Film Festival News: The 2020 Oxford Film Festival unveils a film lineup with attention-grabbing special events
The 2020 Oxford Film Festival (March 18-22) has announced an event filled edition of the acclaimed regional film festival with a special 30th Anniversary screening of Allan Moyle’s rebel youth classic PUMP UP THE VOLUME featured as the Opening Night Gala selection with Moyle himself on hand for the screening as well as Producer Sandy Stern, and Braden King’s searing drama THE EVENING HOUR presented as the fest’s Closing Night Gala following its debut at Sundance. A special screening with panel discussion including the actors and their real-life counterparts of Frank Waldeck’s IT’S TIME about Ole Miss’ Chucky Mullins, an inventive presentation of the cult classic SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-O-RAMA at a bowling alley, and a special conversation with Mississippi author Angie Thomas (THE HATE YOU GIVE) timed to the introduction of a brand new award created in her honor all add up to a banner year of highlights to accent the film lineup for Oxford film fans in March.
Always a magnet for film debuts, world premieres at the Oxford Film Festival include Brandon Colvin’s A DIM VALLEY, Miles Doleac’s THE DINNER PARTY, Jo Duca’s HER NAME WAS JO, Dennis Cahlo’s IN FLOWERS THROUGH SPACE, Waldeck’s IT’S TIME, Ben and Bo Powell’s NOTHIN NO BETTER, and Mary Blessey’s YOU ASKED FOR THE FACTS. The short film section is rich with premieres as well this year. 28 short films will make their world premieres, 8 shorts will make their U.S. premieres, and one will have its international premiere.
Once again the Oxford Film Festival enjoyed another record year of submissions (increasing from 1595 last year to 2253 this year). The lineup includes 32 feature films (21 narrative, 11 documentaries), 168 short films (146 narrative, 22 documentaries), and 8 music videos representing 26 countries. The lineup is highlighted by both a successful application of the 50/50 by 2020 gender filmmaker parity pledge, as well as another expansion of the film festival’s LGBTQIA+ categories.
Oxford Film Festival’s Executive Director, Melanie Addington, said, “We challenged ourselves this year to both achieve goals in line with our staunch support of female filmmakers, LGBTQIA+, and those with disabilities, We have embraced our role as leaders both in this city and the state in that regard knowing that the filmmaking community and the public look to our film lineup and our presentations to match our public positions. However, this year, we also wanted to deliver big signature events to enhance our film lineup so that Oxford film fans and Oxford Film Festival filmmakers can feel they have been part of something truly special at this year’s fest.”
Allan Moyle’s PUMP UP THE VOLUME electrified a generation when it premiered in 1990. Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis became stars and avatars for young people who watched the film over and over again. In the film, Slater plays a shy student, who secretly runs a pirate radio station and causes an uproar, becoming an underground celebrity and leader of a movement when he speaks his mind and enthralls fellow teens. Mathis plays a classmate who discovers and develops a romance with the boy behind the voice and inspires him to take a real chance with his life. The film screens Thursday, March 19 at 7:00PM at the Gertrude C. Ford Center (351 University Ave.) with Moyle and producer Sandy Stern attending following a live broadcast of Thacker Mountain Radio Show, a locally produced live reading and music performance broadcast in Mississippi and Alabama.
The Oxford Film Festival is starting to make a tradition of nabbing a couple of hot titles right out of Sundance and this year, Braden King’s THE EVENING HOUR fills that bill. In the tense drama, a popular, young health aide at a nursing home in rural Appalachia, makes ends meet by serving as a middle man in an illicit medication transfer from townies to local buyers. It’s a tough area with few opportunities, and he does what he can to keep his addicted customers out of harm’s way from the town’s menacing kingpin. However, the return of his childhood friend after years away may threaten the fragile balance he has achieved with plans to capitalize on what he sees as his friend’s place in the local drug trade. The film screens Sunday, March 22 at 5:30PM at the Malco Commons (204 Commonwealth Blvd.) with King and actors attending with the film.
Saturday, March 21, Angie Thomas will host a conversation with panel before revealing the winner of the Angie Thomas Zeitgeist Award. Like the author, whose writing has made such an impact from the state of Mississippi, the award will celebrate a film artist from a diverse background each year who has exhibited a unique and clear voice through their work.
Previously announced, Waldeck’s IT’S TIME will be presented as part a special screening and fundraising event at the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, March 18. A dramatic telling of the story of Ole Miss Rebel football player Chucky Mulllins, his tragic on-field injury following a collision with Vanderbilt’s Brad Gaines, and its uplifting aftermath. The event will include a post-screening discussion of the film with the actors and some of the people they portray in the film. Included in the post-screening panel discussion will be cast members Pierson Fode, and Amy Goussett, as well as Gaines.
