Arts & Entertainment
Powerhouse to Host Free Screening of "Deepsouth" Nov. 30
The HIV/AIDS crisis in the rural southern U.S. is the focus of “Deepsouth,” a documentary film to be screened for free at 7 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 30, at the Powerhouse.
Oxford Film Festival (OFF) and the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies will host the screening in honor of World AIDS Day. A Q&A session with several of the film’s subjects will follow.
“Deepsouth” focuses on the new American South and the individuals who inhabit its most isolated corners. It follows college student Josh, an Alabama activist named Kathie, and Monica and Tammy, who host a yearly HIV retreat in rural Louisiana. Between these four, they begin to redefine traditional southern values and create their own plausible solutions to survive the HIV crisis, despite the rising death toll.
“HIV and AIDS continue to be one of the top issues in Mississippi, with the state ranking seventh in the nation for prevalence of the disease,” said Melanie Addington, OFF’s executive director. “It is critical to better understand and instill change in how we view this. As a non-profit that seeks to cover all areas of film, this was absolutely an opportunity to actively play a role and further the dialogue.”
The Oxford Film Festival was founded in 2003 to bring exciting, new and unusual films (and the people who create them) to North Mississippi. The annual five-day festival screens short and feature-length films in both showcase and competition settings, including narrative and documentary features and shorts; Mississippi narratives, documentaries and music videos; and narrative, documentary, animated and experimental shorts. The festival is a 501c3 not-for- profit organization.
Special to HottyToddy.com