In any case earlier today the festival formally announced their whole slate. The schedule has been up but at last they put it all into a press release that was easily digestible.
(If you are reading this on the front page of Unseen click on the read more link to see the full list of films)
KATHERINE DIECKMANN'S “STRANGE WEATHER” ANNOUNCED AS OPENING NIGHT SELECTION, WITH JEFF GRACE'S “FOLK HERO & FUNNY GUY” SCREENING ON CLOSING NIGHT
KEIR BURROW'S "ANTI MATTER" MAKES NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE; WORLD PREMIERES INCLUDE MICHAEL WILLIAMS'S “THE ATONING,” MEAGAN HARKINS’S “JOEL BLASS,” AND MARK NEWTON’S “KUDZU ZOMBIES”
Oxford, MS (December 7, 2016) – The 2017 Oxford Film Festival (February 15-19) has announced the full schedule of films for next year’s edition of the popular film festival. Katherine Dieckmann’s drama STRANGE WEATHER, starring Holly Hunter, Is the Opening Night Selection while Jeff Grace’s festival hit, FOLK HERO & FUNNY GUY, serves as the Closing Night selection.
A total of 151 films (34 features, 117 shorts, music videos, new media, and virtual reality projects), including 15 world premieres and 4 U.S. premieres, were selected for the film festival taking place February 15-19, 2017, in Oxford, Mississippi. Along with the films in competition, the festival will be highlighted by three new sections: New Media, a virtual reality (VR) slate of programming, and both features and shorts sections featuring LGBTQ films.
Narrative feature films in competition this year include: Josh and Miles Miller’s ALL THE BIRDS HAVE FLOWN SOUTH; the North American premiere of Keir Burrows’s ANTI MATTER; Victoria Negri’s GOLD STAR; Ian MacAllister-McDonald’s SOME FREAKS; and Erica Fae’s TO KEEP THE LIGHT.
Documentary features in competition include: Stephen Apkon and Andrew Young’s DISTURBING THE PEACE; Andrea Kalin’s FIRST LADY OF THE REVOLUTION; Nicholas Edwards’s SEA GYPSIES: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD; and Lara Stolman’s SWIM TEAM.
The presentation of the Oxford Film Festival’s Hoka Awards will take place on Saturday, February 19 at the Powerhouse (413 South 14th Street)
Oxford Film Festival Executive Director Melanie Addington said, “The Oxford Film Festival is always looking to continue to build and grow based on past successes, the new interests of our audiences, and as a reaction to the changing world around us. This year’s programming – with the expansion of our virtual reality and new media sections, as well as the addition of the LGBTQ features and short film sections – demonstrate that. Those sections, combined with very strong competition films and another strong showing from our local Mississippi filmmakers, have us counting the days until February.”
Dieckmann’s STRANGE WEATHER, filmed in Mississippi, stars Holly Hunter as a mother who, in an effort to deal with the grief over the death of her son, enlists her friend to help her find some answers regarding his death by traveling the back roads of the deep south. Jeff Grace’s comedy, FOLK HERO & FUNNY GUY, stars Wyatt Russell and Alex Karpovsky in the title roles about a popular singer (Russell) who convinces his comedian friend (Karpovsky) to go on tour with him in an effort to break him out of his depressed rut.
Additional highlights include a competitive virtual reality section featuring two world premieres – Jianbo Gao’s BACK TO THE SUMMER, where the viewer experiences an old man’s recollection of a special summer in his past spent with his now deceased wife; and Oliver Chen and Lubomir Kobomir Kocka’s SAY IT WITH MUSIC, where the viewer gets an immersive experience of being in the middle of a restaurant brought out of its monotony through the power of music. The new media competition is led by two U.S. premieres – the 3rd Episode (“Crossing Over”) of Ant Horasanli’s action series PETROL, about the exploits of a group of getaway drivers; and Kaihei’s WELCOME TO THE THEATER COMPANY, which follows the chaos that transpires when someone shows up to a meeting of new members of a theater group that has no actual interest in the theater.
The brand new LGBTQ sections (features and shorts) are led by Tom Gould and John Serpe’s THE HAPPYS, starring Janeane Garaofalo, where a young woman attempts to negotiate a dubious deal with her new boyfriend after catching him with a man; Michael McIntee’s documentary HOW LOVE WON: THE FIGHT FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY, which follows the battle for same-sex marriage.in the state of Minnesota; and Julie Sokolow’s WOMAN ON FIRE, about the difficulties that ensue as a third-generation firefighter transitions from male to female in her father’s workplace.
The Mississippi Films Competition includes the world premiere of Michael Williams’s THE ATONING, about a family dealing with personal demons as they encounter a haunting by ghosts; Navid Sanati’s drama DON’T COME AROUND HERE, about a young man who returns to the home he ran away from years ago to confront a devastating secret he has been hiding since he left; and Wolfgang Pfoser-Almer and Stefan Wolner’s LATE BLOSSOM BLUES, about an old Blues and Gospel singer who teams with a Gulf War veteran management rookie to take the Blues world by storm.
Special Screenings and Presentations are highlighted by the world premiere of Meagan Harkins’s JOEL BLASS, about the army captain, attorney, Mississippi legislator, and Mississippi Supreme Court Justice; Raoul Peck’s Spirit Award nominated documentary I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, about writer James Baldwin’s unfinished novel, Remember This House; Maisie Crow’s award-winning documentary on the abortion issue, JACKSON; the screening of the harrowing classic drama, MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, along with Sally Sussman’s documentary, MIDNIGHT RETURN: THE STORY OF BILLY HAYES AND TURKEY, with Billy Hayes in attendance; as well as the previously announced 20th Anniversary screening of Kevin Smith’s indie hit CHASING AMY, with the film’s star, Joey Lauren Adams, and other special guests in attendance; Malcolm Ingram’s landmark LGBTQ documentary SMALL TOWN GAY BAR; and the world premiere of Mark Newton’s locally shot horror/comedy KUDZU ZOMBIES, with several of the cast and crew on hand.