Beloved cult favorite, SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-O-RAMA will be celebrated during a free night of bowling, food, and movie viewing as part of a Bowl-O-Rama Party at Premier Lanes (204 Commonwealth Boulevard). The fun will start at 8:00PM and will include Oxford Film Festival’s publicist John Wildman, who was a cast member in the film.
To buy passes or tickets or find more information, please go to: https://www.oxfordfilmfest.com/.
2020 OXFORD FILM FESTIVAL FILMS AND DESCRIPTIONS
Feature Films
OPENING NIGHT SELECTION
PUMP UP THE VOLUME (1990)
Director: Allan Moyle
Country: USA, Running Time: 102 min
Mark runs a pirate radio station and causes an uproar when he speaks his mind and enthralls fellow teens.
CLOSING NIGHT SELECTION
THE EVENING HOUR
Director: Braden King
Country: USA, Running Time: 115 min
Cole, a popular, young health aide at a nursing home living in rural Appalachia, makes ends meet by redistributing excess medication from townies to local buyers. Among a community low on opportunities but seemingly awash in pill bottles, he envisions himself as a caretaker, genuinely fond of his suppliers and keeping addicted customers out of the path of the town’s menacing kingpin. The fragile balance of his double life is suddenly threatened when childhood friend Terry Rose returns after years away with plans to capitalize on what he perceives as Cole’s place in the local drug trade.
NARRATIVE FEATURES JURIED COMPETITION
HER NAME WAS JO World Premiere
Director: Joe Duca
Country: USA, Running Time: 104 min
Ten-year-old Jo spends her days along the Shenandoah River with her best friend Selma, fishing, scrapping for metal—surviving. But when her abusive junkie stepdad dies, Jo decides, Selma in tow, to dump the body, steal the car, and, with only the address on an old CD case to go by, sets off across the country in search of her real dad, a legendary folk singer in Los Angeles.
I’VE GOT ISSUES
Director: Steve Collins
Country: USA, Running Time: 92 min
I’VE GOT ISSUES is a unique comic world inhabited by sensitive souls trying to survive the pain of living in this cruel world. In a dead-pan, deeply empathetic tone, the film asks the big questions: “What are we supposed to do with all the hurt?” “What’s the point?” The film builds an answer out of intertwining stories of characters swallowed in darkness, yet still finding light.
THE IN-BETWEEN
Director: Mindy Bledsoe
Country: USA, Running Time: 78 min
Two women set out on a road trip with different missions. Mads (Jennifer Stone “Wizards of Waverly Place”) needs to renew her driver’s license in South Dakota, while Junior needs to visit Portland, OR on a quest for her dead sister. Both women have medical issues that cause friction along the way, but they never let those problems define their identities.
THE KILLING OF KENNETH CHAMBERLAIN
Director: David Midell
Country: USA, Running Time: 81 min
Based on the true story of the events that led to the death of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., an elderly African American veteran with bipolar disorder, who was killed during a conflict with police officers who were dispatched to check on him.
ONCE UPON A RIVER
Director: Haroula Rose
Country: USA, Running Time: 92 min
Based on the best-selling novel by Bonnie Jo Campbell, ONCE UPON A RIVER is the story of Native American teenager Margo Crane in 1970s rural Michigan. After enduring a series of traumas and tragedies, Margo (newcomer Kenadi DelaCerna) sets out on an odyssey on the Stark River in search of her estranged mother. On the water, Margo encounters friends, foes, wonders, and dangers; navigating life on her own, she comes to understand her potential, all while healing the wounds of her past.
RECKONING
Directors: Ruckus Skye, Lane Skye
Country: USA, Running Time: 87 min
After the disappearance of her husband, a struggling farmer in an isolated Appalachian community discovers she is a pawn in a blood-soaked revenge plot and the only way out for her and her son could mean destroying a decades-old truce.
STAR LIGHT
Directors: Lee Cummings, Mitchell Altieri
Country: USA, Running Time: 89 min
While skateboarding, a kind hearted teenager, Dylan, crashes into a beautiful young woman who secretly turns out to be the World Famous Popstar, Bebe A. Love. Keeping her identity under wraps, Dylan takes Bebe to his best friend’s house for help. While he and his group of friends try to help this mysterious woman, unexplained events begin to occur within the home. And they only intensify when Bebe’s handler, Anton, shows up at their door and demands the teenagers return her immediately. When Dylan refuses fearing for Bebe’s safety, he unleashes a barrage of dire consequences that turns a fun graduation party into a night of living hell.
