Oxford Film Festival 2023 Announces 20th Anniversary Lineup Including WN Selig’s 1916 Film THE CRISIS

The Crisis (1916) Selig Polyscope Company

 

The 2023 Oxford Film Festival (March 1-5) announced the lineup of official selections and events for the 20th Anniversary annual edition of the popular film festival. Lisa Cortes’ documentary Little Richard: I am Everything is the Opening Night selection, and Michael Stevantoni and Strack Azar’s The Banality is the Closing Night selection. Special screenings and presentations include a restored print of Colin Campbell’s silent historical drama The Crisis (1916), and a presentation of Greg Brownderville and Bart Weiss’s groundbreaking multi-media project Fire Bones.

The dynamic schedule will showcase 143 films and media projects, including 32 features (15 narrative and 18 documentary), 93 short films (narrative, documentary, LGBTQIA+, ambition and experimental, student, and Mississippi-based productions), 18 music videos, and 1 multi-media project.

Executive Director Matt Wymer, who will be overseeing his first Oxford Film Festival as Executive Director, said, “This is our 20th Anniversary edition and we’re celebrating the audiences that allowed the Oxford Film Festival to inspire and entertain our community for the past two decades. To show our appreciation, we are providing more free screenings, more panels and bigger parties than ever before. “

Opening the Oxford Film Festival will be Lisa Cortes’ Little Richard: I am Everything. The film comes to Oxford folowing its debut at Sundance last month. The entertaining (and how could it not be, considering its subject) documentary gives a startlingly frank look at the life and career of the rock n’ roll icon who still influences music artists today as it shines a light on the Black, queer origins of rock ’n’ roll, and profiles the man behind the music. Michael Stevantoni and Strack Azar’s Mississippi shot and produced thriller The Banality takes the Closing Night slot. Adapted from their short film of the same title, the film follows the harrowing journey of a priest as he investigates the mysterious death of “Feral Boy,” a local legend. As he gets closer to the truth,  he finds parallels between this grisly incident and his own recurring nightmares.

A special screening of Colin Campbell’s silent classic The Crisis (1916), which is the earliest surviving film to have been shot in Mississippi, will mark the film’s first onscreen presentation in 100 years in Northern Mississippi. The film’s story centers on a love triangle during the Civil War between a woman and her suitors – one commited to the North and the other to the South. When one of the suitors is captured and charged with spying, the other must decide whether or not to intercede in his rival’s behalf. The screening will have live accompaniment with a special new score created specifically for the event which will be part of the Mississippi Film Commission’s 50th Anniversary celebration this year. Produced by William N. Selig, founder of the Selig Polyscope Company, the oldest film production company in the US. Some of the Selig family members are planning to be on hand for the event.

Noted for its embrace of VR and experimental films and programming during its history, the Oxford Film Festival will offer a special presentation led by Greg Brownderville and Bart Weiss as they introduce audiences to their one-of-a-kind multi-media creation, FIre Bones. A whimsical Southern Gothic shaggy dog story told in ten chapters via multiple mediums including  podcasts, short films, music videos, poems, and still images. Fire Bones follows a poet and filmmaker  who meet one crazy character after another as they investigate the mystery  of  a  missing  pilot and  Pentecostal  preacher who  vanished  on  a  transatlantic  flight.  Created  with  smartphones  in  mind, the project includes  podcasts,  short  films,  music  videos, poems,  and  still  images.

Another theme running throughout this year’s edition of the film festival is the commitment to local filmmakers, films shot and produced locally, and films with strong Mississippi themes. On that front, two screenings will top that effort including Merrick McCool’s Belief: The Season Ole Miss Baseball which traces the journey the Ole Miss baseball team’s recent last-to-first championship run. Michael Modak-Truran’s Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead looks at the Nobel Prize-winning author who will be forever associated with Oxford and Mississippi.

