dir. Erika Arlee

Spirit of the Hoka 

“One Happy Customer” 

Ron Shapiro Award for Storytelling 

Mississippi River Styx dir. Andy McMillian and Tim Grant

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Oxford Film Festival Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Little Richard: I Am Everything opens the 20th annual Oxford Film Festival on Wednesday, March 1.

Matt Wymer’s first year as executive director of the Oxford Film Festival is a special milestone for the organization. “This is our 20th Anniversary edition and we’re celebrating the audiences that allowed the Oxford Film Festival to inspire and entertain our community for the past two decades. To show our appreciation, we are providing more free screenings, more panels, and bigger parties than ever before.”

This year’s festival includes 15 narrative and 18 documentary feature films, 93 shorts, and 18 music videos. The opening night feature is Little Richard: I Am Everything, Lisa Cortes’ portrait of the R&B iconoclast. This film is so new it doesn’t have a trailer yet, but here’s the director talking about tackling the story of an often misunderstood musical genius.

In a festival year with history on its mind, OFF goes way back into the archives. The first film shot in Mississippi is believed to be The Crisis from 1916. It’s the story of an ill-fated love triangle between a St. Louis lawyer-turned-Union officer, a Southern belle, and her Confederate fiancé. The Mississippi Film Commission is sponsoring the screening as part of their own 50th anniversary celebration.

The Crisis

Oxford’s most famous native is brought to life by the present day Mississippi production William Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead by director Michael Modak-Truran.

The closing night feature is The Banality, a Southern Gothic tale of recurring nightmares, small town eccentricities, and murder.

You can buy tickets and passes, and get more information about all the festival screenings and events, at the Oxford Film Festival website.

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Soul on Film: Oxford Film Festival

Soul Kids documents the history of the Stax Music Academy.

After two years wracked by the pandemic, the Oxford Film Festival is returning for 2022 with parties, events, and a full program of more than 118 films. “We are excited to present this year’s films and special events to our local film fans here in Oxford, the state of Mississippi, and nearby in Memphis, as well. We have diligently built a program that includes discovery titles; award winners; festival favorites from Venice, Toronto, Sundance, Berlin, and SXSW film festivals; enlightening, innovative, and entertaining features and shorts that should inspire everyone to immerse themselves in the Oxford Film Festival world once again,” says Jim Brunzell, interim executive director, who took over the running of the festival after longtime director Melanie Addington accepted a position with the Tallgrass Film Center in Wichita, Kansas.

The 19th annual festival begins on Wednesday, March 23rd, with The Automat by director Lisa Hurwitz. The documentary is about a unique piece of American culinary and cultural history: Horn & Hardart, a beloved restaurant chain that proved highly influential to the development of American fast food. The tiny lunchrooms scattered from coast to coast served half a million patrons a day during their peak in the 1940s. They pioneered the “automat” concept, where fresh dishes were kept warm in small cubicles, and patrons could insert coins into slots to buy individual servings of staples like Salisbury steak and mac and cheese. Horn & Hardart are often cited as the inspiration for what would become Starbucks. The film features a new song by film comedy legend and longtime automat fan Mel Brooks.

Thursday night’s film is intimately connected to Memphis. Soul Kids, a documentary by French director Hugo Sobelman, opens the festival’s opening night. Soul Kids tells the history of the Stax Music Academy, which moved into its permanent home next door to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music 20 years ago this June. The academy helps carry on the tradition of Memphis soul and gospel music by providing high-quality music education to Bluff City high schoolers. The school’s alumni include music stars like MonoNeon. The opening night screening will be followed by a Stax Records-themed party at The Atrium at Mike Overstreet Properties (265 North Lamar in Oxford) featuring the Stax Music Academy Alumni Band, who will show you exactly how they keep the sound alive.

Another intriguing film in this year’s lineup mixes two things the city of Oxford is famous for — literature and music. Lover, Beloved, directed by Michael Tully, is an adaptation of a one-woman show by Suzanne Vega. The “Left of Center” and “Tom’s Diner” singer produced the show based on her ninth studio album, which is a tribute to the life and work of The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter novelist Carson McCullers. Vega will be on hand for the screening at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Among the Memphis-related films that will screen during the festival weekend is “Jesus Is Lord,” a new comedy by director Mark Jones. The short film is a hilarious take on Rashomon as various members of a church search committee recall their roles in a selection process that ended with the hiring of their first female minister. “Jesus Is Lord” screens on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. with Carl Andress and Charles Busch’s camp caper comedy The Sixth Reel.