TEAM MARCO
Director: Julio Vincent Gambuto
Country: USA, Running Time: 92 min
Screen time alert! Marco, 11, is obsessed with his electronics and hardly leaves the house. But when his grandmother dies and his grandfather moves in, Marco’s life is turned upside-down and he’s forced…to go play outside. “Nonno” (Grandpa) introduces him to bocce — the world’s oldest game — and to the neighborhood crew of old Italian men who play daily at the local court. With sport, laughter and love, “Marcolino,” as his grandfather calls him, finds connection to other people “in real life” and rounds up a team of neighborhood kids to take on his grandfather and his pals.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES JURIED COMPETITION
HOPE FROZEN
Directors: Pailin Wedel, Nina Ijas
Country: Germany, Running Time: 75 min
A Thai-Buddhist couple struggles to find closure after cryopreserving their two-year-old daughter – all while their whiz kid teenage son goes on a journey to discover if science will ever revive her. World Premiere.
I AM NOT ALONE
Director: Garin Hovannisian
Country: Armenia, Running Time: 93 min
On Easter Day 2018, a man put on a backpack and went live on Facebook to announce that he was beginning a walk across Armenia. His mission: to inspire a velvet revolution — and topple the corrupt regime that enjoys absolute power in his post-soviet nation. With total access to all key players, I AM NOT ALONE tells the miraculous true story of what happens in the next 40 days.
LIFE IN SYNCHRO
Director: Angela Pinaglia
Country: USA, Running Time: 55 min
LIFE IN SYNCHRO takes viewers on a journey of discovery into the world of synchronized ice skating.
OUR BODIES OUR DOCTORS
Director: Jan Haaken
Country: USA, Running Time: 78 min
Nearly 1 in 4 American women have an abortion during their lifetime, yet the doctors who perform this commonplace procedure are rarely talked about or seen. OUR BODIES OUR DOCTORS follows these quiet heroes behind the scenes and into the procedure room, showing their strength and compassion for women. It’s a journey into their world, why they do this work, and how they resist the threats, violence and intensified political efforts to criminalize abortion.
PICTURE CHARACTER
Directors: Ian Cheney and Martha Shane
Country: USA, Running Time: 82 min
PICTURE CHARACTER explores the complex, conflict-prone, and often hilarious world of the creators, lovers, and arbiters of emoji, our world’s newest pictorial language. How do you create a global language on the fly? This film charts the evolution of emoji and investigates what they may reveal about our increasingly technological world.
THE RABBI GOES WEST PRESENTED BY THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF OXFORD
Directors: Amy Geller and Gerald Peary
Country: Running Time: 78 min
A fish out of water story about a young and charismatic Hasidic Chabad rabbi who moved from Brooklyn, NY to Bozeman, Montana to bring his brand of Judaism to the American west. His mission: to place a Mezuzah, an encased prayer offering, on the doorpost of every Montana Jew. As he travels across this “big sky” landscape, he confronts threats to Jews from neo-Nazis and objections to his proselytizing from members of the Jewish community.
YOU ASKED FOR THE FACTS World Premiere
Director: Mary Blessey
Country: USA, Running Time: 54 min
Four years after the historic enrollment of James Meredith as the first black student at the University of Mississippi, student activists devise a plan to defy Mississippi’s “Speaker Ban” and bring Robert F. Kennedy to the campus to reveal the truth about segregationist governor Ross Barnett.
MISSISSIPPI FEATURES JURIED COMPETITION
THE DINNER PARTY World Premiere
Director: Miles Doleac
Country: USA, Running Time: 111 min
A budding playwright and his wife attend a dinner party hosted by wealthy, cultural elites, who have promised to bankroll the writer’s latest play to Broadway, but, in fact, have darker designs in mind for the couple.
THE EVERS
Director: Loki Mulholland
Country: USA, 91 min
On June 12, 1963, an assassin’s bullet ended the life of Medgar Evers, the Field Secretary of the NAACP in Mississippi. From the Emmy-winning director of “The Uncomfortable Truth” comes the incredible true story of one family’s unbreakable love and tragic sacrifice in the name of freedom for everyone. THE EVERS is a powerful testament of love, faith and family in the quest for a better world.
FAR EAST DEEP SOUTH
Director: Larissa Lam
Country: USA, Running Time: 75 min
When Charles Chiu, a Chinese-American man from California, travels to Mississippi to visit the grave of his father who abandoned him 75 years ago, he and his family stumble upon surprising revelations that change their lives. Along the way, they meet a diverse group of local residents and historians, who shed light on the racially complex history of the early Chinese in the segregated South. Their emotional journey also leads them to discover how deep their roots run in America.
IT’S TIME World Premiere
Director: Frank Waldeck
Country: USA, Running Time: 90min
The story of Ole Miss Rebel defensive back Chucky Mullins, who in 1989 became paralyzed after making a tackle against Vanderbilt player Brad Gaines. Chucky and Brad were forever linked by that play and a relationship was born out of tragedy.