Festival passes and tickets can be purchased at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2017-oxford-film-festival-tickets-28731287053.
2017 OXFORD FILM FESTIVAL FILMS AND DESCRIPTIONS
Feature Films
OPENING NIGHT SELECTION
STRANGE WEATHER
Director: Katherine Dieckmann
Country: United States, Running Time: 92min
A poignant, lyrical drama about a mother (Holly Hunter), who, in an effort to deal with the grief over the death of her son, travels the back roads of the deep south to settle a score.
CLOSING NIGHT SELECTION
FOLK HERO & FUNNY GUY
Director: Jeff Grace
Country: United States, Running Time: 88min
A successful singer-songwriter hatches a plan to help his friend's struggling comedy career and broken love life by hiring him as his opening act on his solo tour.
Narrative Features Juried Competition
ALL THE BIRDS HAVE FLOWN SOUTH
Directors: Josh and Miles Miller
Country: United States, Running Time: 98min
After the death of his overbearing Mother, a sheltered man attempts to win the affection of a degenerate waitress by caring for her terminally ill and abusive husband. Soon all three lives begin to unravel as obsession and disease consume them all.
ANTI MATTER – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Director: Keir Burrows
Country: United Kingdom, Running Time: 74min
ANTI MATTER is a sci-fi noir take on the Alice in Wonderland tale. Ana, an Oxford PhD student, finds herself unable to build new memories following an experiment to generate and travel through a wormhole. The story follows her increasingly desperate efforts to understand what happened, and to find out who or what - is behind the rising horror in her life.
GOLD STAR
Director: Victoria Negri
Country: United States, Running Time: 91min
After dropping out of Juilliard, Vicki drifts aimlessly between her family’s house in Connecticut and an itinerant existence in New York. When her father suffers a debilitating stroke, she has to become his primary caretaker. Vicki resists connecting with him, and making peace with herself, but finds a way forward thanks to a new friend and a life-changing event.
SOME FREAKS
Director: Ian MacAllister-McDonald
Country: United States, Running Time: 95min
When one-eyed high school senior Matt meets 250 lb. Jill, he falls more in love than he ever thought possible. However, when graduation comes and Jill moves cross-country to go to college, she then loses over 50 lbs. - much to Matt's surprise when he arrives to visit her. While Matt struggles to accept Jill's new body, Jill begins to question whether Matt is really the man she wants to date. As the distance widens between them, the characters are propelled onto a collision course with brutality and loss, forcing them to confront who they are, who they were, and who everyone thinks they're supposed to be.
TO KEEP THE LIGHT
Director: Erica Fae
Country: United States, Running Time: 88min
Inspired by true stories, a lighthouse keeper’s wife struggles with her work and her sanity as she cares for her sick husband in 19th century Maine. When a mysterious stranger washes up on shore, secrets buried in deep waters come to light, and she is forced to confront both her past and her future.
Documentary Features Juried Competition
DISTURBING THE PEACE
Directors: Stephen Apkon, Andrew Young
Country: United States, Running Time: 86min
The film follows everyday people who took extraordinary actions by standing for what they believe in, just like those who came before them.
FIRST LADY OF THE REVOLUTION
Director: Andrea Kalin
Countries: Costa Rica, United States, Running Time: 67min
While visiting an aunt and uncle in the exotic countryside of Costa Rica, a young Southern belle from Alabama accepts a ride on the back of a motorcycle belonging to a charismatic local farmer—a ride that would propel her down narrow mountain roads and into history.
SEA GYPSIES: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD
Director: Nicholas Edwards
Country: United States, Running Time: 80min
The vessel is Infinity, a 120-foot hand-built gypsy boat, crewed by a band of miscreants. The journey, an 8,000-mile pacific crossing, from New Zealand to Patagonia, with a stop in Antarctica.
SWIM TEAM
Director: Lara Stolman
Country: United States, Running Time: 90min
SWIM TEAM chronicles the extraordinary rise of the Jersey Hammerheads, capturing a moving quest for inclusion, independence and a life that feels winning.
Music Documentaries Juried Competition
ACOUSTIC NINJA
Director: Robert Bevis
Country: United States, Running Time: 7:30min
Trace Bundy, the fan-dubbed "Acoustic Ninja," has never been interested in the fame and glamour offered by the mainstream music industry.
THE ARKANSAS WILD MAN
Director: Nathan Willis
Country: United States, Running Time: 18:38min
An 87-year-old rock and roll pioneer who lives a life of obscurity in his small Arkansas hometown travels overseas to England to play one final concert for his passionate and loyal fanbase there.
SHAKE 'EM ON DOWN
Director: Joe York
Country: United States, Running Time: 57min
SHAKE ‘EM ON DOWN tells the story of Mississippi Fred McDowell, the godfather of the North Mississippi style of blues.
STRONGER THAN BULLETS
Director: Matthew Millan
Countries: United States, Libya, Running Time: 88min
Libya, 2011: Amidst the bloody revolution to overthrow the tyrant Moammar Gaddafi, a defiant music scene emerges from the dust of war.
TWO TRAINS RUNNIN’
Director: Sam Pollard
Country: United States, Running Time: 82min
TWO TRAINS RUNNNIN’ is about the search for two forgotten blues singers, set in Mississippi during the height of the civil rights movement.
Mississippi Features Juried Competition
THE ATONING – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Michael Williams
Country: United States, Running Time: 91min
Vera, Ray, and Sam, a seemingly normal family, are haunted by more than mere ghosts. The lingering horror of their past threatens their ability to function as a loving family until they become enlightened by a mystical encounter. From that moment on, they’re thrust into a horror worse than anything they’ve ever experienced. Personal demons manifest and tear the family apart from the inside out as they come to terms with their past.
