Oxford Film Festival Presents 2nd Weekly Virtual Film Fest

The Oxford Film Festival’s 2nd Weekly Virtual Film Fest showcases Daniel Lafrentz LGBTQ+ drama “THE LONG SHADOW,” where a small town sheriff in Louisiana investigates the murder of the woman she loved, which unearths old money corruption in her town, Travis Beard’s music documentary “ROCKABUL,” which places viewers in the middle of the underground expat music scene in Afghanistan, and the animated/experimental short film collection Fest Forward-Global, which features films from China, Estonia, Germany, Israel, and the USA exploring themes of loneliness and making connections with one another and the spaces we live in.

“The importance of curating this weekly mix is to showcase the versatility of our filmmakers and highlight how global cinema unites us,” OFF Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “Whether through a music documentary about fighting a conservative government with art, or Queer cinema from southern filmmakers, to gorgeous animation from Oxford Film Fest alumni like film professor and fest circuit favorite Geoff Marslett, this week’s virtual film festival again allows us to narrowly focus in on these great films and engage much longer detailed conversations about filmmaking.”

OXFORD FILM FESTIVAL 2020 2ND WEEKLY VIRTUAL FILM FEST
Films, events and descriptions:

Creating Black Stories in Mississippi
The first of Oxford Film festival’s Mississippi Humanities Council sponsored panel discussions features filmmaker Chris Windfield of “70 YEARS OF BLACKNESS,” Je-Monda Roy of “GETTING TO THE ROOT,” with Mississippi author Kiese Laymon of Heavy as they discuss Creating Black Stories in Mississippi. Ethel Scurlock of the University of Mississippi will moderate the conversation.

THE LONG SHADOW
Director: Daniel Lafrentz
Country: USA, Running Time: 95 min
A young sheriff’s deputy takes on her Louisiana town’s old-money establishment when the woman she loves — an attorney fighting a rail deal that will displace the poor — is found murdered.
Preceded by:
SWEET STEEL
Director: Will Goss
Country: USA, Running Time: 4:37 min
A depressed man puts off an important task.

ROCKABUL
Director: Travis Beard
Country: Afghanistan, Running Time: 90 min
ROCKABUL examines the counter culture campaign that the US government waged in Afghanistan, told through the eyes of a young band in the war torn capital of Kabul, where rock music is forbidden. The band, District Unknown put themselves in the firing line to challenge freedom of expression, youth identity and conflict with culture. A glimpse into the underground expat party scene, at odds with the conservative and fundamentalist society in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Fest Forward Global
TRT: 00:59:00
Animated films from China, Estonia, Germany, Israel join those from the USA that explore ideas of loneliness and emotional connection with each other and everything hat surrounds us.

ANACRONTE AND THE SORCERERS OF EVIL
Directors: Raul Koler, Emiliano Sette
Country: USA, Running Time: 14:00
Without any emotion and fulfilling their destiny, they put to test humanity’s happiness in a struggle that, in short, has each of us as winners and losers.

ANGEL’S TRUMPET
Director: Martinus Klemet
Country: Estonia, Running Time: 2:26
The next step in the evolution of hummingbirds.

HOW AND WHY DON JOSE DISSIPATED
Director: Moshe Ben-Avraham
Country: Israel, Running Time: 12:58 min
A delighted bee disturbs the tranquility of vacationers on a quiet pastoral island.

IKTAMULI
Director: Anne-Christin Plate
Country: Germany, Running Time: 5:30 min
An autobiographic story about the conflict of a mother and her feelings of love, connection, self-pity and denial for her disabled son.

OSIKIRA – BLACK CHAMPAGNE
Director: Jeremiah Williams
Country: USA, Running Time: 5 min
Queen Suraya and King Jamari are the leaders of the magical Nemanyo civilization and derive their powers from an ancient lotus flower that was brought to earth by their ancestors thousands of years ago.

THE PHANTOM 52
Director: Geoff Marslett
Country: USA, Running Time: 7:25 min
Loneliness is a trucker who calls out on his CB radio waiting for a reply that never comes; A ghost that haunts the desert highways; and a whale that sings at a frequency no other whale can even hear.

PROPOLIS, PART 7
Director: Patricia Beckmann Wells
Country: USA, Running Time: 3 min
The human race is outnumbered by insects, so what would happen if they bonded together to take over the world? Liz and Beaux are a sister and brother, trapped in a closet as punishment by an alcoholic mother, who want to escape.

UMBILICAL
Director: Danski Tang
Countries: China/USA, Running Time: 6:53 min
This piece is an animated documentary exploring how a mother’s abusive relationship with the filmmaker’s father shaped their own experiences in a boarding school in China.

TICKETS:
Creating Black Stories in Mississippi
https://www.youtube.com/user/oxfordfilmfest
Live conversation/panel set for May 1 at 12 p.m. central time

THE LONG SHADOW/SWEET STEEL
https://watch.eventive.org/2020oxff/play/5e908bf7773343002a2dd364
Live Q&A set for May 6 at 6 p.m. central time

ROCKABUL
https://watch.eventive.org/2020oxff/play/5e9dcb7302bda10185e916a8
Live Q&A set for May 8 at 8 p.m. central time

Fest Forward Global Short Film Collection
https://watch.eventive.org/2020oxff/play/5e94c2e22091350029382e2d
Live Q&A set for May 2 at 1 p.m. central time