Additional highlights among the narrative features include Mike Cheslik’s Hundreds of Beavers, an epic tale set in the 19th Century where a drunken applejack salesman must face off against hundreds of marauding beavers. Johanna Putnam’s award-winning Shudderbugs stars Putnam as a young woman who returns to her childhood home when her mother suddenly passes. In place of familiar spaces and memories, Sam finds herself isolated with the mystery of her mom’s death and a scavenger hunt her mom had prepared for her upcoming birthday. The film won the Indie Spirit Award and Rising Star Award at the Naples International Film Festival. Marvin Samel’siMordecai stars Sean Astin stars an ambitious cigar maker trying to support his own family while still being there for his aging parents, played by Academy Award-nominee Judd Hirsch and the beloved film icon, Carol Kane. When Mordecai’s ancient flip phone breaks, he starts to take lessons on his new iPhone, opening him up to all kinds of novel experiences and adventures, making him feel like a kid again. Scout Durwood’s Youtopia focuses on a woman who inadvertently forms a hipster cult after going though a devastating breakup. When members start to disappear, she realizes that she may be the trigger the end of civilization as we know it.

Among the particularly strong documentary selections are Kristy Guevara-Flanagan’s Body Parts which traces the evolution of “sex” on-screen from a woman’s perspective, uncovering the uncomfortable realities behind some of the most iconic scenes in cinema history and celebrating the bold creators leading the way for change. Dawn Mikkelson and Keri Pickett’s Finding Her Beat is a certified hit on the regional festival circuit. The film follows the efforts of two women to assemble the world’s best female Taiko drummers in a bold effort to claim a cultural spotlight that has historically been reserved only for men. As the clock ticks toward their first performance, it becomes clear that their story has become much larger than Taiko. Christopher Fitzpatrick’s Oklahoma Breakdown has also won many fans across the country as well as awards leading to the film’s screening at Oxford. The film profiles Mike Hosty, a one-man band freak of nature who also tells jokes and happens to be responsible for the song “Oklahoma Breakdown”, which became the #1 hit of 2007. G.B. Shannon’s Show Business Is My Life (But I Can’t Prove It) A Film about Gary Mule Deer puts the focus on comedy in his film looking at the unlikely career of comedian Gary Mule Deer’s career who started performing Johnny Cash covers at a South Dakota brothel to being a regular presence on The Tonight Show among over 350 televised performances in his career. Linda Goldstein Knowlton’s Split At The Root looks at what transpired when a Guatemalan mother seeking asylum was separated from her kids under Zero Tolerance Policy. A Facebook post by a mom in Queens coalesced into a movement as thousands of like-minded women across the US refused to stand by quietly, eventually reuniting  more than 130 families.

Highlights among the creatively themed and musically-infused parties and special events include a 20th Birthday Party with Kid Party Games, Balloon Animals and a Birthday Cake Contest on Wednesday, March 1 which will also include a free screening of Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb’s festival hit, Butterfly in the Sky. Thursday, March 2 will have a Music Video Block Party and some of Oxford’s best night spots and will feature live music performances from bands whose music videos are screening at the film festival. Friday, March 3’s party theme is “Faulking Around Friday”, which will include books and whiskey at the Historic Ceder Oaks. Saturday, March 4 will be highlighted by the BIOXbuster Video Party. The days of enjoying films on VHS will be celebrated along with Laser Tag, music and more.

The Oxford Film Festival will also offer free Science on Screen events which are an initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, as well as free sensory screenings sponsored by the Mississippi Commission of Developmental Disability.

The Oxford Film Festival would not be possible without the generous support from the following grants: Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), South Arts, Visit Mississippi, and Visit Oxford.

To buy passes or tickets or find more information, please go to: www.ox-film.com.
2023 Oxford Film Festival’s Official Selections

Opening Night
Little Richard: I am Everything
Director: Lisa Cortes
Country: United States; Running Time: 98 min
Like a quasar burning past the gaslight, director Lisa Cortés’ eye-opening documentary explodes the whitewashed canon of American pop music. Little Richard: I Am Everything shines a clarifying light on the Black, queer origins of rock ’n’ roll, and establishes the genre’s big bang: Richard Wayne Penniman.

Closing Night
The Banality
Directors: Michael Stevantoni, Strack Azar
Country: United States; Running Time: 78 min
A small town reels from the sudden and mysterious death of “Feral Boy,” a local legend since his discovery in the woods as a child. Father Moss, a priest with a loose grip on the faith, attempts to counsel the forlorn couple that raised the boy. As the answers are revealed, he finds parallels between this grisly incident and his own recurring nightmares, haunted in both sleeping and waking hours.

Special Screenings
Belief: The Season Ole Miss Baseball
Director: Merrick McCool
Country: United States; Running Time: 103 min
In 2022, only one thing could propel the Ole Miss baseball team through a roller-coaster season: unwavering belief. Belief: The Season Ole Miss Baseball gives an unprecedented look at the sport of baseball documenting the Ole Miss baseball program’s last-to-first championship run.