NOTHIN NO BETTER World Premiere
Director: Ben Powell, Bo Powell
Country: USA, Running Time: 70 min
Come meet the people of Rosedale, Mississippi, in this gently composed peek at life in a fading but beloved Delta town. All sorts of people make their homes in this quintessential and iconic American community. Despite a painful past and an uncertain future, Rosedale’s still hanging on.
A STRANGER AMONG THE LIVING
Director: Christopher Wesley Moore
Country: USA, Running Time: 101 min
Henry Lyle, a young teacher, avoids a school shooting due to a terrifying premonition. Soon, he discovers his nightmare has just begun as strange phantoms stalk him, trying to complete the job that death started.
MUSIC DOCUMENTARIES JURIED COMPETITION
IN FLOWERS THROUGH SPACE World Premiere
Director: Dennis Cahlo
Country: USA, Running Time: 66 min
The Fibonacci Sequence has long been witnessed in nature and the universe but rarely used in creating an album. In director Dennis Cahlo’s first full length documentary, we follow producer/engineer E Scott Lindner as he uses the sequence to create a very unique album and has some incredible revelations about the universe, creativity, and life along the way.
THE OFFLINE PLAYLIST
Director: Brian C. Miller Richard
Country: USA, Running Time: 49 min
A first-of-it’s-kind concert that paired New Orleans artists on a Spotify playlist with the fans who were listening to it, live at the hallowed Preservation Hall.
ROCKABUL
Director: Travis Beard
Country: Afghanistan, Running Time: 90 min
ROCKABUL examines the counter culture campaign that the US government waged in Afghanistan, told through the eyes of a young band in the war torn capital of Kabul, where rock music is forbidden. The band, District Unknown put themselves in the firing line to challenge freedom of expression, youth identity and conflict with culture. A glimpse into the underground expat party scene, at odds with the conservative and fundamentalist society in Kabul, Afghanistan.
STORIES IN RHYME: THE SONGWRITERS OF THE FLORA-BAMA LOUNGE
Director: Lynn Rabren
Country: USA, Running Time: 84 min
Compiled from over thirty years’ worth of rare, never-before-seen footage, STORIES IN RHYME is a journey through music history. Since 1984, the Gulf of Mexico’s famous Flora-Bama Lounge has played host to a gathering of songwriters from all over the world. From the country legends of old to the latest crop of budding troubadours, these are the voices behind the songs. This documentary isn’t just an ode to these characters, but to the timeless, unifying power of music itself.
LGBTQIA+ FEATURES JURIED COMPETITION
A DIM VALLEY World Premiere
Director: Brandon Colvin
Country: USA, Running Time: 92 min
A curmudgeonly biologist and his slacker graduate assistants muddle their way through a summer research project. Deep in the Appalachian woods, they encounter a trio of mystical backpackers who change their lives in mysterious ways.
FROM BAGHDAD TO THE BAY
Dircetor: Erin Palmquist
Country: USA, Running Time: 69 min
FROM BAGHDAD TO THE BAY is a raw and deeply personal look at one man’s harrowing journey to be true to himself amidst extreme adversity. The film follows the epic journey of Ghazwan Alsharif, an Iraqi refugee and former translator for the U.S. military. Wrongfully accused of being a double agent, tortured by the U.S. military and ostracized from family and country, Ghazwan struggles to rebuild his life in the United States while coming out as an openly gay activist.
THE LONG SHADOW
Director: Daniel Lafrentz
Country: USA, Running Time: 95 min
A young Sheriff’s Deputy takes on her Louisiana town’s old-money establishment when the woman she loves — an attorney fighting a rail deal that will displace the poor — is found murdered.
QUEEN OF LAPA
Directors: Theodore Collatos, Carolina Monnerat
Country: USA, Running Time: 73 min
Larger-than-life actress, cabaret performer, activist, and proud sex professional since the age of eleven, Luana Muniz – arguably one of Brazil’s most recognizable transgender personalities, shapes a new reality for a new generation of transgender sex workers in her hostel by providing a safe working environment in the dangerous neighborhood of Lapa in Rio de Janeiro. QUEEN OF LAPA explores the day-to-day lives, quests for love, housemate rivalries in a turbulent political climate under matriarch Muniz’s watchful and guiding eye.
