Best Of Oxford Film Fest Tours Mississippi

Oxford Film Festival will take the hits on the road to four Mississippi towns in June, bringing the best films from the February 2017 festival.

The first stop on the best of OFF tour is Jackson. The free community screening on June 1 will take place at restaurant and brewery Hal & Mal’s from 7 to 9 p.m. The screening is in partnership with Crossroads Film Festival and will showcase five films including “Firemax,” “Otha Turner,” “All Are Welcome Here,” “Broken Paths” and “Shake Em On Down.”
The second stop on June 2 and 3 is in Ocean Springs. The screenings will take place at the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Arts Center. Tickets may be purchased online at https://themaryc.org/?event=june-2017-best-oxford-film-festival. The June 2 screening is 6:30 – 9 p.m. and will screen “All Are Welcome Here” and “Some Freaks.”
The first set of June 3 screenings will begin at 10 a.m. and end at noon. The films to be screened are “Broken Paths,” “Refuge,” “The Fox and the Whale” and “Joel Blass.” The second set for June 3 will begin at 12:45 p.m. and end at 2:45 p.m., and will include “Firemax,” “Breakfast,” “Otha Turner” and “Don’t Come Around Here.” Tickets to each block can be purchased individually or a weekend pass can also be obtained. Proceeds go to support the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Arts Center.
June 22, the tour will stop in Grenada at First & Green. Oxford Film Festival is partnering with AfterGlow Film Festival for the free screening. Screening will begin at 6:30 p.m. showing “Firemax,” “Otha Turner,” “All Are Welcome Here,” “The Fox and the Whale” and “Some Freaks.” The screening will end at 9 p.m.
June 24 is the last date of the Best of Oxford Film Fest and will be at The Strand Theatre in Vicksburg. The free screening will be 6 – 9 p.m. and will screen “Firemax,” “Otha Turner,” “All Are Welcome Here,” “Broken Paths” and “Shake Em On Down.”
“We are so excited to take the Best of Oxford Film Fest tour around the state,” Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “I am also pleased to get to partner with The Strand in Vicksburg, AfterGlow Film Festival and First & Green in Grenada, Crossroads Film Society and Hal & Mals in Jackson, R&B Charitable Beaux Arts Foundation and Mary C OKeefe Cultural Arts Center in Ocean Springs.”

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FILM LOGLINE & RUN TIMES
ALL ARE WELCOME HERE is a short documentary on the Mississippi Coast’s reaction to House Bill 1523 approved by Governor Bryant that gives people the right to discriminate against LGBTQ people based on their religious beliefs. The total run time for the film is 28 minutes and 26 seconds.
BREAKFAST tells the story of when a young man suffering from anorexia is pressured to eat breakfast by his boyfriend, the couple are thrust into an otherworld where their anxieties and frustrations are made horrifyingly real. The run time for the film is 9 minutes and 42 seconds.

BROKEN PATHS is a music video filmed in Brandon, Mississippi, created by Stace and Cassie and J. B. Lawrence. The video is 4 minutes and 44 seconds.
DON’T COME AROUND HERE follows Chuck back to the home he ran away from after learning his father doesn’t have much time left to live. There, he must come to terms with his troubled brother Lenny, his own fears and a secret he has been hiding for years.

The Oxford community film FIREMAX features superheroes in the town of Oxford with no crime to fight. The run time for this film is 10 minutes.

JOEL BLASS is about the public servant to Mississippi whom inspired his fellow Mississippians to boldly carve out a new future for their state, despite being vilified by the press and threatened by forces of segregation. Joel Blass fought for justice, freedom and equal rights for every citizen. The film is an hour and 14 minutes long.
The short documentary OTHA TURNER digs into the archives to take us back in time to Labor Day 1978. In the late 1950s, fife and drum legend Otha Turner began hosting annual Labor Day picnics at his property in Gravel Springs, Mississippi. The documentary runs for 6 minutes and 2 seconds.
REFUGE is a chronicle of human stories from the European Refugee Crisis, focused on humanity and hope. The film runs for 20 minutes.

SHAKE EM ON DOWN tells the story of Mississippi Fred McDowell, the godfather of the North Mississippi style of blues. The film is 56 minutes and 40 seconds long.
SOME FREAKS follows the love story of one-eyed, high school senior Matt and 250-pound Jill. However, when graduation comes and Jill moves cross-country to go to college, she then loses over 50 pounds – much to Matt’s surprise when he arrives to visit her. While Matt struggles to accept Jill’s new body, Jill begins to question whether Matt is really the man she wants to date. As the distance widens between them, the characters are propelled onto a collision course with brutality and loss, forcing them to confront who they are, who they were and who everyone thinks they’re supposed to be.
THE FOX AND THE WHALE is the tale of a curious fox who goes in search of an elusive whale. The film is 12 minutes and 13 seconds long.

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