The Crisis (1916)
Director: Colin Campbell
Country: United States; Running Time: 100 min
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.

Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead
Director: Michael Modak-Truran
Country: United States; Running Time: 93 min
William Faulkner was one of the greatest writers and one of the most influential, winning the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature. Faulkner’s novels have challenged generations of readers and inspired generations of writers around the world.

FIre Bones
Directors: Greg Brownderville, Bart Weiss
Country: United States; Running Time: N/A
Fire Bones is a whimsical Southern Gothic story told in ten chapters via multiple mediums including podcasts, short films, music videos, poems, and still images. Fire Bones follows the journey of discovery that a poet and filmmaker make as they are introduced to the tale and mystery of a missing pilot and Pentecostal  preacher who vanished on a transatlantic flight. The two men encounter one colorful and eccentric character after another  as their trip brings them closer to the truth of her story and ultimate destination. Created with smartphones in mind, a go-show tells a story episodically via multiple mediums. Fire  Bones includes podcasts, short films, music videos, poems, and  still  images. Each episode of a go-show should use whichever medium works best for that part of the story. Chapters and episodes are meant to be experienced in order.

Additional Narrative Features

Bolan’s Shoes
Director: Ian Puleston-Davies
Country: UK; Running Time: 97 min
This story takes us on a tumultuous journey from the height of T. Rex mania in 1970s Liverpool to the present-day poignancy of what would have been Marc Bolan’s 75th birthday. It captures the heady exhilaration of glam rock mania through the experiences of a group of over-excited kids from a local children’s home before a devastating road accident changes their lives forever. Years later, and still clinging to the adoration of her childhood idol, survivor Penny takes best friend and fellow Marc Bolan fan to visit his shrine in London but a chance encounter there catapults her back to the horror she had tried so hard to forget.

Country Gold 
Director: Mickey Reece
Country: United States; Running Time: 82 min
George Jones has invited Troyal Brux  to Oklahoma for an intimate chat, something the latter takes as validation for his more focus-grouped, crowd-pleasing school of pop country. It’s not long after arriving, however, that he learns the true reason for Jones’ invitation: after their night together, Jones plans to cryogenically freeze himself so he can outlive his enemies and detractors. Before he goes, he wants to see what world he’s leaving behind for country music.

Daddy
Directors: Neal Kelley, Jono Sherman
Country: United States; Running Time: 98 min
In a dystopian society where the state has the power to determine who can and cannot father children, four men attend a government-sanctioned retreat in the remote mountains of California. When they show up at the site, only to find no guide or instructions, they are left to their own devices and must prove to themselves—and each other—that they’re ready for fatherhood.

Dogleg
Director: Al Warren
Country: United States; Running Time: 82 min
A balding director loses his dog and his whilts in an attempt to complete his film.

Hundreds of Beavers
Director: Mike Cheslik
Country: United States; Running Time: 108 min
In this 19th century, supernatural winter epic, a drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America’s greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers.

iMordecai
Director: Marvin Samel
Country: U.S.; Running Time: 102 minutes
Sean Astin stars as Marvin is an ambitious cigar maker trying to support his own family while still being there for his aging parents, Mordecai (Judd Hirsch) and Fela (Carol Kane). When Mordecai’s ancient flip phone breaks, he starts to take lessons on his new iPhone, opening him up to all kinds of novel experiences and adventures, making him feel like a kid again.

Loren & Rose
Director: Russell Brown
Country: United States; Running Time: 82 min
Rose is a legendary actress trying to revive her career. Loren is a promising filmmaker. Over the course of their many encounters, a deep friendship evolves as their love of art, understanding of grief, and faith in life’s potential guide them through personal and creative transformations. Kelly Blatz and Jacqueline Bisset star with a chemistry that is at once authentic and intoxicating.

Maybe Someday
Director: Michelle Ehlen
Country: United States; Running Time: 91 min
Jay, a non-binary 40-something photographer, attempts to move across the country to start her life over again in the midst of separating from her wife. Along the way, she takes a detour to stay with her high school best friend who she used to be secretly in love with, and befriends a charismatic gay man who adds humor and levity to her life. Struggling to move forward with the next chapter of her life, memories of the past resurface as Jay grapples with the inevitable cycles of love, loss, and letting go.