Oxford Film Festival Short Films
(For full film descriptions, please visit oxfordfilmfest.com)
NARRATIVE SHORT FILMS
7AM WEDNESDAY World Premiere
Director: Julie Herlocker
Country: USA, Running Time: 9:30 min
A NIGHT OUT
Directors: Abby Meyers, Kevin Brooks
Country: USA, Running Time: 12:30 min
ALINA
Director: Rami Kodeih
Country: USA, Running Time: 25:58 min
ALL EYES ON ME
Director: Saber Tatarcheh
Country: Iran, Running Time: 11 min
ANNIVERSARY
Director: James Harlon Palmer
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:40 min
BAD ASSISTANT
Director: Kyle Cogan
Country: USA, Running Time: 26:04 min
THE BAKER
Director: Austin Everett
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:03 min
BEING
Director: Cathleen Dean
Country: USA, Running Time: 9:11 min
BLACK MIRROR
Director: Kia Pooler
Country: USA, Running Time: 4:10 min
BLACK PAJAMAS
Director: Hattie Haggard Gobble
Country: USA, Running Time: 11:53 min
CHERRY
Director: Stacey Davis
Country: USA, Running Time: 12:51 min
CINDERELLA GAMES
Directors: Jessica Wright. Morgann Runacre-Temple
Country:, Running Time: 6:29 min
COFFEE SHOP NAMES
Director: Deepak Sethi
Country: USA, Running Time: 7:58 min
DEUCE U.S. Premiere
Director: Alice Felgate
Countries: USA, UK, Running Time: 9:22 min
THE DISHWASHER
Directors: Nick Hartanto, Sam Roden
Country: USA, Running Time: 12:34 min
FOUR
Director: Jennifer Sheridan
Country: UK, Running Time: 19:30 min
FRANK & MARY
Director: Paul Williams
Country: UK, Running Time: 16:10 min
GABRIELLE
Director: Nicola Rose
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:31 min
GHOSTED
Director: Blayne Weaver
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:55 min
THE INITIATION
Director: Amir Youssef
Country: USA, Running Time: 19:23 min
I’M NOT SPOCK
Director: Clem McIntosh
Country: USA, Running Time: 8:43 min
IN A LIFETIME
Director: Frantzy Moreau
Country: USA, Running Time: 14:43 min
THE INTERVIEW
Director: Nate Duncan
Country: USA, Running Time: 14:35 min
LABOR RELATIONS
Director: Karisa Bruin
Country: USA, Running Time: 6:37 min
LEO & GRACE
Director: Gabriel Savodivker
Country: USA, Running Time: 15 min
MAN IN HOODIE
Director: Yaz Canli
Country: USA, Running Time: 17:45 min
MAVEN VOYAGE
Director: Rachel Emerson
Country: USA, Running Time: 14:58 min
MY DINNER WITH WERNER
Director: Maverick Moore
Country: USA, Running Time: 17:49 min
MY TIME
Director: Giulia Gandini
Country: United Kingdom, Running Time: 5:49 min
NOWHERE ARKANSAS
Director: Robert Linsley
Country: USA, Running Time: 10:51 min
ONE HIT WONDER
Director: Seyi River
Country: USA, Running Time: 14:59
OWESIBILI: THE SECOND
Director: Mpumelelo Kheswa
Country: South Africa, Running Time: 16:52 min
PK
Director: Kankana Chakaraborty
Country: USA, Running Time: 10:12 min
REHEARSAL
Director: Courtney Hope Thérond
Country: USA, Running Time: 8:05 min
SAME TIME NEXT WEEK
Director: Kalah Roberts
Country: USA, Running Time: 8:23 min
SHADOW IN THE ROOM
Director: Christian Walker
Country: USA, Running Time: 8:01 min
SHIELD
Director: Danielle Eliska Lyle
Country: USA, Running Time: 17:52 min
SOUL MAN
Director: Kyle Taubken
Country: USA, Running Time: 12:55 min
STEVE OF THE ANTARCTIC
Directors: Clem McIntosh, Edan Lacey
Country: Antarctica, Running Time: 2:52 min
STOOD UP
Director: Cjay Boisclair
Country: Canada, Running Time: 4:41 min
STREET FLAME
Director: Katherine Propper
Country: USA, Running Time: 12:04 min
SWEET SOLACE U.S. Premiere
Director: Nicolas Durand
Country: France, Running Time: 10:03 min
SYNCHRONIZATION U.S. Premiere
Director: Anna Kasińska
Country: Poland, Running Time: 19:54 min
TEAM MARILYN
Director: LaToya Morgan
Country: USA, Running Time: 9:19 min
TRUTH LIES UPSTREAM
Director: Robb Rokk
Country: USA, Running Time: 14:54
WHITE GUYS SOLVE SEXISM
Director: Christopher Guerrero
Country: USA, Running Time: 6:26 min
WHAT IF BLACK BOYS WERE BUTTERFLIES?