Friday night’s marquee film is the political comedy 18 1/2 by director Dan Mirvish and screenwriter Daniel Moya; it is a period piece set during the Watergate hearings of the 1970s. A transcriptionist named Connie (Willa Fitzgerald) decides to leak her knowledge of Nixon’s missing tapes but can’t get anyone to take her seriously. The cast includes Jon Cryer as H.R. Haldeman and indie film legend Bruce Campbell as Richard Nixon.

Dale Dickey stars in A Love Song, a film about two loves reuniting

The official closing night film is A Love Song, which features a rare lead role by Dale Dickey, a beloved actress who has appeared in True Blood, My Name Is Earl, and Breaking Bad. In A Love Song, she appears as Faye opposite Native-American actor Wes Studi as Lito. The two lost souls, who were lovers long ago, reconnect for a single night at a lakeside campground in this acclaimed film which debuted at Sundance earlier this year. Dickey and director Max Walker-Silverman will be on hand for the film’s Mid-South premiere.

All screenings will take place at Malco Oxford Commons Cinema March 23rd-26th. The virtual aspect of the festival, which the Oxford Film Festival pioneered during the Covid emergency, will run March 27th-April 3rd on the Eventive platform. Visit
ox-film.com for more details and for both in-person and virtual tickets.

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Oxford Film Festival Announces 2021 Winners

Women Is Losers won Best Narrative Feature at the 2021 Oxford Film Festival.

For 17 years, the Oxford Film Festival awarded the Hoka, which was named for the cotton warehouse turned art house cinema run by “Oxford’s cultural ambassador,” Ron “Ronzo” Shapiro. This year, the name of the award was changed to the Ronzo, in honor of the longtime OFF supporter who passed away in April, 2019. 

Oxford Film Festival 2021 announced its slate of winners on Sunday night, after a long weekend of outdoor film screenings, interrupted occasionally by the severe weather that blew through the Mid South. The first ever Best Narrative Feature Ronzo went to Women Is Losers, the feminist coming-of-age story by first-time writer-director Lissette Feliciano. Best Documentary Feature went to In A Different Key, directors Caren Zucker and John Donovan’s adaptation of the bestselling book on autism. Best Mississippi Feature went to Bastard’s Crossing, director Travis Mills’ Western produced during COVID lockdown.

Bastard’s Crossing won the Best Mississippi Feature Ronzo.

The winner in the LBGTIA category was Dramarama, a ’90s teen coming-out comedy by director Jonathan Wysocki. The Best Music Documentary Ronzo went to Bleeding Audio by director Chelsea Christer. 

Bleeding Audio won Best Music Documentary at Oxford Film Fest 2021.

In the shorts, “The Recess,” directed by Navid Nikkhah Azad, a story of a young girl in a conservative Muslim society who dresses as a boy to attend a soccer game, won Best Narrative. “Snowy,” co-directors Alex Wolf Lewis and Kaitlyn Schwalje’s quest to bring happiness to a neglected pet turtle, brought home the Best Documentary Short Ronzo. Manual Marmier’s “Kiko’s Saints” was named Best LBGTIA short. In the music videos, Lemon Demon’s “Touch Tone Telephone” won Best overall, and the Mississippi award went to The Vacant’s “American Automatic.”

Lemon Demon’s Best Music Video Ronzo winner

The Oxford Film Festival continues virtually through the month of April, with all of the winners, along with more than 100 other films, streaming online. The virtual portion of the fest will kick off on Friday, April 2nd, with the 35th anniversary screening of Labyrinth, the epic fairy tale by Mississippi native and Muppet creator Jim Henson, starring David Bowie. You can find tickets to the screening and information about online passes at the Oxford Film Festival website, ox-film.com. 

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Oxford Film Festival Announces 2021 Lineup

Reunion

The Oxford Film Festival has announced a lineup of 158 films for its 2021 edition. This year’s festival will be an online/in-person hybrid running March 24-28 and April 1-30. Last year, OFF, led by Melanie Addington, was forced to pioneer the pandemic film festival format while the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic made gathering in person too dangerous. This year, screenings will happen in person for one weekend, March 24-28, at a special outdoor theater created by Malco at the Oxford Commons and a drive-in at Oxford High School. Then, the films will be available virtually on the Eventive platform, which was created by a Memphis-based company.