Provo
Director: Emma Thatcher
Country: United States; Running Time: 88 min
A rakish ex-Mormon gets a jolt when an estranged step-sibling comes to tell her that her father, an abusive hardcore Mormon, is dying and hopes to reconcile. A friend-with-benefits offers to go with her on, if not prods her towards, a road trip to seek some closure.

quantum cowboy
Director: Geoff Marslett
Country: United States; Running Time: 99 min
Two hapless drifters, Frank and Bruno, team up with Linde to recover her land and trek across 1870’s Southern Arizona to find an elusive frontier musician. The complex quantum time theory is blended with philosophical musings about art as the way we understand our history and memories, with gunfights, horses, dance halls, cacti, and saloons.

Shudderbugs
Director: Johanna Putnam
Country: United States; Running Time: 105 min
Samantha Cole returns to her childhood home when her mother suddenly passes. In place of familiar spaces and memories, Sam finds only uneasiness and confusion. Things are missing, the environment seems unnatural and the neighbor, Noah, is suspiciously obtuse. Isolated with these mysteries, a scavenger hunt her mom had prepared for her upcoming birthday and rising red flags from Noah, Sam wrestles with her sanity and certainties. On her journey to untangle the truth, she finds herself at a dangerous crossroad: How far can she trust instincts that may be clouded by grief, guilt, and desperation?

Youtopia
Director: Scout Durwood
Country: United States; Running Time: 90 min
After a devastating break up an elder millennial inadvertently forms a hipster cult. When members start to disappear, the leader is confronted with the knowledge that her journey of self-discovery may trigger the end of civilization as we know it, forcing her to face her most challenging enemy yet: herself.

Additional Documentary Features

Body Parts
Director: Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
Country: United States; Running Time: 86 min
Body Parts traces the evolution of “sex” on-screen from a woman’s perspective, uncovering the uncomfortable realities behind some of the most iconic scenes in cinema history and celebrating the bold creators leading the way for change.

Butterfly in the Sky
Directors: Bradford Thomason, Brett Whitcomb
Country: United States; Running Time: 86 min
​​Two seconds into the bubbling synth sounds of its theme song will have a child of the 1980s or ‘90s exclaiming “Reading Rainbow!” Such is the beloved nature of the classic children’s literary television show that introduced millions of kids to the wonder of books. Not only did the series insist on having kids speak to kids about their favorite stories, Reading Rainbow introduced the world to one of the most adored television hosts of all time, LeVar Burton. Thanks to his direct, non-patronizing and, most importantly, kind delivery, Burton became a conduit to learning for children of every background—delving behind the pages to the people, places, and things each new story explored.

Dusty & Stones
Director: Jesse Rudoy
Countries: United States/Swaziland; Running Time: 83 min
Dusty & Stones is a continent-crossing hero’s journey told through country music. The documentary chronicles the remarkable ride of cousins Gazi “Dusty” Simelane and Linda “Stones” Msibi, a driven duo of struggling country singers from the tiny African Kingdom of Swaziland longing for their big break. When they are unexpectedly nominated to compete in a Texas battle of the bands, the duo embarks on their long-awaited first pilgrimage to the ancestral heart of country music, determined to win big. Over a momentous ten-day road trip through the American South, Dusty and Stones explore the storied locales of their favorite country songs and engage with the culture they’ve long felt part of from afar. But when they arrive in Jefferson, Texas for the battle of the bands, the competition is anything but what they’d imagined. A shell-shocked Dusty and Stones take the stage and fight to bag an award for Swaziland.

Educational Divide: The Story of East Side High
Director: David Ross
Country: United States; Running Time: 65 min
Featuring East Side alumnus and professional basketball player Johnny O’Bryant III, the documentary takes the audience on a tour of Cleveland, Mississippi, to see how his hometown is moving forward and to attend the graduation ceremony for the students of the consolidated high school, Cleveland Central High. The film boasts a cast of characters, including academic historians, local politicians, professional athletes, education experts, as well as former teachers, students, coaches, and more. With the help of these voices, the film explores the complex history and culture that surrounds public education in America. The issue of racial segregation in our education system isn’t limited to the deep South. These problems are found across the country.

