Joe Duca’s road trip drama HER NAME WAS JO launches Oxford Film Festival lineup with Oscar winners and nominees throughout the rest of July virtually and at the drive-in
Joe Duca’s road trip drama HER NAME WAS JO launches the Oxford Film Festival’s 13th & 14th Weekly Virtual Film Fest, Virtual Art House and OFF to the DRIVE IN films include more award-winners from the film festival circuit, an Academy Award-nominated acting performance, a new film from an Oscar-winning director, and more.
Weekly Fest screenings highlighted with Joe Duca’s HER NAME WAS JO
Weekly Fest screenings over the next two weeks are highlighted by Joe Duca’s road trip drama HER NAME WAS JO about a girl searching for her musician father, and Brian C. Miller Richard’s concert film THE OFFLINE PLAYLIST that paired New Orleans artists on a Spotify playlist with the fans who were listening to it live.
The Virtual ART HOUSE screenings are highlighted by REBUILDING PARADISE, Ron Howard’s look at the devastating California fires and how one community literally rose from the ashes, and Romola Garai’s 70s-style horror film, AMULET.
HER NAME WAS JO
THE OFFLINE PLAYLIST
OFF to the DRIVE IN delivers the classics and fan favorites at two locations including CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, CLUE, DREAM GIRLS, HARRIET, featuring Cynthia Erivo’s Oscar-nominated performance as Harriet Tubman, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON and even SUPERMAN.
Oxford Film Festival Executive Director Melanie Addington said, “From great independent films made locally and globally to fun family movies at the drive in, this summer we are so proud to offer safe options for entertainment.”
HARRIET
WEEKLY VIRTUAL FILM FEST TICKETS:
USA Only Narrative Shorts Block
Live Q&A set for July 25 at 3:00PM
HER NAME WAS JO/7AM WEDNESDAY
Shttps://watch.eventive.org/2020oxff/play/5eb1dc40be0abc0061a6cf28/5e19057b30094f002b53dfc6
Live Q&A set for July 27 at 7:00PM
Mississippi Only Mixed Shorts Block
Live Q&A set for July 29 at 6:30PM
THE OFFLINE PLAYLIST
Live Q&A set for July 29 at 8:00PM
VIRTUAL ART HOUSE RENTAL TICKETS:
AMULET
THE FIGHT
REBUILDING PARADISE
OFF to the DRIVE-IN TICKETS
AT CANNON – 100 Thacker LOOP
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
July 23 at Cannon Lot (100 Thacker loop)
TBA
July 24 at Cannon Lot (100 Thacker Loop)
SUPERMAN
July 25 at Cannon Lot (100 Thacker loop)
ONCE UPON A RIVER
July 30 at Cannon Lot (100 Thacker loop)
YELLOW SUBMARINE Presented in Memory of Doug Alexander
July 31 at Cannon Lot (100 Thacker Loop)
OFF to the DRIVE-IN TICKETS
AT WATER VALLEY
DREAM GIRLS
July 18 at 8:00PM at 1004 Central St., Water Valley
LABYRINTH
July 23 at 8:00PM at 1004 Central St., Water Valley
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
July 24 at 8:00PM at 1004 Central St., Water Valley
HARRIET (presented by Table 6-4-72)
July 25 at 8:00PM at 1004 Central St., Water Valley
AMAZING GRACE
July 30 at 8:00PM at 1004 Central St., Water Valley
DIRTY DANCING
July 31 at 8:00 PM at 1004 Central St; Water Valley
ONCE UPON A RIVER
AMULET
OXFORD FILM FESTIVAL 2020 13th & 14th WEEKLY VIRTUAL FILM FESTS
Films, events and descriptions
OXFORD WEEKLY VIRTUAL FEST
HER NAME WAS JO
Director: Joe Duca
Country: United States, 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 step dad 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, to trek across the country in search of her real dad, a legendary folk singer in Los Angeles.
Preceded by
7AM WEDNESDAY
Director: Julie Herlocker
Country: United States, Running Time: 10 min
A normally prompt teen shows up late at his therapist’s office totally freaked-out. Can she gain his trust to find out what happened, or is her life in jeopardy?
THE OFFLINE PLAYLIST
Director: Brian C. Miller Richard
Country: United States, 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.
SHORT FILM PROGRAMS
USA Only Narrative Block
TRT: 53 min
CHERRY
Director: Stacey Davis
Country: USA, Running Time: 12:51 min
With her father dying of cancer, Helen has high hopes for the family’s last Easter together.
DELTA BLIND SPOT
Director: John W. Bateman
Country: USA, Running Time: 6 min
In 1967, three graduate students headed into the Mississippi Delta to teach at a historically black college. The Klan was watching. Inspired by actual events.
FRANK AND MARY
Director: Paul Williams
Country: UK, Running Time: 16 min
An elderly DIY enthusiast reanimates his recently deceased wife in the garden shed. A suburban twist on the classic Frankenstein tale.
GO GO BOY – Honorable Mention at OFF Awards
Director: Oriana Oppice
Country: USA, Running Time: 6:06 min
It’s the late ’80s and everyone wants to be a WWF wrestler. But when Bobby looks at himself in the mirror, he sees someone a little… different. By dancing in his bedroom, Bobby transports himself into a fantasy world, where he can be free of the wrestling ring’s ropes, free from society’s expectations of who he should be. As his mother interrupts his dance session, he hops back into reality and back into bed, out of breath but happy.
STREET FLAME
Director: Katherine Propper
Country: USA, Running Time: 12 min
Following the death of their friend, a crew of skaters and motley street teens imagine their own rituals to commemorate her on their own terms.