Director: DaeQuan Alexander Collier
Country: USA, Running Time: 3:38 min
DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILMS
DICK PICS! (A DOCUMENTARY)
Directors: Hannah McSwiggen, Russell Sheaffer
Country: USA, Running Time: 12:18 min
THE DREAMER
Director: Manjula Varghese
Country: USA, Running Time: 5:15 min
FOREVER VOTERS World Premiere
Director: Sky Bergman
Country: USA, Running Time: 7:02 min
LES World Premiere
Director: Olivia Bernhardt Brogan
Country: UK, Running Time: 5:21 min
THE LOOP U.S. Premiere
Directors: Johanis Lyons-Reid, Lorcan Hopper
Country: Australia, Running Time: 19:22 min
LOU
Director: Ethan Payne
Country: USA, Running Time: 4:26 min
NO DISTANCE BETWEEN US
Director: Vera Hong
Country: Australia, Running Time: 11:43 min
RIDING A DREAM
Directors: Tommy Bolwell, Mattia Reiniger
Country: UK, Running Time: 23:53 min
ROOT SHOCKED
Director: Cecilia Brown
Country: USA, Running Time: 15:57 min
SADIKA’S GARDEN U.S. Premiere
Directors: Chad Galloway, Julia Iriarte
Country: Canada, Running Time: 29:20 min
SINGING FOR THE KING
Director: Yalonda M. James
Country: USA, Running Time: 6:12 min
TEARS TEACHER World Premiere
Director: Noemie Nakai
Country: Japan, Running Time: 10:33 min
THE TIMEKEEPER
Director: Sohil Vaidya
Country: India, Running Time: 5:15 min
TUNGRUS
Director: Rishi Chandna
Country: India, Running Time: 12:54 min
MUSIC DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILMS
40 YEARS OF THE DELTA BLUES MUSEUM
Director: Coop Cooper
Country: USA, Running Time: 14:56 min
ALL I HAVE TO OFFER YOU IS ME
Director: Dillon M. Hayes
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:16 min
BE MY VOICE
Director: Manjula Varghese
Country: USA, Running Time: 12:23 min
BOTIS SEVA: AIR U.S. Premiere
Director: Divya Pathak
Country: UK, Running Time: 4:41 min
DÍA DE LA MADRE
Directors: Ashley Brandon, Dennis Hohne
Country: USA, Running Time: 5:33 min
HOW GREAT THOU ART World Premiere
Director: Brian Oxley
Country: USA, Running Time: 11:30 min
MARK “MULEMAN” MASSEY World Premiere
Director: Michael Ford
Country: USA, Running Time: 11:36 min
POST 398 World Premiere
Director: David N. Drake
Countries: UK/USA, Running Time: 13:17 min
MISSISSIPPI SHORT FILMS
38,600 MPH
Director: West Givens
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:48 min
70 YEARS OF BLACKNESS World Premiere
Director: Christopher Windfield
Country: USA, Running Time: 29:51 min
ALL THAT YOU LOVE WILL BE CARRIED AWAY
Director: Thad Lee
Country: USA, Running Time: 29:57 min
THE BLACKSMITH OF OXFORD World Premiere
Director: Michael Ford
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:42 min
THE BROTHERS BROTHERS
Director: Kyle Taubken
Country: USA, Running Time: 14:18 min
DEAR HUBERT CREEKMORE
Director: Mary Stanton Knight
Country: USA, Running Time: 15:25 min
DEAR JOHNNY REB: AN ARGUMENT AGAINST CONFEDERATE MEMORIALS
Director: Philip Scarborough
Country: USA, Running Time: 7:45 min
THE DEFECT
Director: Coley Bryant
Country: USA, Running Time: 6:06 min
DELTA BLIND SPOT
Director: John Bateman
Country: USA, Running Time: 5:59 min
A DIXIE DARLING DINNER World Premiere
Director: Michele Mathis
Country: USA, Running Time: 8:16 min
GETTING TO THE ROOT
Director: Je’Monda Roy
Country: USA, Running Time: 23:50 min
THE GOLDEN YEARS World Premiere
Director: Brian Whisenant
Country: USA, Running Time: 15 min
HOW WE VOTE HERE World Premiere
Director: Hanna Miller
Country: USA, Running Time: 18:44 min
LESSONS FROM A MOONWALK World Premiere
Director: Brad Ellis
Country: USA, Running Time: 11:13 min
NADJA
Director: Vincenzo Mistretta
Country: USA, Running Time: 17:07 min
OUT OF DARKNESS
Director: Maggie Bushway,
Country: USA, Running Time: 5:31 min
PANDA
Director: Trent Dickens
Country: USA, Running Time: 35:39 min
RECOVERY INC World Premiere
Director: John Reyer Afamasaga
Country: USA, Running Time: 29:40 min
REVELATION ALABAMA World Premiere
Glenn Payne
Country: USA, Running Time: 24:50 min