“As we continue to prepare for next month’s film festival, we want to be very clear about the aggressive steps we are taking in order to make our film festival safe so our patrons can begin to get back to enjoying the movie going experience in the company of other people again,” says executive director Melanie Addington. “Therefore, we are being very careful with a measured approach utilizing the open-air theater we have designed specifically for this purpose—with safety always first, so we all can enjoy one of the best group of films we have ever had this year. We have spent the past year safely providing films via drive-in and will include that experience in this year’s festival. We will monitor COVID and weather concerns and will make changes as needed closer to the event.”

Among the festival’s spotlight screenings is the documentary Horton Foote: The Road To Home. The filmmakers filmed the award-winning screenwriter and playwright at age 90 to piece together the highlights of his seven decade career, which included creating the screenplays for To Kill A Mockingbird, Tender Mercies, and The Trip to Bountiful.

Oxford Film Festival Announces 2021 Lineup

On the narrative side, artist-turned-director Olivia Peace’s debut comedy Tahara deals with the confusion and exhilaration of two best friends who can’t quite decide if they’re in love or not.

Oxford Film Festival Announces 2021 Lineup (2)

OFF’s headlining throwback screening is from one of Mississippi’s greatest artists. In 1986, Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets, teamed up with Lucasfilm for a mind-bender. Labyrinth stars David Bowie as the Goblin King Jareth, who kidnaps the baby bother of ordinary girl Jennifer Connelly. The revered fantasy classic is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year.

Oxford Film Festival Announces 2021 Lineup (3)

The competition films include Jake Mahaffy’s arthouse horror Reunion, produced by Memphian Adam Hohenberg.

Oxford Film Festival Announces 2021 Lineup (4)

You can find out more about the lineup and information on passes, both in-person and virtual, at the Oxford Film Festival website.

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The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain Takes Home Top Prize at Oxford Virtual Film Festival

The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlin

The Oxford Virtual Film Festival announced the winners of the Hoka awards Saturday night in a Zoom session that united filmmakers from Tokyo to Mississippi.

This year’s festival, originally scheduled for mid-March, was one of the first in the nation to face cancellation as the COVID-19 pandemic spread. Organizers of the 20-year-old festival acted quickly to move films, panels, and parties online, with the help of Memphis-based Eventive ticketing platform. The virtual festival ran for seven weeks, setting an example for festivals all over the world.

“In a year of so much uncertainty and figuring out how to re-invent and innovate and not just look forward to how we would do things in the future when it came to presenting and celebrating film and the people responsible for making those films, we knew it was vital to demonstrate our appreciation for the films we did select this year,” says Oxford Film Festival executive director Melanie Addington. “This film festival has always tried to be a leader in our industry and this state and following through with the presentation of our awards virtually was in the plans from the beginning of our decision to pivot to our weekly virtual fests and OFF to the DRIVE-IN screening events. We are intensely proud of these films and filmmakers and are thrilled to officially recognize them as prize winners.”

The winner of the Narrative Feature Hoka is The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, director David Midell’s dramatization of a 2011 police killing of a Marine veteran in his White Plains, New York home. The award also includes a $15,000 camera rental package from Panavision.

The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain Takes Home Top Prize at Oxford Virtual Film Festival

Beat Documentary went to Hope Frozen from director Pailin Wedel, which tells the story of the youngest person ever to be cryogenically preserved, a two-year-old Thai girl who died of cancer, and the controversies that surrounded the family’s decision. The Best Documentary Hoka also comes with a Panavision rental package and pro bono consultation from editor Joe Shaprio for the filmmakers.

The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain Takes Home Top Prize at Oxford Virtual Film Festival (2)

Kyle Taubken’s “The Brother’s Brother” won Best Mississippi Short. Taubaken is a Memphis-based filmmaker whose “Soul Man” won Best Hometowner Narrative Short at Indie Memphis 2019. Best Mississippi Feature went to Larissa Lam for Far East Deep South. The Mississippi Documentary Feature award went to Getting To The Root by Larissa Lam.

The $15,000 Artist Vodka award, which was chosen by audience vote, went to Javier Molina for his short film “Wonder.”

Best Music Documentary went to Travis Beard’s Rockabul, which documented the rise of Afghanistan’s first heavy metal band. Best LGBTQIA+ Feature went to From Baghdad to the Bay by director Erin Pamquist.