Finding Her Beat
Directors: Dawn Mikkelson & Keri Pickett
Country: USA, Japan; Running Time: 89 min
In the midst of a frozen Minnesota winter, a Japanese drum master and Korean adoptee from North Dakota join forces to assemble the world’s best Taiko drummers in a bold effort to claim a cultural spotlight that has historically been reserved only for men. Their rhythm revolution includes rock stars from the world of Taiko: Tiffany Tamaribuchi, Kaoly Asano, Chieko Kojima, Megan Chao-Smith, and Jennifer Weir. Through grueling rehearsals, Jennifer weaves together their disparate voices and styles. Vulnerability, pain, and joys are shared—and we quickly see the bonds of friendship form as these talented women navigate their way through differences in culture, age, language, and performing styles. As the clock ticks toward their first performance, it becomes clear that their story has become much larger than Taiko.

In the Bones
Directors: Kelly Duane de la Vega, Zandashé Brown
Country: United States; Running Time: 96 min
An intimate and immersive journey through Mississippi, filmed in the year leading up to Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, revealing the culture that overturned Roe V. Wade. This lyrical film shines a light on the weight women live under in this country, and the resilience expressed in their everyday acts of survival through the unfolding lives of a cast of characters who live within a system that is not built with their well-being in mind.

Oklahoma Breakdown
Director: Christopher Fitzpatrick
Country: United States; Running Time: 92 min
Mike Hosty is a one-man band freak of nature who also tells jokes. His musical talents are world-class and his improv skills produce original performances on the fly. When Stoney LaRue turned Hosty’s “Oklahoma Breakdown” into the #1 hit of 2007, few knew who wrote it or what genre it came from. This documentary reveals why a legend of the underground has reservations on chasing the limelight, when he could be a millionaire.

Once Upon a Time in Uganda
Director: Cathryne Czubek
Country: USA, Uganda; Running Time: 94 min
A brick maker in Uganda becomes an Internet sensation when he tries his hand at making action movies.

Present Tense: Andrew Bryant and the making of PRODIGAL
Director: Gerard Matthews
Country: United States; Running Time: 61 min
When Andrew Bryant started writing the music for PRODIGAL, he thought it was completely about the past. It turns out the past is always with us. Bryant’s music evokes a cinematic vision of his boyhood, past friendships, family struggles, religious trauma, and Southern identity. In this hauntingly personal documentary, we see a young artist struggle with his place in time (the past and the present) and space (what it means to be an artist in the South). But we also see how processing these themes through music brings a tremendous sense of hope, relief, and joy.

Show Business Is My Life (But I Can’t Prove It) A Film about Gary Mule Deer
Director: G.B. Shannon
Country: United States; Running Time: 96 min
Comedian Gary Mule Deer’s career has always taken an oddball path. From his start in “show business” at a South Dakota brothel, performing Johnny Cash covers for the awaiting johns, to his over 350 televised performances, his career has been as strange as his comedy itself. He’s odd, he’s got crazy hair, and his metronomic timing is legendary. He’s a friend to the biggest names in comedy and music and he may just be the funniest comedian you’ve never heard of.

Silent Beauty
Director: Jasmín Mara López
Country: US, Mexico, Malta; Running Time: 87 min
When director Jasmín Mara López sees a photo of her niece with her grandfather, she is flooded by painful memories of her own childhood sexual abuse at his hands—and the following 24 years of her silence. In this cinematically striking and poetic documentary, López bravely films her story as a willful act to accept difficult truths while finding beauty in the process of healing. As she defies the cultural silence that pervades her family and confronts her abusive grandfather, who is a Baptist minister, a world of generational abuse unfolds, and she quickly discovers she is not alone.

Song of the Cicada
Directors: Aaron Weiss, Robert Weiss
Country: United States; Running Time: 74 min
In the coastal town of Galveston, Texas, Dale Carter lives as a mortician in his Victorian home with his protege and friend. Over the course of a decade, this observational documentary chronicles his daily life with friends, family and strangers alike, as he navigates the mortuary profession and his attempts to realize his dream of renovating a historic home in Beaumont, Texas. Song of the Cicada explores the philosophies and motives behind the macabre obsessions that define this eccentric mortician.

