Courtesy of Oxford Film Festival
February of 2014 will mark the arrival of the 11th annual Oxford Film Festival, a four-day event at Malco Oxford Studio Cinema that screens short and feature-length films in both showcase and competition settings.
“The festival brings a collection of people together for one weekend who all love film, that for the most part, they are not able to get on their own during the rest of the year,” said Michelle Emanuel, operations director for the festival. “For some of the filmmakers, they feel like they’ve stepped onto a movie set. They can’t believe Oxford is a real place.”
Created in 2003, the Oxford Film Festival highlights independent cinema, in which the staff members volunteer year-round to collaborate on their ideas and present the talents of worldwide filmmakers.
“The current staff members have been working together for a while now,” said Molly Fergusson, the current executive director who helped produce the first festival. “This is an asset because our different tastes, different views and different outlooks mesh to form a democratic consensus that successfully represents our diverse audience. Together, we bring forward varying ideas, and form the pieces to a perfect film-filled puzzle.”
Joining the festival as a co-director in 2004 and becoming the executive director in 2010, Fergusson remains the most experienced staff member. She also teaches legal writing and contract drafting at The University of Mississippi School of Law.
“Molly’s experience in the entertainment industry and expertise in contract drafting have been a real asset to our organization,” Emanuel said. “Without her, we would not have partnered with the Mississippi Intellectual Property Institute to have the Continuing Legal Education program, which is just one of many things that makes our festival unique.”
The Mid-South Intellectual Property Institute, co-sponsored by the University of Mississippi Law School and FNC Inc., aims to further regional interest and participation in intellectual property.
“During an early festival, we included a Continuing Legal Education program for attorneys, but open to anyone, with topics ranging from music in film, production and screening,” Fergusson said via email. “Not long ago, the Mid-South Intellectual Property Institute (MSIPI) wanted to do an Intellectual Property Continuing Legal Education program, and partnering with the festival seemed like a natural fit. 2014 will be our third year to collaborate.”
In addition to the partnership with the institute, the film festival broadened its horizons this year by allowing a University of Mississippi course to rank the second of three rounds of submission entries.
“My class, CINE 396 Festival Programming, is an elective for the cinema minor, in which the students will help program the festival by screening the entries, and looking at the independent festival circuit,” Emanuel said.
The first screenplay competition that occurred last spring has allowed the festival to form new traditions.
“We have done a community film for the past three years, so wanted to branch out to find talent from the beginning level of the film: the screenplay,” said development director Melanie Addington. “We chose “Killer Kudzu” (written by Oxford-born Felicity Flesher) because it has a great title, and because it will be a great short film that will be fun for a wide range of actors to be part of when we film it this November. Overall, Flesher’s project will be made into a narrative short film and premiered at the festival this coming February.”
Addington, also a co-founder of OxFilm, a project of the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council that provides resources for local filmmakers, has completed roughly 15-20 film projects and is currently working to raise funds for her feature film “I Didn’t Do It,” concerning the ricin case last year.
“My job is to help raise funds year round, as well as help with programming, marketing, social media and organizing,” Addington said via email. “We all pitch in a lot of free time and work very hard to make the weekend happen each year, but with the more money people donate, the easier the production becomes.”
Through the Oxford Tourism Opportunity grant program application, the Oxford Convention and Visitors Bureau approved the festival’s $15,000 grant request.
“The money will open a new door for marketing and advertising outside of Lafayette County,” said Mary Allyn Hedges, tourism manager for Visit Oxford. “The festival will be able to accomplish more promotion-related goals that they wouldn’t have been able to consider without the grant.”
Regardless of the grant money, the film festival does not attract as many tourists as an event like Double Decker, an arts festival that occurs on the Square each spring.
“Very often, we ask ourselves why this is the case,” Emanuel said. “In all honesty, I’m not sure why we aren’t as popular. All I know is once people come to the festival, they end up coming back every year because they fall in love with it.”
The Oxford Film Festival offers a day pass, equivalent to buying two regular movie tickets, that enables guests and festival-goers alike to meet and have meaningful exchanges with one another.
“This February, the festival, with Molly as our Wonder Woman, will bring magic to Oxford. At least that’s how I see it,” Addington said. “One will be able to see up and coming filmmakers, independent films and fresh voices telling documentaries.”
-Tori Olker
tlolker@go.olemiss.com