DON’T COME AROUND HERE
Director: Navid Sanati
Country: United States, Running Time: 95min
When he learns that his father may not have much longer to live, Chuck goes back to the home he ran away from. There he must come to terms with his troubled brother Lenny, his own fears, and a secret he has been hiding for years.
LATE BLOSSOM BLUES
Directors: Wolfgang Pfoser-Almer, Stefan Wolner
Country: United States, Running Time: 89min
Born in 1932 in rural segregated Mississippi, Blues and Gospel singer Leo “Bud” Welch has been a poor man all his life, working hard in the cotton fields and the woods. In 2013, after decades of missed opportunities and gigs in local Juke Joints and churches, a Gulf War veteran management rookie teams up with him to take the Blues world by storm.
LGBTQ Features in Juried Competition
THE HAPPYS
Directors: Tom Gould, John Serpe
Country: United States, Running Time: 87min
Twenty-one year old Tracy walks in on her newly minted 'movie star' boyfriend having sex with a man. After assessing her limited options, she returns to Mark with a deal if he agrees to marry her, she’ll forget the whole thing ever happened. The cast includes Janeane Garofalo and The Walking Dead's Melissa McBride, with an original score by Patrick Sansone (Wilco).
HOW LOVE WON: THE FIGHT FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY
Director: Michael McIntee
Country: United States, Running Time: 82min
A brilliant and emotionally powerful documentary about the moment that changed everything in the battle for same-sex marriage. Go behind the scenes and discover the secret psychological weapon Minnesota LGBT activists deployed in this ‘unwinnable’ campaign that had failed in 30 other states.
WOMAN ON FIRE
Director: Julie Sokolow
Country: United States, Running Time: 95min
As a third-generation firefighter, Brooke Guinan has a passion for heroism that runs in her blood. But when Brooke transitions from male to female in her father’s workplace, it poses not only a challenge to a macho profession, but also to the customs of the people she cares about the most - her traditional family.
Special Screenings and Presentations
BEYOND THE ROCKS (1922)
Director: Sam Wood
Country: United States, Running Time: 80 minutes
Directed by Sam Wood and starring Gloria Swanson and Rudolph Valentino. Long considered lost, a nitrate print was discovered in the Netherlands in 2003. Not only a great film, BEYOND THE ROCKS raises important questions about film preservation and restoration.
CHASING AMY (1997)
Director: Kevin Smith
Country: United States, Running Time: 113min
Kevin Smith’s hit indie comedy stars Joey Lauren Adams, Ben Affleck, and Jason Lee. Holden (Affleck) and Banky (Lee) are comic book artists. Everything's going good for them until they meet Alyssa (Adams), also a comic book artist. Holden falls for her, but his hopes are crushed when he finds out she's gay.
CUTTING CHAI
Director: Chai Pani (CP) restaurant team
Country: India, Running Time: 59min
Sit back and enjoy this captivating documentary covering one of the South's most notable Indian street food concepts as two-time James Beard Award-nominated chef Meherwan Irani and his Chai Pani crew of head chefs take on a fascinating culinary adventure through India.
THE FLAVOR SAVER
Director: Joe York
Country: United States, Running Time: 7:12min
David Shields is a historian and professor whose research into the history of Southern cuisine led him to the front of an effort to revitalize forgotten and overlooked Lowcountry produce and crops.
GUN CRAZY (1950)
Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Country: United States, Running Time: 86min
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis and starring Peggy Cummins and John Dall. With a screenplay by blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo, GUN CRAZY is quintessential counter-cultural film noir and an object lesson in Hollywood censorship.
THE HYBRIDS FAMILY
Director: Tony Randel
Country: United States, Running Time: 95min
Teenagers Blaz and his sister Velana come from a very different kind of mixed marriage. Todor, their father, is a vampire and Valantina, their mother, is a witch. Longing to be like normal other teenagers, they flee their cold and dreary castle for the warm tropics.
I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO
Director: Raoul Peck
Countries: United States, France, Running Time: 95min
Writer James Baldwin tells the story of race in modern America with his unfinished novel, Remember This House.
IRA WALLACE: A SEED WITH A STORY
Director: Ava Lowrey
Country: United States, Running Time: 9:57min
Ira Wallace is a seed saver, an educator, and the essential intellectual and physical energy behind Southern Exposure Seed Exchange - one of the country’s best known and most respected sources for heirloom and open-pollinated seeds.
I WAS A SPACE REFUGEE
Director: Deborah Freeland
Country: United States, Running Time: 15min
I WAS A SPACE REFUGEE is a fun retro sic-fi “B” movie. The action takes place during a moonlit night in the studio of Oxford artist Glennray Tutor.
JACKSON
Director: Maisie Crow
Country: United States, Running Time: 90min
What does life look like in a place where the anti-abortion movement has made access to legal abortion nearly impossible?
JOEL BLASS – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Meagan Harkins
Country: United States, Running Time: 74min
Joel Blass was an army captain, attorney, Mississippi legislator, and Mississippi Supreme Court Justice. Through his lifetime, he fought for equal rights of all people, despite threats by segregationist entities, and notoriously loved the law and justice.
KEEPIN’ IT WEIRD TV
Director: Cassandra Dixson
TRT: 16:00
Country: United States, Running Time: 16min
Meet our Keepin' It Weird Youth from Austin, TX with a collection of sketches where they poke fun at the world around them!
KUDZU ZOMBIES – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Mark Newton
Country: United States, Running Time: 90min
After a mysterious chemical transforms the citizens of Charleston into zombies, a mismatched group must fight for survival against the cannibalistic hordes.
MIDNIGHT EXPRESS (1978)
Director: Alan Parker
Country: United States, Running Time: 121min
Billy Hayes, an American college student, is caught smuggling drugs out of Turkey and thrown into prison.
