Named a Top 50 Film Festival worth the entry fee over several years by MovieMaker magazine, the 18th Oxford Film Festival is currently planned to be held in March 2021, subject to changes in dates and venues (including in person vs. virtual-only platforms) depending on the conditions related to the coronavirus / COVID-19 in the time period leading up to the festival dates. Oxford Film Festival is an event celebrating the art of independent film. The festival will bring together filmmakers and filmgoers from across the globe to celebrate films and to foster film-related related discussions and connections, either in person or virtually for films that opt in for this format.
Recent years have included visits from Angie Thomas with THE HATE U GIVE, Adam Rifkin with THE LAST MOVIE STAR, Cady McClain with SEEING IS BELIEVING, Danny Glover to introduce I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, Robert Longstreet with THE MISSING GIRL, James Franco and Tim Blake Nelson with THE SOUND AND THE FURY, Academy Award winners and nominees, Independent Spirit Award nominees, and favorites on the film festival circuit in addition to local and regional films.
Home to the University of Mississippi, past haunts of William Faulkner, Larry Brown, Barry Hannah and John Grisham, current home of Ace Atkins, Jack Pendarvis, and listed as one of John Vilani's "100 best small arts towns in America," Oxford offers a unique blend of literary and artistic appreciation within the setting of a vibrant college town.
"Regional festivals are becoming more and more important in the film landscape, uplifting new, diverse voices in a time where people are viewing films in a group setting less and less. At Oxford, the success lay in the crop of powerful stories from fresh voices, many of which aligned with, and then furthered, our cultural conversation."
- Meredith Alloway, Filmmaker Magazine
"The word that one hears over and over again at the Oxford Film Festival is “community…” This is a festival that seeks to reflect the community from which it arises, both the local one and the international one connected by filmmaking. It is a homegrown, intimate festival that nonetheless features voices from around the world, harmoniously united through the community of film."
- Brian Tallerico, rogerebert.com
Contests:
Short Screenplay Competition - $1000 cash
Programmers Awards:
Alice Guy-Blaché Emerging Female Filmmaker Award - $1,000 cash
Angie Thomas Zeitgeist Award
The Lisa Blount Memorial Acting Award
The jury-selected Hoka award and cash prize is presented to the winning films for the following categories:
Narrative Feature - $15,000 camera rental package from Panavision
Documentary Feature - $15,000 camera rental package from Panavision,
Narrative Short - Three days of audio post production from Taproot Design in Oxford
Documentary Short - Three days of audio post production from Taproot Audio Design in Oxford
Mississippi Short - One-year membership and free equipment rentals from OxFilm Society
Mississippi Feature - One-year membership and free equipment rentals from OxFilm Society.
Mississippi Music Video - One-year membership and free equipment rentals from OxFilm Society. & 3 days of recording time from Nathan Robbins
LGBTQIA Short
LGBTIA Feature
Best Music Documentary
Fest Forward Animation & Experimental
Student