Giulia Gandini’s “My Time” was chosen by the jury as Best Narrative Short film, while the documentary shorts jury chose Johanis Lyons-Reid, Lorcan Hopper for “The Loop.” Best Music Video went to “Pain” by Bandrunna Gwaup, directed by Katrina Blair.

The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain Takes Home Top Prize at Oxford Virtual Film Festival (4)

A full list of the award winners is available on the Oxford Film Festival website.

The Oxford Film Festival also announced the films for the inaugural weekend of their new drive-in theater located at 100 Thacker Loop in Oxford. On Thursday, June 11th, the theater will officially open with a bit of classic drive-in fare: Ed Wood’s so-bad-it’s-good Plan 9 From Outer Space. Friday and Saturday nights feature more serious fare with The Evers, a documentary about the family legacy of Civil Rights martyr Medgar Evers by Loki Mulholland.

Submissions are now open for Oxford Film Festival 2021. 

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Spaceship Earth, “White Guys Solve Sexism” Lead Oxford Film Festival and Indie Memphis Online Offerings

Spaceship Earth

Two Mid-South film festivals continue their online programming this week, offering diverse fare for Memphis-area audiences.

Now on week three of converting their canceled March festival into a virtual experience, the Oxford Film Festival is presenting a narrative feature, a documentary, and a shorts program. The comedy I’ve Got Issues by director Steve Collins promises a group of intertwining stories that probe existential questions such as “What do we do with all this hurt?” The Armenian documentary I Am Not Alone by director Garin Hovannisian tells the story of a revolutionary walk across the country to inspire a revolution.

Oxford’s “Hello Gorgeous” narrative shorts program, which is always a great place to start at film festivals, includes eight films, with international entries from England and Canada. The most intriguing is director Christopher Guerrero’s comedy short “White Guys Solve Sexism,” which pretty much does what it says on the box:

White Guys Solve Sexism – Trailer 2019 from Christopher Guerrero on Vimeo.

Spaceship Earth, “White Guys Solve Sexism” Lead Oxford Film Festival and Indie Memphis Online Offerings (2)

The Indie Memphis Movie Club has five films available, including the Beanie Feldstein-starring comedy How to Build a Girl, and James Sweeney’s gender-bending comedy Straight Up. This week’s documentary selection is Spaceship Earth, the stranger-than-fiction story of Biosphere 2. In an effort to better understand the feedback loops that regulate Earth’s climate and ecosphere, a group of volunteers spent two years quarantined in what was essentially a giant greenhouse in the Arizona desert. But was it a legit science experiment, or just the public facing part of a giant financial scam? Here’s the trailer for director Matt Wolf’s movie, which you can rent at the Indie Memphis Movie Club.  

Spaceship Earth, “White Guys Solve Sexism” Lead Oxford Film Festival and Indie Memphis Online Offerings

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Filming While Black in Mississippi, Rocking Afghanistan, and Other Experiments as Oxford (Virtual) Film Festival Continues

‘Anacronte and the Sorcerers of Evil’ by directors Raul Koler and Emiliano Sette plays May 1-8 on the virtual Oxford Film Festival.

The Oxford Film Festival’s online experiment is in full swing, providing quality movies for the quarantined. Partnering with Memphis company Eventive, most of the films that were set to appear at the festival’s annual long weekend will instead stream online for viewers in the Mid-South.

It’s not just the films that are online. On Friday, May 1st at noon, one of the filmmaker panel discussions that make the film festival experience unique will be streamed on YouTube. “Creating Black Stories in Mississippi” will bring together Chris Windfield, director of the documentary 70 Years of Blackness; Je-Monda Ray, creator of Getting To The Root; and Kiese Lymon, author of Heavy, with moderator Ethel Scurlock, professor at the University of Mississippi. They will talk about their experiences as people of color trying to create new works in the South.

Director Daniel LaFrentz is a Silicon Valley native who learned filmmaking in Louisiana. His feature The Long Shadow, which won the Louisiana jury prize at last year’s New Orleans Film Festival, is a story of corruption and redemption in the deep South.

THE LONG SHADOW Trailer from Daniel Lafrentz on Vimeo.