Split At The Root
Director: Linda Goldstein Knowlton
Country: United States; Running Time: 101 min
Families separated at the border made headlines in 2018, prompting protests and policy changes. When a Guatemalan mother seeking asylum was separated from her kids under Zero Tolerance Policy, a Facebook post by a mom in Queens coalesced into a movement as thousands of like-minded women across the US refused to stand by quietly. Immigrant Families Together was born as a rapid response group committed to doing what the government couldn’t – or wouldn’t do: reunite parents with their children separated by the Zero Tolerance Policy. Over four years, IFT reunited more than 130 families.Over 2,000 children’s reunification status are still unknown and thousands of people impacted by separations are still suffering the effects of pursuing asylum.

Two Lives in Photography
Director: Thad Lee
Country: United States; Running Time: 90 min
Two Lives in Photography is a film about married photographers Maude Schulyer Clay and Langdon Clay. It It is based on their joint exhibition at the University Museum in Oxford, Mississippi and is structured by the Clays walking to key works hanging on the walls in a dance of sorts. The subjects range from the Mississippi Delta landscape to New York City in the late 1970s to cemeteries in Paris. During the course of the 90 minute walk through the galleries and both of their careers, we learn about as much about the Clays and their marriage as we do about their rich subjects.

Unrivaled
Directors: David Crews, Norman Jetmundsen
Country: United States; Running Time: 87 min
In 1899 a small college in Tennessee, the University of the South in Sewanee, had the most amazing season in college football history.  They were the first team in the South to play 12 games, and the first team anywhere to travel long distances to play games.   They played 12 games in six weeks and went 12-0.  Only one team scored upon them.  The reason they are famous, however, is that they traveled 2,500 miles by train and played 5 games in 6 days — beating Texas, Texas A&M, Tulane, LSU and Ole Miss.  The team is truly Unrivaled.

Narrative Shorts

30/900
Director: Shirin Maleki
Country: United States; Running Time: 9 min

A Body Appeared at the Lake Today
Director: Brian Ratigan
Country: United States; Running Time: 5 min

A Psychogeography of Mourning 
Director: Shayna Connelly
Countries: US/UK/France; Running Time: 8 min

Aaron With 2 A’s
Director: Michael Goldburg
Country: United States; Running Time: 17 min

Ambitus
Director: Louise Mejstelman
Country: France; Running Time: 14 min

Angle of Attack
Director: Russell Leigh Sharman
Country: United States; Running Time: 12 min

Behalf
Director: Michelle Sui
Country: United States; Running Time: 5 min

Bleep
Director: Ben S. Hyland
Country: UK; Running Time: 8 min

Blue Hour
Director: Stacey Rushchak
Country: Poland; Running Time: 27 min

Boifriend
Directors: Rebecca Marquardt, Lane Michael Stanley
Country: United States; Running Time: 10 min

Bring Back My Bonnie
Director: Mark Waters
Country: UK; Running Time: 19 min

Canal
Director: Will Rahilly
Country: United States; Running Time: 16 min

Convection
Director: Stacey Davis
Country: United States; Running Time: 8 min

Coup de Grace
Directors: Amanda Fallon Smith, Colin Babcock
Country: United States; Running Time: 15 min

Dateleap
Director: Jack Evans
Country: UK; Running Time: 14 min

Demi-Gods 
Director: Martin Gerigk
Country: Germany; Running Time: 6 min

Doll on a Shelf
Director: Payton Williams
Country: United States; Running Time: 11 min

Don’t You Go Nowhere
Director: Bryan Poyser
Country: United States; Running Time: 8 min

Everybody Goes to the Hospital
Director: Tiffany Kimmel
Country: United States; Running Time: 9 min

For Paloma
Director: Suraj Savvkor
Country: United States; Running Time: 10 min

Graveyard Spiral
Director: Evelyn Lee
Country: United States; Running Time: 10 min

Great Grandfather’s Wishes
Director: Chih-Chung Wang
Country: Taiwan; Running Time: 7 min

I still haven’t found what I’m looking for. 
Director: Steve Collins
Country: United States; Running Time: 8 min

Inner Wound Real
Director: Carrie Hawks
Country: United States; Running Time: 15 min

Intimacy Workshop
Director: Eddie Prunoske
Country: United States; Running Time: 10 min

Julia
Director: Jack Donnelly
Country: UK; Running Time: 8 min

Keep/Delete
Director: Kryzz Gautier
Country: United States; Running Time: 19 min

Look Like You
Director: Snigdha Kapoor
Country: United States; Running Time: 13 min

Maggie
Director: James Kennedy
Country: UK; Running Time: 16 min

Moving or Being Moved
Director: Sabine Gruffat
Country: United States; Running Time: 11 min

