Oxford Film Festival

Dawn Porter’s JOHN LEWIS: GOOD TROUBLE leads Oxford Film Festival’s 11th Weekly Fest delivers politics, activism, and big personalities

By John Wildman 6 years ago

Oxford Film Festival Executive Director Melanie Addington said, “John Lewis, Ai Weiwei, and Olympia Dukakis would be the guests at one of those dream dinner parties one might imagine having. Well, we can’t make that happen for obvious reasons, but we can feature films about their amazing and entertaining lives and exploits. They also happen to be important voices, which is something we will also highlight with two new shorts packages which shine a light on Mississippi issues in particular. Finally, it’s a great week for families at OFF to the DRIVE IN with RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, PICTURE CHARACTER, and, of course, the launch of our new screen in Water Valley with FROZEN. Load up the mini-van!”

David Midell’s THE KILLING OF KENNETH CHAMBERLAIN at OXFORD FILM FESTIVAL; Review: a profound telling of a veteran’s unnecessary death at the hands of the police

By Daniel Pappas 6 years ago

Movies where you know the ending have to succeed on one major beat and that is the “what if” beat. “What if that police officer had been successful in talking Kenneth down?” It’s that last grasp at hope, the last chance to make everything right, boiled down to the slimmest possible chance. One wrong word, one wrong move and it all comes crashing down. We know it’s going to fail, but we hope anyway. This movie perfectly nails that narrative beat. I sat there and prayed it would all go right and I wouldn’t have to confront the real ending. When it’s yanked away from us the loss is felt even more profoundly.

Mindy Bledsoe’s THE IN-BETWEEN Opens Oxford Film Festival’s 10th Weekly Virtual Fest ; OFF to the DRIVE IN delivers the scares with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

By John Wildman 6 years ago

Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “ARMY OF LOVERS IN THE HOLY LAND and ELLA FITZGERALD: JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS are inspiring documentaries that are a vivid reminder of why art can change the world. Between that and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, which is one of the all-time drive-in classics, to the weekly virtual festival continuing with award winning films such as THE IN-BETWEEN, last year’s winners and top finishers from the Memphis and Louisiana Film Prize competitions, and THE EVENING HOUR, which played at Sundance, this is an action-packed week.”

David Midell’s THE KILLING OF KENNETH CHAMBERLAIN Opens Oxford Film Festival; music, Juneteenth, and Pride month with their 9th Weekly Virtual Fest and adds some GREASE to the Drive In

By John Wildman 6 years ago

Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “This week’s lineup includes some of the most powerful political commentary from THE KILLING OF KENNETH CHAMBERLAIN at the virtual fest to WIN, LOSE OR DRAW STRAWS at the drive in, but we also intermixed with some fun and nostalgia because great movies don’t just move you emotionally but sometimes just in song and dance like GREASE. But also, we wanted to make sure that our community is supported as they have supported us so we also launched Pet Fest, Music Fest and partnered with the Juneteenth Committee for the Miss Juneteenth showing on June 21 to make sure that Oxford is supported.”

Julio Vincent Gambuto’s TEAM MARCO at Oxford Film Festival emphasizes family with OFF to the DRIVE IN and the 8th Weekly Virtual Film Fest heads back to Mississippi with NOTHIN’ NO BETTER

By John Wildman 6 years ago

Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “From alumni films like PLIMPTON! STARRING GEORGE PLIMPTON AS HIMSELF that we can support with our Virtual Art House model, to one of my favorite films, LABYRINTH, from Mississippian’s own Jim Henson, at OFF to the DRIVE-IN and hosting MISS JUNETEENTH as well as providing free pizza from Dodo Pizza to create some sort of Juneteenth celebration for Oxford, to our Weekly Virtual Film Festival supporting artists from around the world, we are busy over at Oxford Film Festival shining a light on what makes our town truly special: the love of the arts.”

David Midell’s THE KILLING OF KENNETH CHAMBERLAIN leads Oxford Film Festival filmmaker awards for best 2020 films

By John Wildman 6 years ago

The 2020 Oxford Film Festival celebrated the best of this year’s films and filmmakers with a virtual awards ceremony on Saturday, June 6, highlighted by the announcement of Hoka awards for David Midell’s THE KILLING OF KENNETH CHAMBERLAIN for Best Narrative Feature, which included a $15,000 camera rental package from Panavision, and Pailin Wedel, and Nina Ijas’s HOPE FROZEN for Best Documentary Feature. The Best Documentary Feature prize included a $15,000 camera rental package from Panavision as well as documentary editing feedback from Joe Shapiro

Ed Wood’s cult classic PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE Kicks off DRIVE IN with Oxford Film Festival

By John Wildman 6 years ago

Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “We are very excited to debut our OFF to the DRIVE IN film presentations, as I’m sure many of our locals are, to get out of the house and see some films but safely following CDC guidelines, but most importantly in this climate and in Mississippi, highlighting the great Mississippi-produced film THE EVERS on the anniversary of Medgar Evers’ death is crucial to further the conversation to improve our lives. A special conversation will be included with the film from the family and director.”

Li Cheng’s drama JOSÈ featured with Oxford Film Festival teases Drive In plans along with 6th Weekly Fest roll out including Artist Vodka $15K film prize competition films

By John Wildman 6 years ago

“Artist Vodka continues to be such an important part of our film festival by lending a big financial hand to one of our filmmakers as they have in years past,” Oxford Film Festival Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “And now our audience members can take a real active part in deciding whose name will go on that big check. It adds a rooting interest to the entertainment each one of these three programs delivers in a major way. I can’t wait to see who is going to win that prize.”

Theodore Collatos and Carolina Monnerat’s QUEEN OF LAPA featured at Oxford Film Festival’s 5th Weekly Virtual Fest is topped by docs, films focusing on the black experience, and experimental film

By John Wildman 6 years ago

“Our audiences have become accustomed to the Oxford Film Festival bringing the world to them via the documentary films we program,” Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “QUEEN OF LAPA and LIFE IN SYNCHRO are vastly different films, but share that sense of discovery, whether it be a transgender sex workers community in Brazil or the amazing women that make synchronized skating a sport that will surprise and excite you. It’s also exciting to give a platform to the filmmakers and stories delving into the black experience in Mississippi, Memphis and this country through our Black Lens Narrative shorts program and the expected, yet unexpected cinematic visions our Fest Forward programs always deliver.”

Christopher Wesley Moore’s, A STRANGER AMONG THE LIVING: Oxford Film Festival’s 4th Weekly Virtual Fest delivers the horror, a silly superhero, LGBTQIA+ stories and panels for filmmakers

By John Wildman 6 years ago

“Ghostly scares, silly superheroes, LGBTQIA+ stories, Americana, animation and experimental cinema is all on tap this week,” Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “This week will be a fun, adventurous slate of programming for our audiences, as well as having a great pair of panels and presentations courtesy of Seed&Spark for truly valuable information on crowdfunding and distribution for filmmakers to soak up, and then a chance to seriously look at the reality of getting our filmmakers back on the set here in Mississippi the following day.”