Mississippi Only Mixed Shorts
TRT: 73 min
HOW GREAT THOU ART
Director: Brian Oxley
Country: United States, Running Time: 11:30 min
An insight into Elvis Presley’s love of spiritual music.
I WILL SURVIVE
Director: Don Smith
Country: United States, Running Time: 5 min
Diagnosed with stage four cancer Don Smith undergoes intensive treatments. A year later he sings “I Will Survive” with rewritten lyrics with his doctor playing guitar.
MY DINNER WITH WERNER
Director: Maverick Moore
Country: United States, Running Time: 17:49 min
Based on real events, real people, and real things they actually said, MY DINNER WITH WERNER is a wildly bizarre and wacky farce about a 1987 dinner date with a murder plot as the main dish.
ONE HIT WONDER
Director: Seyi River
Country: United States, Running Time: 15 min
When Adam Spears, a mega successful writer whose much-anticipated second novel is about to be released reads a devastating review of the book by a highly respected critic, his shock is so great and deep that he is jolted into a parallel universe in which he co-exists with some of his characters from unfinished and discarded stories.
ON THE RIDE
Director: Jen McGowan
Country: United States, Running Time: 13 min
On his morning bike ride, Scott grapples with the memories of a trauma he experienced with his husband Todd. When his route suddenly takes an unexpected turn, Scott finds himself on the doorstep of a stranger intimately connected to the past he can’t shake.
TEARS TEACHER
Director: Noemie Nakai
Country: Japan, Running Time: 10:33 min
Yoshida is a self-proclaimed ‘tears teacher’: he travels across Japan to help people weep.
OFF to the DRIVE IN
AMAZING GRACE
Directors: Sydney Pollack, Alan Elliott
Country: USA, Running Time: 89 min
Singer Aretha Franklin performs gospel songs at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles in 1972.
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
Director: Richard Brooks
Country: United States, Running Time: 108 min
Brick Pollitt (Paul Newman), an alcoholic ex-football player, drinks his days away and resists the affections of his wife, Maggie (Dame Elizabeth Taylor). His reunion with his father, Big Daddy (Burl Ives), who is dying of cancer, jogs a host of memories and revelations for both father and son.
DIRTY DANCING
Director:
Country: United States, Running Time:
Spending the summer at a Catskills resort with her family, Frances “Baby” Houseman falls in love with the camp’s dance instructor, Johnny Castle.
DREAM GIRLS
Director: Bill Condon
Country: United States, Running Time: 130min
A trio of black female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.
FROZEN II
Directors: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Country: USA, Running Time: 103 min
Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven leave Arendelle to travel to an ancient, autumn-bound forest of an enchanted land. They set out to find the origin of Elsa’s powers in order to save their kingdom.
HARRIET (presented by Table 6-4-72)
Director: Kasi Lemmons
Country: United States, Running Time: 125 min
The extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman’s escape from slavery and transformation into one of America’s greatest heroes, whose courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.
HOW TO TRAIN YOIR DRAGON
Directors: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
Country: USA, Running time: 98 min
A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely friend of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed.
LABYRINTH
Director: Jim Henson
Country: USA, Running Time: 101 min
Sixteen-year-old Sarah is given thirteen hours to solve a labyrinth and rescue her baby brother Toby when her wish for him to be taken away is granted by the Goblin King Jareth.
ONCE UPON A RIVER
Director: Haroula Rose
Country: United States, 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.
SUPERMAN
Director: Richard Donner
Country: United States, Running Time: 143 min
An alien orphan is sent from his dying planet to Earth, where he grows up to become his adoptive home’s first and greatest superhero.
YELLOW SUBMARINE (SING-ALONG VERSION)
Director: George Dunning
Country: UK; Runtime: 1hr 25min
The Beatles agree to accompany Captain Fred in his yellow submarine and go to Pepperland to free it from the music-hating Blue Meanies. In total, Yellow Submarine took nearly two years to complete, with 14 different scripts, 40 animators, and more than 140 technical artists. Most famous as Yellow Submarine’s villains, the Blue Meanies also once made an appearance in an episode of “South Park” called “Imaginationland.” In the film, The Beatles can be heard singing a bit of “Think For Yourself” a cappella, sourced from a studio session tape. That same tape was used on Paul’s Liverpool Sound Collage album in 2000. Among the many artists and musicians who were inspired by Yellow Submarine’s animation was a young David Bowie.
VIRTUAL ART HOUSE
AMULET
Director: Romola Garai
Country: UK, Running Time: 99 min
An ex-soldier, living homeless in London, is offered a place to stay at a decaying house inhabited by a young woman and her dying mother. As he starts to fall for her, he cannot ignore his suspicion that something sinister is going on.
THE FIGHT
Directors: Eli B. Despres, Josh Kriegman
Country: United States, Running Time: 96 min
An inside look at the legal battles that lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union are facing during the Trump administration.
REBUILDING PARADISE
Director: Ron Howard
Country: United States, Running Time: 95 min
On the morning of Nov. 8, 2018, a spark from a transmission line in Northern California, coupled with climate-impacted conditions, quickly grew into a devastating firestorm that engulfed the picturesque city of Paradise, California. By the time the Camp Fire was extinguished, it had killed 85 people, displaced 50,000 residents and destroyed 95% of local structures. It was the deadliest U.S. fire in 100 years — and the worst ever in California’s history. From the moment the crisis began, Oscar-winning director RON HOWARD led a filmmaking team to the city and would go on to spend a year with Paradise residents, documenting their efforts to recover what was lost.