MIDNIGHT RETURN: THE STORY OF BILLY HAYES AND TURKEY
Director: Sally Sussman
Country: United States, Running Time: 99min
Documentary explores the emotional and political power of film, as seen through the lens of the blockbuster hit MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, a movie that turned the real Billy Hayes into an international celebrity and made him the enemy of Turkey. Join Hayes on a daring journey back to Turkey as he faces the country still haunted by MIDNIGHT EXPRESS.
SCIENCE: A FILM BY HORIZONS RISING 5TH GRADERS
Director: Erica Avent
Country: United States, Running Time: 9:42min
5th graders with the Horizons program set out to learn about science by filming a documentary. See their interactions with North Mississippi scientists and how much they learned over the summer.
SMALL TOWN GAY BAR (2006)
Director: Malcolm Ingram
Country: United States, Running Time: 76min
The story of community in the Deep South that is forced to deal with the struggles of ignorance, hypocrisy and oppression.
SHE’S ALLERGIC TO CATS
Director: Michael Reich
Country: United States, Running Time: 74min
A lonely dog groomer searches for love but his true passion is making weird video art that nobody understands.
SONIC BOOM: EGGMAN THE AUTEUR
Produced by Sega of America
Country: United States, Running Time: 11min
Sonic Boom is the funny bone of the iconic Sonic the Hedgehog universe, which began as a Sega video game 25 years ago. This 52 x 11" TV series follows team Sonic, including the Blue Blur himself, Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and Sticks, as they cleverly battle nefarious genius Dr. Eggman and his hench bots.
Short Films and Music Videos
Narrative shorts in Juried Competition
ARROW OF LIGHT
Director: Christian Walker
Country: United States, Running Time: 19:53min
Following the suicide of his best friend, a father takes his two young boys to pay a grisly but sweet homage.
BIG CITY
Directors: Jordan Bond, Lachlan Ryan
Country: Australia, Running Time: 9min
Vijay, a lonely taxi driver who recently moved to Melbourne, picks up a stray drunk, Chris. Over the course of the night Chris experiences some of Vijay's nightly troubles, and Vijay learns to see the city in a new light.
CTRL-Z
Director: James Kennedy
Country: United Kingdom, Running Time: 24min
Ed is a hopeless romantic who invents a device allowing him an infinite amount of attempts to impress the girl of his dreams. However, with each failed first impression he must kill himself before he can go back and try again.
DEATH$ IN A $MALL TOWN
Director: Mark Jones
Country: United States, Running Time: 6:52min
A mayor has a unique way to revive the fortunes of his small town that had been losing citizens, businesses and tourist prior to his taking office.
DREAMKEEEPER – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Whitney Stephenson
Country: United States, Running Time: 9:50min
Tom is a Dream Watchman who is content with a routine life of watching and observing. When seven-year old Julie escapes her dream, Tom's routine structure comes crashing down.
EMPTY BED
Director: Brandt Shandera
Country: United States, Running Time: 7:04min
In the dark of night, a mother searches for her son after finding his bed empty.
THE ESCAPE – U.S. PREMIERE
Director: Fabian Pinilla
Country: United States, Running Time: 11:09min
Eddie is a prisoner in a clandestine factory. He tries to escape at all costs in order to avoid being processed and sold to the public as pork meat.
FEEDING TIME
Director: Matt Mercer
Country: United States, Running Time: 13min
When a young woman fills in for her friend on a babysitting job, she begins to suspect things are not as they seem. She's right.
FROM THE GUT
Director: Jay Hollinsworth
Country: United States, Running Time: 12:28min
FROM THE GUT is a short film that tells the tale of Gerald Lindsay, an outwardly normal guy-next-door who possesses the mysterious ability to vomit objects out of thin air.
GOODBYE NEENAW
Director: Donald Ian Black
Country: United States, Running Time: 5:59min
David and Jennifer are a brother and sister dealing with the recent and sudden loss of their grandmother who raised them from a young age in the absence of their parents. They are traveling deep into the California mountains to scatter Neenaw's ashes when a mishap occurs.
HE COULD’VE GONE PRO
Director: McGhee Monteith
Country: United States, Running Time: 13:09min
When Debbie comes home for Christmas, she and her mother Gayle are forced to confront the truth about their family's past over a tense holiday lunch.
KILLER SPACEMEN FROM OUTER PLANET X
Directors: Peter Campbell, Thomas Campbell
Country: United States, Running Time: 16:52min
Three brave, intergalactic explorers find themselves in uncharted celestial territory when their ship runs critically low on their much needed fuel source: plutonium.
MOVE ME
Director: Gabe Crate
Country: United States, Running Time: 22:22min
While hiking in a forest, a couple find an inexplicably immobile stranger with an antique plaque chained around his neck that reads ‘Human Contact Moves Me.’
ON SUNDAY
Director: David Lea
Country: United Kingdom, Running Time: 6:30min
An old man and his dog make their routine walk to the isolated cliff tops of deepest Cornwall...but this time they're not alone.
THE QUANTIFIED SELF
Director: Gleb Osatinski
Country: United States, Running Time: 15:30min
When well-meaning parents turn the self-tracking into a family religion, the consequences fall outside the quantifiable.
SET ADRIFT
Director: Jennifer Sheridan
Country: United Kingdom, Running Time: 8:05min
When Patch's beloved owner goes missing, he is forced to work out what is real and what is just a memory.
SHY GUYS
Director: Fredric Lehne
Country: United States, Running Time: 8:16min
Two strangers (2016 Tony winner Reed Birney and newcomer Blake DeLong) bring the laughs as they confront and resolve one of the most insidious scourges afflicting mankind - while standing at public urinals with their willies out.
