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Tired of the same ol’, same ol’? The Grenada Afterglow Film Festival can fix that! You’ll experience the unique perspectives of independent producers from all over the world in these short narratives, documentaries, animations, and weird experimentals. These are the type of films rarely seen by regular movie-goers, these are the products of driven individuals telling their stories with whatever means they have available, intent on producing their own works of art. Over fifty family-friendly films will be shown, many from Mississippi, hand chosen from nearly 600 submissions from 59 countries. At Afterglow, films will not screen in a regular theater, but in a gorgeous 100-year-old hardware store—turned event venue, called First & Green, on a quaint Mississippi downtown square.
Emmy winning documentary, The Toughest Job: William Winter’s Mississippi by Oxford producer, Mathew Graves, will play at 3 pm, with Governor William Winter in attendance as a special guest. Oxford musician Bill Perry, who will perform at the festival, is featured in the documentary Thinking Cosmically, Performing Locally, by producer Caleb Fisher-Wirth. There are movies from Tupelo, Vicksburg, Jackson, and Sturgis, Miss., as well. Sturgis: Rallying Back by producer, Thomas Haffey, is a fascinating feature length about the motorcycle bike rally in small town Mississippi. While I’m Here: The Legacy Project, is a documentary about Leo “Bud” Welch, the 83-year-old Blues Musician from Sabougla, Miss., a little town outside of Grenada. Leo has been named as one of Rolling Stone’s magazine’s 15 top new musicians to watch for 2015, and he has been featured in The Wall Street Journal. Gotta love him! He’ll be performing live at the fest.
Afterglow’s special submission categories are “Feel Good” and “Films that Inspire Positive Change.” There are shows about friendly robots, a girl made out of junk, and guys that work on a lemon plantation. The Grenada Boys and Girls Club kids made short films in this summer’s Afterglow Film Workshop, three of them will screen at the festival, on the subjects of anti-bullying and anti-violence. Other categories include AfterDark, which are more bleak; AfterThought, which are thought provoking, and AfterWeird, which are the experimentals where you can see blobs of meat shambling about and such as that.
Grenada business owner of Loves Vapes, Phillip Alford, is a special guest speaker, he played as young Jem in the classic 1962 movie To Kill a Mockingbird with Gregory Peck. His appearance coincides well with the newly published Go Set a Watchman, prequel to Mockingbird. Alford will discuss his experiences as a child actor. Also, special guest, Grenada native, actor/producer, Keith Goff, will talk about his experience with HBO/Cinemax and his upcoming projects.
As these speakers and movies play in the beautiful, historic First & Green building, live music will billow from the gazebo on the square. International Blues celebrity, Leo “Bud” Welch will have you up and dancing, like he does his fans in Ireland, Israel, and Paris. Oxford star, Daniel Perea, will be there swinging with his El Bebop Kid + Crew band. Also performing are the well-loved Zediker Brothers of Water Valley, and country rock band Trademark, Bluesman McKinney Williams, and punk rock band Soft Toys of Jackson. Don’t miss Tedd Young, entertaining you with classics from the 50s to the 80s; he’s coming all the way from Wisconsin, y’all.
Plus, you can build your skills in the Afterglow workshops—learn some new moves in the Dance workshop by award winning dance instructor, Keauana King, become a star in the Acting workshop by theater director, Amy George Garrett, create a painting in the Art workshop by art instructor, Sharon Gardner, find out what those pink-haired, bushy tailed characters are all about in the Intro to CosPlay workshop by Malfunctioning Productions (There’s a CosPlay contest at 10 am on the gazebo—come in costume) and hone your script/story writing skills in the Creative Writing workshop taught by Oxford’s Theater Pro and Executive Director of Glimpse Entertainment Company, Jason Patrick Hudson.
For your sensory enjoyment, stroll over to the Fine/Folk art exhibit full of delightful eye candy from Mississippi artists. You might find the perfect gift for that special someone. Everyone’s favorite Oxford artist, Jason Heavner, known as J-MAN, painted the official Afterglow themed masterpiece used on the program cover this year. J-MAN is famous for his signature “colorful rays” emanating in his paintings and his Faulkner works.
The music, workshops, and art exhibit are free, and for only $10 you can come and go as you please to the all day films, from 10 am–9 pm, on October 3rd. Oh, by the way, there will also be outdoor movies and video games.
Visit downtown Grenada for The Grenada Afterglow Film Festival and while you’re at it check out Grenada Lake, the #1 crappie fishing lake in the nation, and the Dogwoods golf course, rated top five by Golfer’s Digest. The Grenada Afterglow Film Festival– come experience the difference for yourself! For more info: GrenadaAfterglow.com and like on Facebook. 
