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 “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: JUST 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 wasn’t enough, we have four words for you: QUARANTINE CAT FILM FESTIVAL.
QUARANTINE CAT FILM FESTIVAL
“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,” said Executive Director Melanie Addington. “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.”
WEEKLY VIRTUAL FILM FEST TICKETS:
THE KILLING OF KENNETH CHAMBERLAIN – Open in Mississippi and Tennessee
https://watch.eventive.org/2020oxff/play/5ea96ba4e7d2fc0029a469b5
Live Q&A set for June 21 at 7 p.m.
LGBTQIA+ Block – Open Globally
https://watch.eventive.org/2020oxff/play/5e9c92bb139d81002ad8267d
Live Q&A set for June 20 at 7 p.m.
THE RABBI GOES WEST – Open to Mississippi, Tennessee and Alabama
https://watch.eventive.org/2020oxff/play/5ea34352f3aee6003072dc2f
Live Q&A set for June 21 at 8:30 p.m.
VIRTUAL ART HOUSE RENTAL TICKETS:
16 BARS
https://oxfordac.eventive.org/schedule/5ee7a684250b464735fed638
ALL I CAN SAY
https://oxfordac.eventive.org/schedule/5eda5c919f89590030a99b9e
ELLA FITZGERALD: JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS
https://oxfordac.eventive.org/schedule/5ed329c0f7f9e2009140d10e
THE LAST TREE
https://oxfordac.eventive.org/schedule/5edac78508ec2e003033aaa0
QUARANTINE CAT FILM FESTIVAL
https://oxfordac.eventive.org/schedule/5ee52d6ab91001005ad05550
YAC PRESENTS OXFORD SONGWRITERS
https://watch.eventive.org/oxfordac/play/5ee536ef461fd600541ab9e9?m=1
OFF to the DRIVE-IN TICKETS
MISS JUNETEENTH
https://oxfordac.eventive.org/schedule/5ee103a7c62b690053d85e7f
June 21 at 8 p.m. at Cannon Lot (100 Thacker loop)
Pre-purchases only
WIN, LOSE, OR DRAW STRAWS
https://oxfordac.eventive.org/schedule/5eda11eae248810029805630
June 25 at 8 p.m. at Cannon Lot (100 Thacker loop)
Pre-purchases only
GREASE
https://oxfordac.eventive.org/schedule/5eda14fc7c2fef0097e32339
June 26 at 8 p.m. at Cannon Lot (100 Thacker loop)
Pre-purchases only
GREASE
https://oxfordac.eventive.org/schedule/5eda1607e560c600458e2096
June 27 at 8 p.m. at Cannon Lot (100 Thacker loop)
Pre-purchases only
OXFORD FILM FESTIVAL 2020 9th WEEKLY VIRTUAL FILM FEST
Films, events and descriptions
THE KILLING OF KENNETH CHAMBERLAIN – Narrative Feature Winner
Director: David Midell
Country: USA, Running Time: 86 min
Based on the true story of the events that led to the death of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., an elderly African American veteran with bipolar disorder, who was killed during a conflict with police officers who were dispatched to check on him. Proceeds for this film will go to Social Responsibility Unit Chamberlain Jr. created under the Urban League of Westchester.
THE RABBI GOES WEST
Directors: Amy Geller and Gerald Peary
Country: USA, Running Time: 82 min
A fish out of water story about a young and charismatic Hasidic Chabad rabbi who moved from Brooklyn, NY to Bozeman, Montana to bring his brand of Judaism to the American west. His mission: to place a Mezuzah, an encased prayer offering, on the doorpost of every Montana Jew. As he travels across this “big sky” landscape, he confronts threats to Jews from neo-Nazis and objections to his proselytizing from members of the Jewish community.
FROM BAGHDAD TO THE BAY (LGBTQIA+ Feature Winner extended to June 30)
Director: Erin Palmquist
Country: USA, Running Time: 68:21 min
From Baghdad to The Bay is a raw and deeply personal look at one man’s harrowing journey to be true to himself amidst extreme adversity. The film follows the epic journey of Ghazwan Alsharif, an Iraqi refugee and former translator for the U.S. military. Wrongfully accused of being a double agent, tortured by the U.S. military and ostracized from family and country, Ghazwan struggles to rebuild his life in the United States while coming out as an openly gay activist.
SHORT FILM PROGRAM
LGBTQIA+ Shorts #2
TRT: 74:15 min
2 WEEKS
Director: Victoria Negri
Country: USA, Running Time: 10:30 min
Tanya’s sanity is tested as she wakes up to the realization that she does not experience sexual attraction the way the majority of the world does. Sexualization is thrown at her in everything she does, forcing her to understand that something is different inside of her. As an actor in an industry that perpetuates womxn’s worth based on sex appeal and an immediate circle of friends whoa are “woke” to femxle sexual empowerment, she can no longer lie to herself or to the person she values the most.