STAY
Director: Ben Hyland
Country: United Kingdom, Running Time: 20:28min
Julian is struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife. One day, whilst sitting in his Chesterfield chair looking out of his window, he sees a dog and upon following is transported through memories from his life that spans all four seasons.
STEP 9
Director: Leonora Pitts
Country: United States, Running Time: 13:33min
Two friends, one in recovery and one decidedly not, set off on a road trip to make amends.
TEETH
Director: Melissa Sweazy
Country: United States, Running Time: 9:55min
Maddie gets a visit from the Tooth Fairy who may be interested in more than just collecting her lost tooth.
TWINSBURG
Director: Joe Garrity
Country: United States, Running Time: 15:48min
Jerry, sentimental about his fading twin identity, reunites with his reluctant brother Paul for a weekend of revelry at the world’s largest congregation of twins.
THE WITCHING HOUR
Director: Riley Geis
Country: United States, Running Time: 12:29min
On Halloween, a fearful young boy is taken by the spooky girl next door on a haunted night of mischief and adventure.
Documentary Shorts Juried Competition
THE BOATMAN
Director: Zack Godshall
Country: United States, Running Time: 13:25min
As Joseph and Selina Gonzales approach their 71st wedding anniversary, they reflect on endurance, love and fortitude after years of living outside the flood walls in Yscloskey Beach, Louisiana.
THE CAROUSEL
Director: Jonathan Napolitano
Country: United States, Running Time: 12min
In Binghamton, New York there spins a 1925 carousel that once inspired Rod Serling, and has since become a portal into...the Twilight Zone.
I, WHISKEY: THE HUMAN SPIRIT
Director: Pip Gilmour
Country: United States, Running Time: 7:38min
WHISKEY is the story of how the human spirit thrives when it has the freedom to connect and create.
LITTLE KURDISTAN
Director: Ava Lowrey
Country: United States, Running Time: 11:22min
Just off of Nolensville Pike on the southern outskirts of Music City lies Little Kurdistan - a thriving community of Kurdish immigrants and new generations of Kurdish-Americans.
LIVES RESTARTED (Sponsored by: Jewish Federation of Oxford)
Director: Waheed AlQawasmi
Country: United States, Running Time: 38:42min
LIVES RESTARTED is a documentary that traces the lives of Holocaust survivors after their release from the camps and their individual journeys to find freedom in the U.S.
PERFECTLY NORMAL
Director: Joris Debeij
Country: United States, Running Time: 11:57min
A man who often seems lost in an imaginary world works hard to keep his feet on the ground, proving that one can make deliberate choices to maintain stability.
PICKLE
Director: Amy Nicholson
Country: United States, Running Time: 15:20min
Let us reflect on the brief existence of Pickle the fish. Although he could not swim, he was lovingly cared for by a couple that kept him propped up in a sponge.
REFUGE
Director: Matthew Firpo
Country: Greece, Running Time: 20min
REFUGE is a chronicle of human stories from the European Refugee Crisis, focused on humanity and hope.
SOUL CITY
Directors: Monica Berra, SheRea DelSol, Gini Richards
Country: United States, Running Time: 19:57min
SOUL CITY tells the story of a group of civil rights activists and city slickers who attempt to build a multiracial utopia in the heart of Klan country, North Carolina in the 1970s.
THROUGH THE WALL
Director: Tim Nackashi
Country: United States, Running Time: 6:20min
A short documentary about a family divided by the US/Mexico border.
Mississippi Shorts Juried Competition
BARE KNUCKLE
Director: Wade Patterson
Country: United States, Running Time: 16min
The Boxer, a quiet man with a history of losing fights, comes to Mickey McDonnell begging to be put on a card, but the only thing he can offer the failed pugilist is an impossible match with Bruiser, an unbeaten brute twice the boxer's size, and if he loses then he owes Mickey twenty fights as payback.
LESS HELL, MORE ANGEL
Director: Christian D'Andrea
Country: United States, Running Time: 11:20min
In Mississippi, I came across black and white biker clubs doing something surprising... hugging. And blessing each other.
MONSTERS ANONYMOUS
Director: Jeremy London
Country: United States, Running Time: 20:43min
A short film comedy about the classic monsters in a group therapy session coming to terms with the fact that they aren't scary anymore.
OTHA TURNER
Director: Ava Lowrey
Country: United States, Running Time: 6:02min
In the late 1950’s, fife and drum legend Otha Turner began hosting annual Labor Day picnics at his property in Gravel Springs, Mississippi. This short documentary film digs into the archives to take us back in time to Labor Day 1978.
PRISMA – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Coop Cooper
Country: United States, Running Time: 9:13min
A corporate promotional VHS tape from 1984 conceals a hidden signal which is said to grant increased health, longevity and psychic powers to those who watch it. View at your own risk.
SAMMY LONG: WOODTURNER
Director: Roy A. Adkins
Country: United States, Running Time: 3:19min
A short documentary about Sammy Long's wood turnings and carvings.
SHABATI – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Inés Joris
Country: United States, Running Time: 21:53min
SHABATI is a story about young love between two Computer Science students. It deals with the effect recent history and political events can have on an individual's fate whether they choose it or not, with a touch of science fiction and the struggle between reason and spirituality.
TELEKENETIC TIM
Director: Chris Floyd
Country: United States, Running Time: 13:18min
A college student struggles to live with his new roommates, one of which claims to have telekinesis, the other a silent but loyal sidekick.
TINKER
Director: Glenn Payne
Country: United States, Running Time: 18:26min
Lenny Hale is a down on his luck inventor who just wants the world to run more smoothly and make a sale. He's prepared to take on overly enthusiastic security guards and cutthroat cookie peddlers, but when it comes to facing his own demons it sometimes feels like there are some things tools can't fix.
TWO BIRDS
Director: Miles Doleac
Country: United States, Running Time: 16:43min
In post-World War II America, a young woman, hiding from her abusive husband in a flophouse, receives an unexpected visitor, and proves herself far more than a victim.
