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UM Cinema Festival returns to Oxford! The festival will present outstanding student submitted films including the works of University instructors and professors. The festival will also screen winning UM Cinema Competition films. 
The festival exposes the Oxford and Ole Miss community to works that otherwise might not be showcased, allowing those interested in film to receive feedback from audiences and professionals to inspiring others to take on the mantle of filmmaking.
“The reason why people rise up and become good filmmakers is by seeing other people’s films not just films at the multiplex or funded to the maximum for awards season, but some unusual works or works that are a little more raw to truly learn how to make a film” said Alan Arrivee professor and director of the cinema program in Ole Miss Theatre Arts department.
The festival is not exclusive to students and faculty either; Arrivee claims that anyone can submit their film to be shown at the festival. Winners of the UM Cinema Competition last semester will also be part of the festival.
“It’s about the quality, it doesn’t matter if it was a competition film, if it’s good and seems like it’s fitting with the other films of the program If the films from classes end up being high quality then sometimes those are programmed in,” said Arrivee.
The festival committee will decide which films will be presented in the program around a week before the festival according to Arrivee. So far there have been a few submissions with more coming as the month goes on.
This year categories such as “5 minute short” and “10 minute short” were added to simplify the process and allow for more films to be shown. Originally the category was just a general “short film” but with the addition of multiple categories allows for more specification and organization.
“We did have some shorter things in the past that were submitted outside of the competition, but five minutes you can put a lot of work into each minute and it not be so overwhelming,” said Arrivee.
Another difference is the timing of the festival. Previous years the festival was held in later April, but this year the committee chose to push the date up into March to free them from competing with other events in April.
“I really think there are some exciting projects that people consider coming to see, we’ve had more success with audiences actually showing up at the end of March than we did when we went deep into April,” said Arrivee. “Hopefully this will be a time when people can find the time to come see the films, because cinema is growing by leaps in bounds both within the University and Oxford.”
The UM Cinema festival will be held in the Overby Center for Southern journalism and Politics on the Ole Miss Campus March 30 and 31 at 7pm .
“I’m always rooting for the students to come through with something they can be proud of,” said Arrivee. 
