Highlights include the virtual presentation of David Midell’s Narrative Feature Juried Award-winner The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
A very musical week with virtual offerings of YAC Presents Oxford Songwriters, the Shannon Hoon documentary, All I Know, 16 Bars with Arrested Development’s Todd “Speech” Thomas, Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things, and Randal Kleiser’s singalong classic Grease at OFF to the Drive-In.
Virtual kittens and cats in all their glory with the Quarantine Cat Film Fetival
The Oxford Film Festival’s 9th Weekly Virtual Film Fest, Virtual Art House, and OFF to the Drive-In films will be highlighted by hard-hitting documentaries and music.
The virtual presentation of this year’s Best Narrative Award winner, David Midell’s The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain is a riveting and devastating dramatization of the death of a black veteran at the hands of the police, while the OFF to the Drive-In screening of Casey W. Phillips’ Win, Lose or Draw Straws will give rare insight into how we elect people in this country.
Other award winners getting to shine this week are an extension of Erin Palmquist’s LGBTQIA+ winner From Baghdad to the Bay, as well as the LGBTQIA+ short film block featuring Patrick G. Lee’s winning film, Unspoken, in celebration of Pride Month.
And on June 21 there will be a free pizza party courtesy of Dodo Pizza with the OFF to the Drive-In screening of Miss Juneteenth.
There’s also music to spare this week thanks to the virtual celebration of local musical talent with YAC Presents Oxford Songwriters, the Virtual Art House selection of the award-winning documentary, All I Know, about the tragic musical supernova that was Blind Melon’s Shannon Hoon, Tamir x Singleton’s 16 Bars about four incarcerated men who work on a recording with Arrested Development’s Todd “Speech” Thomas, Leslie Woodhead’s documentary on one of the all time great singers, Ella Fitzgerald: June One of Those Things, and one of the most beloved musical classics of all time, Randal Kleiser’s Grease, presented at OFF to the Drive-In.
And if all that isn’t enough, we have four words for you: Quarantine Cat Film Festival.
Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “This week’s lineup includes some of the most powerful political commentary from The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain at the virtual fest to Win, Lose or Draw Straws at the drive-in, but we also intermixed with some fun and nostalgia because great movies don’t just move you emotionally but sometimes just in song and dance like Grease.
But also, we wanted to make sure that our community is supported as they have supported us so we also launched Pet Fest, Music Fest, and partnered with the Juneteenth Committee for the Miss Juneteenth showing on June 21 to make sure that Oxford is supported.”
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 five-day festival screens short and feature-length films in both showcase and competition settings. The festival is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization. For more information, visit www.oxfordfilmfest.com.