SINGING OUT
Director: Mary Stanton Knight
Country: USA, Running Time: 8:44 min
SOCCER IN CLEVELAND World Premiere
Directors: Elisabetta Zengaro, Matteo Zengaro
Country: USA, Running Time: 4 min
STAY IN THE CIRCLE – A MISSISSIPPI CAMPMEETING World Premiere
Director: Jarratt Taylor
Country: USA, Running Time: 6:10 min
SWEET SORGHUM
Director: Jonathan P. Smith
Country: USA, Running Time: 8:58 min
TRUMPED IN TUPELO World Premiere
Director: V. G. Bates
Country: USA, Running Time: 19:35 min
WE GO BACK World Premiere
Director: Glenn Payne
Country: USA, Running Time: 7:51 min
WEIGHT TO MY WEIGHT
Director: Maggie Bushway
Country: USA, Running Time: 3:48 min
LGBTQIA+ SHORT FILMS
2 WEEKS World Premiere
Director: Victoria Negri
Country: USA, Running Time: 12 min
BEING
Director: Cathleen Dean
Country: USA, Running Time: 9:11 min
BELLE World Premiere
Director: Eduardo Cintron
Country: USA, Running Time: 20 min
CUBAN HEEL SHOES
Director: Julio Mas Alcaraz
Country: Spain, Running Time: 17 min
GO GO BOY
Director: Oriana Oppice
Country: USA, Running Time: 06:06 min
HOME GIRL
Director: Poonam Brah
Country: UK, Running Time: 11:57 min
JARED DAWSON IS THE CHURCH OF LAVONIA ELBERTON
Director: Adam Forrester
Country: USA, Running Time: 14:10 min
A NORMAL GIRL
Director: Aubree Bernier-Clarke
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:41 min
ON THE RIDE
Director: Jen McGowan
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:20 min
QUEERING THE SOUTH THROUGH DRAG
Director: Christina Huff
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:38 min
SWEET STEEL
Director: Will Goss
Country: USA, Running Time: 4:37 min
TOUCHSCREEN
Director: Arthur Halpern
Country: USA, Running Time: 14:59 min
UNSPOKEN
Director: Patrick G. Lee
Country: USA, Running Time: 17:07 min
THE WOODPECKER World Premiere
Directors: Courtney Bush, Will Carington, Jake Goicoechea
Country: USA, Running Time: 7:13 min
FEST FORWARD SHORT FILMS (EXPERIMENTAL)
ANGEL’S TRUMPET
Director: Martinus Klemet
Country: Estonia, Running Time: 2:26
A COLLECTION OF ATTEMPTS IN ASTRAL TRAVEL
Directors: Rachel Nakawatase, Ryan Betschart
Country: USA, Running Time: 6:07 min
BREAK THROUGH THE ABYSS World Premiere
Director: Shiyen Giselle Chien
Country: USA, Running Time: 6 min
CUT COPY SPHINX
Director: Virginia Lee Montgomery
Country: USA, Running Time: 3:30 min
THE EDUCATION OF A GIRL CHILD
Director: Gabriela McNicoll
Country: USA, Running Time: 3:02 min
FOREIGN EXCHANGE
Director: Corrie Francis Parks
Country: USA, Running Time: 5:45 min
GIRLS GROW UP DRAWING HORSES
Director: Joanie Wind
Country: USA, Running Time: 7:23 min
THE GODS OF TINY THINGS
Director: Deborah Kelly
Country: Australia, Running Time: 5:22 min
HOW AND WHY DON JOSE DISSIPATED U.S. Premiere
Director: Moshe Ben-Avraham
Country: Israel, Running Time: 12:58 min
IKTAMULI U.S. Premiere
Director: Anne-Christin Plate
Country: Germany, Running Time: 5:30 min
JOINTS International Premiere
Directors: Ricardo Werdesheim, Moran Somer and Osi Wald
Country: Israel, Running Time: 10:44 min
KING OF THE HOUSE
Director: Zige Zhang
Country: USA, Running Time: 10:45 min
MUÑE
Director: Catalina Jordan Alvarez
Country: USA, Running Time: 14:34 min
OSIRIKA – BLACK CHAMPAGNE
Director: Jeremiah Williams
Country: USA, Running Time: 5:24 min
OUT OF TUNE
Director: Aaron With
Country: Mexico, Running Time: 9:37 min
THE PHANTOM 52
Director: Geoff Marslett
Country: USA, Running Time: 7:25 min
PROPOLIS, PART 7
Director: Patricia Beckmann Wells
Country: USA, Running Time: 3 min
THE SPACE WALL
Director: Jason Allen Lee
Country: USA, Running Time: 11:21 min
THE SPIRIT SEAM
Director: Ashley Gerst
Country: USA, Running Time: 14:52 min
SYNCHRONICITY
Director: Michelle Brand
Country: UK, Running Time: 3:47 min
TIDES World Premiere
Director: André Silva
Country: USA, Running Time: 8:20 min
TINGLE MONSTERS
Director: Alexandra Serio
Country: USA, Running Time: 10:49 min
TURNING World Premiere