My Dear Son
Director: Wing Yan Lilian Fu
Countries: Hong Kong/United Kingdom; Running Time: 8 min

New Moon Dissolved
Director: Lucinda Roberts
Country: United States; Running Time: 7 min

Non-Negotiable
Director: Mike Doxford
Country: UK; Running Time: 9 min

Our Language Is Chaos
Director: Cory Byam
Country: United States; Running Time: 13 min

Ousmane
Director: Jorge Camarotti
Country: Canada; Running Time: 25 min

Peggy Blue Eyes
Director: Reece Roark
Country: United States; Running Time: 13 min

People Like More
Director: Laura Asherman
Country: United States; Running Time: 3 min

Piercing
Director: Nate Gualtieri
Country: United States; Running Time: 7 min

Points
Director: Tony Glynn
Country: United States; Running Time: 17 min

Rear
Director: Edward Worthy
Country: United States; Running Time: 20 min

retire.ai
Director: Charles Dillon Ward
Country: United States; Running Time: 6 min

Revelation to the Disembodied
Director: André Silva
Country: United States; Running Time: 9 min

Shelf Life
Director: Luke Roulstone
Countries: England/UK; Running Time: 19 min

Swat
Director: Sam Coombes
Country: UK; Running Time: 9 min

The Blackbird Mother
Director: Oksana Mirzoyan
Country: United States; Running Time: 3 min

The Brad Particle
Director: Douglas Cole Berry
Country: United States; Running Time: 9 min

The Diamond
Director: Vedran Rupic
Countries: Sweden/Portugal; Running Time: 14 min

The Errand 
Director: Amanda Renee Knox
Country: United States; Running Time: 11 min

The Fourth
Director: Johnny Kirk
Country: United States; Running Time: 12 min

The Name
Director: Aaron Strand
Country: United States; Running Time: 7 min

The Perfect Fit
Director: Meinardas Valkevičius
Country: Lithuania; Running Time: 11 min

The Spirit God Gave Us
Director: Michael Donte
Country: United States; Running Time: 20 min

The Trick
Director: Jackson Strickland
Country: United States; Running Time: 2 min

The Well
Director: Peter Stanley-Ward
Country: UK; Running Time: 9 min

this little house i planned
Director: Summer Baldwin
Country: United States; Running Time: 8 min

Time Tourists
Director: Ian Sweeney
Country: New Zealand; Running Time: 6 min

What’s Her Name?
Director: Tony King
Country: United States; Running Time: 7 min
Documentary Shorts

A Relationship with a Camera
Director: Tony King
Country: United States; Running Time: 6 min

American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton
Directors: Andrew Abrahams, Herb Ferrette
Country: United States; Running Time: 40 min

An Army Rising Up
Directors: Pablo Correa and Brian Graves
Country: United States; Running Time: 23 min

Belle River
Directors: Guillaume Fournier, Yannick Nolin, Samuel Matteau
Country: United States; Running Time: 11 min

Brotherness 
Director: David Power
Country: Romania; Running Time: 8 min

CANS Can’t Stand
Directors: Matt Nadel, Megan Plotka
Country: United States; Running Time: 19 min

Defending the Dark 
Director: Tara Roberts Zabriskie
Country: United States; Running Time: 15 min

Down South Diaspora: An Ancestral Memory 
Director: Jai Williams
Country: United States; Running Time: 13 min

Dry Bones 1 
Director: Jeremey Lavoi
Country: United States; Running Time: 10 min

Dry Bones 2: Grandfather’s Waltz
Director: Jeremey Lavoi
Country: United States; Running Time: 13 min

Escape Artists: The Tale of Mike, Mike Jr, and Freddie
Director: Nancy Siesel
Country: United States; Running Time: 15 min

Gateway Toys
Director: Olivia Whittington
Country: United States; Running Time: 19 min

Heartbreak Henry: The Show Must Go On
Director: Michael Fagans
Country: United States; Running Time: 22 min

How to Rat
Director: Madison Cavalchire, Laura Asherman
Country: United States; Running Time: 10 min

In the Weeds
Director: Laura Asherman & C.G. Watson
Country: United States; Running Time: 11 min

It’s in the Voices
Director: Field Humphrey
Country: United States; Running Time: 23 min

Jamia
Director: John Reyer Afamasaga
Country: United States; Running Time: 15 min