DEAR HUBERT CREEKMORE
Director: Mary Stanton Knight
Country: USA, Running Time: 15 min
How much does a place hold onto a person? How do the memories of a childhood hometown resonate decades later in the works of a writer? Dear Hubert Creekmore explores the connection between the past, our memories of growing up, and how we remember those who came before us.
QUEERING THE SOUTH THROUGH DRAG
Director: Christina Huff
Country: USA, Running Time: 13:39 min
Drag queens GoDiva Holliday and DeePression Holliday recount their experiences as drag performers in the American South and speak about topics such as family and gender.
TOUCHSCREEN
Director: Arthur Halpern
Country: USA, Running Time: 14:59 min
Brian drifts through life using a computer monitor as his window to the world outside, unable to connect meaningfully with people on the other side of his screen. After an unusual online encounter, Brian is challenged to step out from behind his computer and shatter long-lived inhibitions to claim the touch of another human being.
UNSPOKEN – LGBTQIA Short Winner
Director: Patrick G. Lee
Country: USA, Running Time: 17:07 min
Through letter-writing, a community discussion, and a drag performance, six queer and trans Asian Americans grapple with their queerness and consider what family acceptance might look like.
OFF to the DRIVE IN
GREASE (1978)
Director: Randel Kleiser
Country: USA, Running Time: 110 min
Good girl Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John) and greaser Danny Zuko (John Travolta) fell in love over the summer. When they unexpectedly discover they’re now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance?
MISS JUNETEENTH
Director: Channing Godfrey Peoples
Country: USA, Running Time: 103 min
A former beauty queen and single mom prepares her rebellious teenage daughter for the “Miss Juneteenth” pageant.
WIN, LOSE OR DRAW STRAWS
Director: Casey W. Phillips
Country: USA, Running Time: 82 min
WIN, LOSE OR DRAW STRAWS is a rare political film that brings together left, right, center, and agnostic by exposing a little known oddity in US electoral politics, the existence, and resolution of races that end in perfect ties. Travel the country meeting those who’s fate, representation, and policy decisions that affect real lives come down to a coin flip, straw draw, card game, or another “game of chance”. In a time where politics is incredibly high stakes, solving important races with a coin flip is an unimaginable reality for most casual observers and political junkies alike. This roller coaster ride through local politics all the way up to presidential campaigns seeks to inspire change in our electoral system as a whole and personal behavior of citizens by shining a bright light on the importance of individual citizen participation in selecting our leaders.
VIRTUAL ART HOUSE
16 BARS
Director: Tamir x Singleton
Country: USA, Running Time: 94 min
16 BARS is a feature-length music doc that offers a rare glimpse at the human stories — and songs — that are locked away in our nation’s jails and prisons. In a Virginia jail’s makeshift recording studio, four men collaborate on an album with Grammy-winning recording artist, Todd “Speech” Thomas, from the hip-hop group Arrested Development. With the U.S. locking up more of its citizens per capita than any other nation on the planet, the music of 16 Bars serves as rare testimony to the raw and messy truth behind the criminal justice system‘s revolving door.
ALL I CAN SAY
Directors: Danny Clinch, Taryn Gould
Coleen Hennessy, Shannon Hoon
Country: USA, Running Time: 102 min
Shannon Hoon, lead singer of the rock band Blind Melon, filmed himself from 1990-95 with a Hi8 video camera, recording up until a few hours before his sudden death at the age of 28. His camera was a diary and his closest confidant. In the hundreds of hours of footage, Hoon meticulously documented his life – his family, his creative process, his television, his band’s rise to fame and his struggle with addiction.
ELLA FITZGERALD: JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS
Director: Leslie Woodhead
Country: USA, Running Time: 89 min
Film looks at the life ad career of the legendary and unique songstress, Ella Fitzgerald
QUARANTINE CAT FILM FESTIVAL
Director: Various
Country: USA, Running Time: Multiple
Amateur filmmakers from around the world filmed their beloved cats during COVID-19 stay-at-home orders. This compilation reel brings together the cutest, funniest, bravest and most loving of these videos, exclusively filmed during the pandemic.
THE LAST TREE
Director: Shola Amoo
Country: UK, Running Time: 98 min
After a happy childhood in the countryside, a teenager moves to London, where he must navigate an unfamiliar environment on his road to adulthood.
YAC PRESENTS OXFORD SONGWRITERS
Director: Various
Country: USA, Running Time: Multiple
The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council, The Local Voice and Mississippi Presenters Network hosted the Social Distancing Songwriter Contest in the spring. The goal was to highlight the talent in the community and offer an experience that engages listeners. The Film Festival is going a step further and donating proceeds from the videos streaming here to the artists and to YAC for their support of the talented community.
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