Special events takes place at 6 pm on Friday, March 3 at the Ford Center
The Oxford Film Festival will present a live musical performance accompanying a screening of the silent film The Crisis. Based on a Civil War drama, The Crisis, written by American novelist Winston Churchill, the 1916 film was the second to be recorded in Mississippi.
Local composer Damein Wash has written a score for the black and white silent picture, bringing vintage into the contemporary and making use of musicians from around the state including Emory Booth (clarinet); Doug Thomas (flute and saxophone); Daniel Roebuck (trumpet); Dr. Michael Worthy (trombone); Jiwon Lee (violin); Linna Zheng (flute and violin); Dave Woolworth (bass); Amanda Johnston (piano); and Ricky Burkhead (percussion).
The film tells the tale of Stephen Brice, a young lawyer in Civil War-era St. Louis, falls in love with Virginia Carvel, the daughter of his benefactor. But she is loyal to the South and Brice is committed to Lincoln’s cause. In the course of the war, their convictions separate them, and Virginia becomes engaged to her cousin Clarence Colfax, a Confederate officer. Brice becomes an officer under General Sherman, and eventually finds himself faced with the captured Colfax, facing execution for spying. Brice must decide whether or not to intercede in his rival’s behalf.