Krush The Wrestler
Director: Alex Megaro
Country: United States; Running Time: 14 min

Land Before Land
Director: Steve Bransford
Country: United States; Running Time: 10 min

Mississippi Creates: Andrew Bryant
Director: Sandip Rai
Country: United States; Running Time: 19 min

Mississippi Creates: Big Clown 
Director: Christina Huff
Country: United States; Running Time: 19 min

Slice
Director: Zaire Love
Country: United States; Running Time: 16 min

Tapping into Our Past, Tapping into Our Future: Ayodele Casel
Directors: Jennifer Burton and Ursula Burton
Country: United States; Running Time: 10 min

The Defenders: How Lawyers Protected the Movement
Director: Roderick Red
Country: United States; Running Time: 40 min

The Foundry
Director: Robert Machoian
Country: United States; Running Time: 5 min

The Hollidays in Mississippi 
Director: Christina Huff
Country: United States; Running Time: 36 min

The Journey of Tiak Hikiya Ohoyo
Director: Mark Williams
Country: United States; Running Time: 48 min

The Long Haul: Jessica 
Director: Maggie Bushway
Country: United States; Running Time: 9 min

Wiley’s Last Resort
Director: Evan Mascagni and Shawn Lind
Country: United States; Running Time: 17 min

Music Videos

Christmas at Midnight – Robby Grant
Director: Ben Siler
Country: United States; Running Time: 3 min

Cornbread & Black-Eyed Peas Music Video
Director: Brett Ball
Country: United States; Running Time: 7 min

Determination of a Butterfly. 
Director: Lohn Lenoir
Country: United States; Running Time: 4 min

Dyke Plumage
Director: Alexandra Gascón
Country: Spain; Running Time: 3 min

Ed McMed’s Vacation – Rev Neil Down
Directors: Edward Valibus, Steph Bennett
Country: United States; Running Time: 4 min

Emily White – Early Monday
Director: Hunter Heath
Country: United States; Running Time: 5 min

Guru$$
Directors: Chris Johnson, Erik Passoja
Country: United States; Running Time: 4 min

Heart in a Notebook
Directors: Rory Ledbetter, Danny Klimetz
Country: United States; Running Time: 5 min

Hope You Don’t Dream
Director: Kell Kellum
Country: United States; Running Time: 4 min

I Made It
Director: Patti Price
Country: United States; Running Time: 7 min

Imagine That 
Director: Zaire Love
Country: United States; Running Time: 4 min

Jeff Hilliard – Abandon
Director: Jeff Hilliard
Country: United States; Running Time: 6 min

Mellows by Saturn Velvet Club
Director: Saturn Velvet Club
Country: United States; Running Time: 4 min

Outta Here: Escape the Simulation
Directors: Danielle Ellesse Smith, Avitiuh
Country: United States; Running Time: 8 min

Ray Kincaid: Scatter Brain Freestyle
Director: Kira Cummings
Country: United States; Running Time: 2 min

Top Notch Goddess
Director: Mya-Bre
Country: United States; Running Time: 3 min

Vegas Full Video and Short Film
Directors: Stace Shook, Cassie Shook, J.B. Lawrence
Country: United States; Running Time: 10 min

What I Want Full Video and Short Film
Directors: Stace Shook, Cassie Shook, J.B. Lawrence
Country: United States; Running Time: 13 min

Project(ion)

Florida, You’re A Dream
Director: Ivette Spradlin
Country: United States; Running Time: 1 min

Galaxias tou Gala (Milk Galaxy)
Director: Colette Copeland
Country: United States; Running Time: 6 min

Haven
Director: Geiger
Country: United States; Running Time: 10 min

Lydia Panas – various Works
Director: Lydia Panas
Country: United States; Running Time: various

Resonance
Director: Raquel Salvatella de Prada
Country: United States; Running Time: 11 min

sequence
Director: Taoyuan Jin
Country: United States; Running Time: 18 min

The Hour Coat
Director: Amy Kravitz
Country: United States; Running Time: 13 min

 

Written By
More from Dev Shapiro
Raymond Lewis: L.A. Legend Premieres Theatrically Oct. 27 & on VOD Nov. 1
  Following an award-winning run on the film festival circuit, the powerful...
Read More
0 replies on “Oxford Film Festival 2023 Announces 20th Anniversary Lineup Including WN Selig’s 1916 Film THE CRISIS”