Mississippi Music Videos Juried Competition
BROKEN PATHS
Director: J.B Lawrence
Country: United States, Running Time: 4:44min
Debut music video filmed in Brandon, Miss. Created by Stace and Cassie and J. B. Lawrence.
CATCHING HELL, THE GREAT DYING
Director: Alex Thiel
Country: United States, Running Time: 5min
Music video filmed at The Local Voice studios in Oxford, Miss. featuring The Great Dying (Will “Billy Shakes” Griffith and Kell “Falcon Kell” Kellum).
EMISORA
Directors: Philip Scarborough, Tom Beck
Country: United States, Running Time: 5:20min
A song that makes you feel like anything is possible.
MAGIC8
Director: Deja Samuel
Country: United States, Running Time: 3:19min
ME & MY GAL – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Tate Moore
Country: United States, Running Time: 4:01min
SHE’S GOT SUCH A LOVELY PAIR – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Coop Cooper
Country: United States, Running Time: 3:08min
A music video performed in Clarksdale, Mississippi by Gary Vincent.
WAYWARD WIND
Director: Rick Guy
Country: United States, Running Time: 2:57min
“Wayward Wind” by Mississippi artist Jimbo Mathus
Animation, Juried Competition
A LITTLE LOVE GOES A LONG CLAY
Director: Juliet Buckholdt
Country: United States (Mississippi), Running Time: 3:20min
This video was made as a school project about stopping social media bullying.
EVOCATION OF A NIGHTMARE – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Wally Chung
Country: United States, Running Time: 1:20min
Entering what seems to be a deserted building, a man explores and finds an unwanted guest.
FOX AND THE WHALE
Director: Robin Joseph
Country: Canada, Running Time: 12:03min
The tale of a curious fox who goes in search of an elusive whale. A journey of pursuit, longing and discovery.
INVISIBLE
Directors: Michael Trikosko, Andrew Wilson
Country: United States, Running Time: 3:14min
Set deep in the rainforest during a school dance, a shy chameleon seeks the attention of his crush. Unfortunately, he is so nervous that he can’t help but turn invisible.
THE ITCHING
Director: Dianne Bellino
Country: United States, Running Time: 15min
In this handmade collaboration, a shy wolf tries to connect with a group of hip, party-loving bunnies, but finds her body in revolt.
PANIC ATTACK!
Director: Eileen O'Meara
Country: United States, Running Time: 3:20min
This hand-drawn animation explores anxiety, obsession, and one woman’s slippery hold on reality.
RABBIT BLOOD
Director: Yagmur Altan
Country: Turkey, Running Time: 4:36min
Just an ordinary day at an old mysterious Turkish country house where its residents have an extraordinary way of brewing tea.
STAMPED
Director: Sharmaine Urbiztondo
Country: New Zealand, Running Time: 2:37min
In a grand library, the tiny gnome librarian, Giles, stamps the few books he has left to get through the night.
Experimental Juried Competition
A STONES THROW AWAY
Director: Brian Ratigan
Country: United States, Running Time: 3:15min
Drowning in isolation, a lonely soul finds a machine that can render artificial nostalgia for a price.
BLACK RIVER
Director: Andre Silva
Country: United States; Running Time: 4min
An observational documentary, shot on high-contrast black and white film, about a largely undeveloped river in southeastern North Carolina that is home to the oldest trees east of the Rocky Mountains.
CUP OF STARS
Director: Betschart Bros.
Country: United States; Running Time: 3:30min
A vivid tableau of tenderness, CUP OF STARS finds two brothers under a cool night sky, fishing for stars and supernovas. Using dream logic under their own bizarre terms, the Betschart Bros. subtly express, through a smearing of light and the telling of folk tales, ideas of growing up as siblings in Southern California.
DEEP IN THE WOODS
Director: Soyeon Kim
Country: United States, Running Time: 2:30min
Abstract impressions of imagery of the deep woods.
ÉTUDE 1A: RELEASE (I)
Directors: Russell Sheaffer, Aaron Michael Smith
Country: United States, Running Time: 4:30min
Exploring the musical concept of "release," this film is a haunting found-footage study in the plurality of visual and auditory meanings of the term.
FALL
Director: Bradley Rappa
Country: United States, Running Time: 6:30min
FALL is a process-oriented, high definition experimental film that incorporates time-lapse digital photography, 16mm contact printing, HD video, and an elaborate sound design to allegorically portray the detrimental environmental costs of rampant and unsustainable technological development.
HOLY GHOST
Director: Jeffrey Ruggles
Country: United States, Running Time: 1:45min
An improvisational animation set to the minimalist guitar music of Taku Sugimoto.
I OF THE STORM
Director: Thad Lee
Country: United States, Running Time: 9:10min
New Orleans poet Bill Lavender narrates his experience of Hurricane Katrina. Accompanied by footage shot from his phone.
LITHICS
Director: Edward Ramsay-Morin
Country: United States, Runninhg Time: 3:51min
Set in a timeless, ambiguous space populated with archetypal characters, LITHICS references the themes and motifs of origin myths.
NEWS FROM THE SUN
Directors: Brendan & Jeremy Smyth
Country: United States, Running Time: 3:30min
An apocalyptic narrative unfolds through the words of The Sun, a British tabloid created by media mogul Rupert Murdoch.
NOW APPEARING IN BUCHAREST
Director: Robert Lawrence
Countries: United States, Romania, Running Time: 3:38min
Bucharest may or may not be the Paris of the East, but it certainly is a daily dance between history and the present.
ODE TO THE PORT
Director: Desiree Dawn Kapler
Country: United States, Running Time: 4:37min
A filmmaker poetically recalls her experience with childhood cancer.