Director: Linnéa Haviland
Country: UK, Running Time: 1:51 min
TX-REVERSE
Directors: Martin Reinhart, Virgil Widrich
Countries: Austria/Germany, Running Time: 5 min
UMBILICAL U.S. Premiere
Director: Danski Tang
Countries: China/USA, Running Time: 6:53 min
WWW (THE WHALE WHO WASN’T)
Director: Alessia Cecchet
Country: USA, Running Time: 10:27 min
YOU ARE HEADING FOR A LAND OF SUNSHINE
Director: Laura Jean Hocking
Country: USA, Running Time: 2:21
MISSISSIPPI MUSIC VIDEOS
“AV”
Director: Katrina Blair
Country: USA, Running Time: 1:59 min
“Fool from Memphis”
Director: Tony Maynard
Country: USA, Running Time: 4:57 min
“I Will Survive”
Director: Don Smith
Country: USA, Running Time: 5:32 min
“Let’s Have Some Fun”
Director: Roslynn Clark
Country: USA, Running Time: 4:48 min
“Pain”
Director: Katrina Blair
Country: USA, Running Time: 2:28 min
“Price of the Blues”
Director: Coop Cooper
Country: USA, Running Time: 6:31 min
“Self Portrait x 1000”
Director: London Edwards
Country: USA, Running Time: 5:15 min
“When We Grow Old”
Directors: Stace and Cassie Shook
Country: USA, Running Time: 5:59 min
STUDENT SHORT FILMS
THE 11TH ORDER
Director: Joshua DeFour
Country: USA, Running Time: 25 min
CLOVE
Director: Lucinda Roberts
Country: USA, Running Time: 2 min
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
Director: Chanelle Eidenbenz
Country: USA, Running Time: 19:30 min
A GIRL CALLED TUESDAY
Director: Tony King
Country: USA, Running Time: 10 min
GOTCHA!
Director: Deborah Pinkney
Country: USA, Running Time: 3:05 min
IMPROV
Director: Addie Kopsidas
Country: USA, Running Time: 10 min
MILK TEA
Director: Chien-Ni Yang
Country: USA, Running Time: 12:40 min
SHE WHO WASN’T TAMED
Director: Saleh Kashefi
Country: Iran, Running Time: 15:45 min
THEY WON’T LAST
Director: Portlynn Tagavi
Country: USA, Running Time: 15:41 min
THIS OLD RADIO
Director: Tyler McDowell
Country: USA, Running Time: 7:25 min
ARTIST VODKA SHORTS (21 FILMS – LEGAL DRINKING AGE
…SO IT GOES
Director: Jim Hall
Country: USA, Running Time: 2:05 min
A LINE BIRDS CANNOT SEE
Director: Amy Bench
Country: USA, Running Time: 10 min
ANIMAL World Premiere
Director: Russell Sharman
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:57 min
AS ADVISED
Director: Quinn Halleck
Country: USA, Running Time: 19 min
EL ASTRONAUTA
Director: Manuel Trotta
Countries: Venezuela/Mexico/US, Running Time: 18:42 min
THE BEAR AND THE BEEKEEPER U.S. Premiere
Director: Kristina Mileska
Country: Canada, Running Time: 13:25 min
BLOCKS
Director: Bridget Moloney
Country: USA, Running Time: 11:04 min
THE COMEDIAN World Premiere
Director: Katyayan Shivpuri
Country: India, Running Time: 24:16 min
IN THE BLOOD
Director: Regina Banali
Country: USA, Running Time: 6:41 min
IN THE FALL U.S. Premiere
Director: Tom Gentle
Country: Scotland, Running Time: 25:52 min
IN THE PINK World Premiere
Director: Katharine Stocker
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:05 min
THE INDIGNATION OF MICHAEL BUSBY
Director: Nathan Ross Murphy
Country: USA, Running Time: 20:25 min
LIFE AFTER DEATH
Director: Noah Glenn
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:37 min
MARK “MULEMAN” MASSEY” World Premiere
Director: Michael Ford
Country: USA, Running Time: 11:36 min
Also in competition in Music Documentary Shorts.
MOTHER’S DAY
Director: Elizabeth Tabish
Country: USA, Running Time: 22:13 min
OF MEMORIES AND MADNESS
Director: Maria Isabel de la Ossa
Country: Australia, Running Time: 6:13 min
THE ROUGAROU
Director: Lorraine Caffery
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:08 min
SHORT CALF MUSCLE
Director: Victoria Warmerdam
Country: Netherlands, Running Time: 12:53 min
THE WATER COOLER
Director: Joe Smiley
Country: USA, Running Time: 7:44 min
WE GO BACK World Premiere
Director: Glenn Payne
Country: USA, Running Time: 7:51 min
Also in competition in Mississippi Shorts.
WONDER
Director: Javier Molina
Country: USA, Running Time: 16:21 min