Filming While Black in Mississippi, Rocking Afghanistan, and Other Experiments as Oxford (Virtual) Film Festival Continues

Music history is thick with stories of people who broke new sounds in new places, but few acts had as steep an uphill battle as District Unknown. As the only heavy metal band in Kabul, Afghanistan, they tried to force open a culture kept in chains by the Taliban. Director Travis Beard followed the band for seven years to create his documentary RocKabul. 

Filming While Black in Mississippi, Rocking Afghanistan, and Other Experiments as Oxford (Virtual) Film Festival Continues (2)

Animated and experimental shorts are always a favorite feature at film festivals for me—and not just because I’m married to an experimental filmmaker! The hour-long Fest Forward Global bloc of short films brings together directors from China, Estonia, Germany, Israel, and the United States to present new and different visions of reality.

‘How and Why Don Jose Dissipated’ by Israeli filmmaker Moshe Ben-Avraham screens in the Fest Forward Global short film bloc.

All films are available May 1-8. For more details on how to watch, visit the Oxford Virtual Film Festival page on Eventive. 

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Oxford Film Festival Postponed Indefinitely Due To Coronavirus

The 2020 Oxford Film Festival, scheduled to take place March 18-22, has been postponed indefinitely due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. “We have concluded that the only responsible decision is to postpone the 2020 festival until later in the year,” says OFF board chair Sparky Reardon. “While we are heartbroken to have to make this decision, our first priority must be the health and safety of our community, our attendees, our supporters, and our filmmakers.”

The annual film festival, which was scheduled to kick off next Wednesday with a selection of Mississippi films before proceeding with a gala screening of the 1990s cult classic Pump Up The Volume on Thursday, attracts filmmakers and cinephiles from all over the United States. Several Memphis filmmakers were scheduled to present their work at the festival, which maintains close ties to the Mid South filmmaking community.

Earlier today, Mississippi health officials confirmed the first case of COVID-19 had been identified in the state. The patient is an adult male from Forrest County who recently returned from a trip to Florida. There is no indication the patient has connections to the film festival, but state health officials have recommended citizens avoid mass gatherings.

Given the fluid situation, the OFF has not yet set a date for the rescheduled festival. “It is our intention to present the full slate of exceptional films, speakers and panels at a later date when the festival may be held under conditions deemed safe by governmental and health authorities,” says Reardon. 

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Memphis Filmmakers Take Home The Hoka at Oxford Film Festival

CREDIT: Joey Brent

Joey Brent

Winning filmmakers on the red carpet at the 2019 Oxford Film Festival, (left to right) John Charter, Paul Kaiser, Timothy Blackwood, Bradford Downs, Suzannah Herbert, Morgan Jon Fox, John Rash, Will Stewart, and Christian Walker

Memphis-born filmmaker Suzannah Herbert and directing partner Lauren Belfer’s documentary Wrestle took home the prize for Best Documentary Feature at this year’s Oxford Film Festival, which took place over the weekend. Herbert and Belfer were also awarded the Alice Guy Blaché Emerging Female Filmmaker Award. The sports documentary, about a high school wrestling team in Huntsville, Alabama, has also won the Ron Tibbets Excellence In Filmmaking Award at Indie Memphis, the audience and best sports documentary awards at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, and the Best Documentary award at the Denver Film Festival.

The Narrative Feature Hoka, as the festival’s awards are called, went to Jordan Noel for This World Alone.
Joey Brent

Sonya A. May, Hudson Phillips, Jordan Noel, and Trisha Solyn celebrate their win for Best Narrative Feature at the Oxford Film Festival.

Oxford’s Best Music Documentary Award went to John Rash’s Negro Terror, a portrait of the Memphis anti-racist hardcore punk band.

Memphis filmmaker Morgan Jon Fox’s short film “The One You Never Forget” tied for Best LBGTQ Short Film with Will Stuart’s “All We Are”. The documentary The Gospel Of Eureka by Michael Palmeri and Donal Mosher won in the LBGTQ feature category.

Memphis filmmaker Christian Walker won Best Mississippi Music Video for “Wash My Hands”, a video he made for Cedric Burnside with Beale Street Caravan.

Mississippi film awards included John Reyer Afamasaga’s Door Ajar: The M. B. Mayfield Story winning Best Feature, “Roots and Wings” by Hannah Miller winning Best Short, and Bennett Krishock winning Best Emerging Filmmaker for “Happy Birthday Papa”.

You can see the complete list of winners for the 16th annual film festival on the festival’s website.