PERIPHERY
Director: Kimberly Burleigh
Country: United States, Running Time: 4:53min
PERIPHERY is a 3D computer animation featuring an excerpt from Sir Alfred Hitchcock’s film STAGE FRIGHT projected through a shape-shifting crystalline screen.
SWABS
Director: Christina Huff
Country: United States, Running Time: 3:24min
A short experimental film that captures the feeling of an existential, macrocosm of the universe.
THE TRADER
Directors: Manuel Alvarez Diestro, Sergio Belinchon
Country: Spain, Running Time: 12:06min
A successful stock trader decides to start a journey far from the trading floor.
UNDERBELLY UP
Director: Josh Yates
Country: United States, Running Time: 4:27min
An audio-visual threnody that occupies a reflexive space between nonfictional portraiture and ethnographic dreamscape. Inspired by the personal and collective trauma stemming from last year's devastating flood in South Carolina (October 2016).
WE R THE WORLD/MOLD
Director: Dawn George
Country: Canada, Running Time: 6:45min
Close up, mold is an intricate mass of branching filaments and fruiting bodies creating a connected web. When viewed from a distance mold loses its complexities and a more destructive nature is realized.
LGBTQ Shorts Block
BREAKFAST
Director: Tyler Byrnes
Country: United States, Running Time: 9:44min
When a young man suffering from anorexia is pressured to eat breakfast by his boyfriend, the couple are thrust into an otherworld where their anxieties and frustrations are made horrifyingly real.
DAWN – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Joseph Longo
Country: United States, Running Time: 22:02min
A young man returns from war after the death of his father to discover more has changed than he anticipated.
FRIDAY THE 14TH
Director: Lucas Omar
Country: United States, Running Time: 6:27min
When a closeted nerd shows up to a psychotic girl's Valentine's Day party, he's trapped as the only guest for a night full of heart attacks.
MY BIG FAT LESBIAN BAT MITZVAH (Sponsored by: Jewish Federation of Oxford)
Director: Elyssa Gershman
Country: United States, Running Time: 18:04min
Fifty-eight year old Judy is having a bat mitzvah at her LGBT Jewish temple as a way to come out to her orthodox Jewish father, Joshua.
SWIRL
Director: Lance McDaniel
Country: United States, Running Time: 6:16min
SWIRL is the story of a boy's first crush told through dance, exploring the journey your mind takes the first time you touch someone you love.
THE YOGA BRIDGE – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Michael Orlando
Country: Canada, Running Time: 6:25min
Two friends - one white, one First Nations - fight over Vancouver's failed attempt to close a major bridge for citizens to do yoga on National Aboriginal Day.
YOU DESERVE EVERYTHING – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Goran Stolevski
Country: Australia, Running Time: 18:30min
A doctor's tentative romance with the hospital's Arabic interpreter is evolving into something deeper. But everything is not as it seems.
Additional Shorts paired with features
A DOLL’S EYES
Director: Jonathan Wysocki
Country: United States, Running Time: 12:10min
Haunted by the movie Jaws since childhood, a filmmaker discovers why the movie affected him so deeply.
Screens with THE HAPPYS
ALL ARE WELCOME HERE – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Vincenzo Mistretta
Country: United States, Running Time: 28min
A short documentary on the Mississippi Coast's reaction to House Bill 1523 approved by Governor Bryant that gives people the right to discriminate against LGBTQ people based on their religious beliefs.
Screens with HORIZON
CHANCE
Director: Jake Graf
Country: United Kingdom, Running Time: 16:11min
Trevor's life has become a void following the passing of his wife and long term companion, Doris. A chance encounter in the park with a mysterious stranger equally troubled by his own dark past jarringly reawakens him, and forces both men to once again start to live.
Screens with HOW LOVE WON
HORIZON – U.S. PREMIERE
Director: Stephan Elliott
Country: Australia, Running Time: 55min
Queer as Folk meets Sydney’s Oxford Street in an explosion of color and drama. In life, love and sex, what we crave is often at odds with who we are.
Screens with ALL ARE WELCOME HERE
New Media Juried Competition
EAST COAST GROW
Director: Amy Tasillo
Country: United States, Running Time: 29:59min
In DC's developing marijuana industry, a group of budding professionals attempt to navigate the landscape of medical cultivation and recreational legalization with well-intentioned enthusiasm, which often results in more trouble than they expect.
GUNNER JACKSON
Director: Christian Strevy
Country: United States, Running Time: 8:52min
My name is Jason Gunner Jackson, and I know without a doubt that I am a target of a multi-agency program that intends to surveil, track, and document my life.
MY MECHANICAL FRIEND
Directors: Hollie Seidel, Charles Astuto
Country: United States, Running Time: 22min
Ophelia is happy on her own, but the people around her don’t believe that a woman can ever be truly content by herself.
PACO
Director: Catalina Jordan Alvarez
Country: United States, Running Time: 12:10min
He wants you to bounce on his lap.
PETROL – U.S. PREMIERE
Director: Ant Horasanli
Country: Canada, Running Time: 10min
PETROL is a high octane action series that follows five getaway drivers from all walks of life who work for a mysterious "Employer." In Episode 3 "Crossing Over," we follow Ali, a refugee from Afghanistan who takes on a dangerous cross border mission.
THE OTHER KIDS
Director: Chris Brown
Country: United States, Running Time: 95min
A raw, intimate look into the struggles of six small-town teens on the verge of high school graduation, THE OTHER KIDS is a groundbreaking hybrid of fiction & non-fiction in which real teenagers collaborated with award-winning director Chris Brown to tell their own gripping, personal stories.
WELCOME TO THE THEATER COMPANY – U.S. PREMIERE
Director: Kaihei
Country: Japan, Running Time: 26:52min
An actor puts out a call for members to form a new theatre group. But his plans get scrambled when someone with no interest in the theatre shows up at his meeting.
