Film Festival News

Reporting on film festivals

Megan Petersen and Hannah Black ’s Drought Opens Oxford Film Festival; full lineup of virtual panels and in-person passholder events

By John Wildman 5 years ago

Oxford Film Festival Executive Director Melanie Addington, said, “These three films exemplify the best of what the Oxford Film Festival offers with its programming. Drought is a multiple award-winner on the circuit, Not Going Quietly gives rare insight into the experience of living with a disability, and Breaking News in Yuba County is a certified crowd pleaser courtesy of Tate Taylor. In year one, we showcased his talents as a young filmmaker, and eighteen years later we are all grown up and can’t wait to once again showcase his work on this Mississippi made film. Add to that, a full lineup of in-person and virtual panels and passholder parties to underline the festival experience side-by-side with our films.” Addington added, “As well as requiring all films to have closed captioning this year, our open and closing films shine with great disability representation which is something we strive to celebrate at Oxford.”

Women Texas Film Festival wraps a bow around it after 5 years

By John Wildman 5 years ago

Walford said, “From the beginning of WTxFF, I said that we would only do the film festival as long as we saw a need for it. While there is still much work to be done to give a platform to the work of women directors, producers, writers, editors, directors of photography, and composers, we have seen much headway made during the past five years. Our goal was to show the range of the female storyteller, and to celebrate great and distinctive work in every genre, every style. WTxFF sought to achieve a place where the notion of gender behind the camera could take a backseat to the grit, emotion, and vision projected on the screen. And in a lot of ways, we saw that increasingly happen at our film festival.”

Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival, Out on Film announces Call for Entries for this year’s 34th edition

By John Wildman 5 years ago

“Last year presented with us with one of the biggest challenges we ever faced – how to pivot an 11-day film festival into a mostly virtual one,” says Jim Farmer, festival director of Out On Film. “We were able to not only successfully do so without having to scale down our event, but actually added to the number of filmmakers that could participate in virtual Q&As from all over the world.”

Greta Hagen-Richardson joins Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival: starts 30th Anniversary preparations by adding new Director of Programming and Executive Director

By John Wildman 5 years ago

Gerber commented, “We could not be more delighted to add Greta to our team. She has quickly made a mark through her work at a number of prominent film festivals with a reputation for unearthing new voices and championing inclusion. We look forward to her bringing that curatorial vision to Hot Springs. Despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic last year, the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival continued growing in reach, impact, and innovation.

Anne Rapp’s documentary Horton Foote: The Road to Home: for Oxford Film Festival 2021 rolls out big tent lineup of films for in-person, drive-in, and virtual screenings

By John Wildman 5 years ago

“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,” said Executive Director Melanie Addington.

Jim Brunzell Sound Unseen Film + Music Festival Festival Director announces Call for Entries for 2021

By John Wildman 5 years ago

Call for Entries have opened exclusively on Film Freeway for the 22nd edition of the Sound Unseen Film + Music Festival, which will take place November 10-14, 2021. The film festival will once again be offered virtually to both Minnesota and Texas, with the potential to expand to a hybrid approach with in-person screenings in Minneapolis and Austin.

Philippe Falardeau ’s MY SALINGER YEAR Opens 2021 San Luis Obispo Film Fest: hybrid film fest including Surf Nite at the Drive-in

By John Wildman 5 years ago

San Luis Obispo Film Festival Director Skye McLennan said, “Following last year’s whirlwind experience to shift our film festival to an online presentation seemingly overnight due to the onset of the pandemic, it’s a gift to know that the same dedication we put into selecting our films is matched by the SLO Film Fest audience’s anticipation to see them – virtually or in-person. But safety is still the priority, so while we will all go to the drive-in for Surf Nite, the rest of the time, we will once again be coming into our film faithful’s homes to deliver the best movies we could find.”

Ashley O’Shay’s UNAPOLOGETIC at Film Festival Alliance will wrap up FilmEx with Film Festival Day bow on Saturday, January 16

By John Wildman 5 years ago

“Ashley’s film is important, timely and the perfect culmination to a week of honest conversations with over 800 independent film exhibitors at FIlmEx. We’re thrilled to support the filmmakers in presenting UNAPOLOGETIC to audiences across North America, in this new model of distribution, and look forward to hearing her talk about the experience of making the film and how it reflects on what we just saw take place in Georgia and the rest of the country.”

Michael Cain, Founder of Dallas’ EarthxFilm, Calls for Entries for 2021 edition of environmentally-focused fest

By John Wildman 5 years ago

Holbrooke said, “While this has been a year like no other, we also know that our planet’s air, water and biodiversity continue to be enormously threatened. The filmmakers out there in the environmental space are going to keep making the movies that bring us stories that both disturb and inspire us to be better stewards of the earth.”