Virtual Reality (VR) Juried Competition
ASHES
Director: Jessica Kantor
Country: United States, Running Time: 5:50min
Playing with movement, space and time, ASHES shares the tragic story of two lovers, told specifically for 360-headset environment.
BACK TO THE SUMMER – WORLD PREMIERE
Director: Jianbo Gao
Country: United States, Running Time: 4:30min
An old man recalls his deceased wife from viewing the old photos and jumps back to that memorable summer.
HAUNT
Director: Lilian Mehrel
Country: United States, Running Time: 7:39min
A short virtual reality film about presence, experienced through the eyes of a ghost.
I, PHILLIP
Director: Pierre Zandrowicz
Country: France, Running Time: 14min
In early 2005, David Hanson is developing his first android human. His name is Phil and it is simply the copy of the famous science fiction author Philip K. Dick.
NOBEL’S NIGHTMARE
Director: Chamsy Sarkis
Country: Syria, Running Time: 5:08min
One of the world’s oldest cities and for many years the heart of the Syrian economy, Aleppo is now ravaged by war. This immersive footage was shot with the Syrian Civil Defense teams of Aleppo, the unarmed volunteers performing search and rescue, recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
SAY IT WITH MUSIC – WORLD PREMIERE
Directors: Oliver Chen, Lubomir Kobomir Kocka
Country: United States, Running Time: 5:15min
Simone and Nathan work at the same restaurant, mostly unaware of each other. That is until Simone uses music as an instrument of change to bring the restaurant and its stuffy owner, Gustavo, out of their usual monotony.
SONGS OF THE VINE
Directors: Maira Clancy, Blake Montgomery
Countries: Peru, United States, Running Time: 17:56min
Shot over the span of two months in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, SONGS OF THE VINE is a virtual reality documentary focusing on the healing modalities, cosmovision, and culture of the Shipibo, an indigenous group well-known for its rich tradition of plant spirit shamanism, including a mastery of the visionary ayahuasca brew.
THE ROCK PRESENTS: ESCAPE FROM CALYPSO ISNAD – A 360 VR ADVENTURE
Director: Scott Brown
Country: United States, Running Time: 8:15min
Put on your VR headset and take your seat as a passenger on the Calypso Island Historical Tour of Magic and Wonder. Though the island is fabled for its magic, veteran tour guide Dylan explains to fresh-faced Tracy that he doesn't believe in any 'hocus pocus' anymore. Dylan is quickly proven wrong when explorer Duke Fontana (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) encounters our tour truck and enlists our help to fight an ancient evil that has returned to end the world.
TOMORROW
Director: Nicolas Alcala¡
Country: Spain, Running Time: 6:38min
The experience allows the viewer to enjoy an immersive story that narrates the evolution of language, taking him on a journey from the ancient caves to the middle of the jungle where Amazon tribes struggle to understand the concept of "future" due to their lack of words to express it.
UMPHREY’S MCGEE 360 VR “PUPPET STRING”
Director: Pete Herzog, Reel FX VR
Country: United States, Running Time: 12:30min
Digital studio Reel FX VR produced an experimental virtual-reality experience for Umphrey’s McGee spring tour filmed April 20th, 2016 at the House of Blues in Houston, Tex.
Community Films and Indie Grants Winners
BIG HOUSE BOOKS: PROTECTING THE RIGHT TO READ
Director: Lacey Ellinwood
Country: United States
Documentary looks at Big House Books, a non-profit volunteer organization that sends free books by request to prisoners in Mississippi correctional facilities to promote literacy and be a vehicle of change for prison reform in Mississippi.
BORN IN THE BLUES
Director: Greg Earnest
Country: United States
Short documentary that explores the music of the current generation of hill country blues artists, including some of R.L. Burnside's children.
FIREMAX
Director: Rory Ledbetter
Country: United States, Running Time: 15min
A fire-breathing superhero discovers there's more going on in Oxford, Mississippi than meets the eye and teams up with an uncanny group of heroes to fight an entente of super villains.
WE WILL NOT GO AWAY
Director: Louis Bourgeois
Country: United States, Running Time: 5min
Film documents a father and son as they face the everyday challenges of being homeless in the prosperous college football town of Oxford, Mississippi.
2016 Louisiana Film Prize Short Films Encore
THE MAN FROM MARS
Director: Jonnie Stapleton
Country: USA, Running TIme: 15min
A cynical podcast host hellbent on making fools of small town celebrities has just met his match: A charming woman who has her entire community believing she’s the second coming of Jesus Christ.
MEMOIR
Director: Alexander Jeffrey
Country: USA, Running Time: 16min
Memories can either fuel our existence or eat away at us like a disease. In the not-too-distant future, Dr. Theodore Maine is on the cusp of losing his job at Janus Labs where he is developing research for Alzheimer’s treatment. That is, until a mysterious visitor named Obee changes his life forever.
NATIVE
Directors: Travis Champagne, Stephen Kinigopoulos
Country: USA, Running Time: 15min
While on a ceremonial walkabout a young boy must defend his tribe against a mysterious force.
THE STAND
Director: Eva Contis
Country: USA, Running Time: 15min
Islamic extremists ambush a bus in Africa. When the Christian and Muslim passengers refuse to separate, the terrorists are faced with a dilemma.
YA ALIBI (My Heart)
Director: Christine Chen
Country: USA, Running Time: 15min
A Syrian refugee adapts to life in an unfamiliar country after her husband’s immigration visa is unexpectedly rejected.
ABOUT OXFORD FILM FESTIVAL
The Oxford Film Festival was founded in 2003 to bring exciting, new, and unusual films (and the people who create them) to North Mississippi. The annual four-day festival screens short and feature-length films in both showcase and competition settings, including narrative and documentary features and shorts; Mississippi narratives, documentaries and music videos, and narrative, documentary, animated and experimental shorts. The festival is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization.
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