To educate and entertain....

A video reminder of who we are, and what we do.

Oxford Film Festival Promotional from UM Media Documentary Projects on Vimeo.

The Oxford Film Festival is less than 90 days away. We are screening our entries, following up with potential sponsors, and applying for grants.

All donations to the Oxford Film Festival are tax deductible. Contact us today to learn more about our Sponsorship Packages, or check out our Sponsorship Page.

R.E.M.: This is not a show (ONE NIGHT ONLY @ The Lyric)

Friday, October 30
8:pm
$5 at the door
60 min.
ONE TIME ONLY

The Oxford Film Festival is pleased to partner with The Lyric Oxford to bring the brand-new (dairy-fresh!) concert film, R.E.M.: THIS IS NOT A SHOW, for a one-time screening.

The film chronicles the band's “working rehearsals” at Dublin's Olympia Theatre in 2007, where they played classics (These Days, Cuyahoga, So. Central Rain) and tested then-new material (from ACCELERATE) over five nights before sold-out crowds.

"R.E.M.'s music is ... the soundtrack to your life" -- actually, this is true, at least for me.

Hope you can join us....

OFF 2009 Alums have theatrical releases

We always love to follow the progress of films and filmmakers from our fests and wanted to let you know about two OFF 09 films that are having theatrical releases currently.

"Trucker," starring Oxford's own Joey Lauren Adams, will open on Oct. 16 at the Laemmle in Los Angeles. Director James Mottern and star Michelle Monaghan will be there on Friday at the 7:20 screening for a Q&A. For more on the film and screenings, visit www.truckermovie.net



Also opening is a film from our summer series, "Adventures of Power," starring Ari Gold who sent us this e-mail with some updates on its theatrical run starting tonight:

NYC Sendoff Screenings tonight!
Those of you in New York, please send a crowd to "Adventures of Power" TONIGHT at the AMC Loews Village 7 on 3rd Ave. and 11th St.. We are finishing our one-week run there and moving to California tomorrow, so let's go out with a bang as we head into the wilds of America, with the movie Time Out NY praised for its fearlessness!

LA Opening tomorrow!
We begin our week in LA tomorrow, Friday at the Laeemle. I will be doing Q/As at all the weekend screenings, along with some cast members.

Charity Party Hotness, & Metallica and more in our online auction!
Our parties in NY (with the Prigs, World War, DJ Jonathan Taubin, and The Honey Brothers) and LA (with Ozomatli, Soko, the Ethan Gold Amoeba Records Employee Last-Minute Soundtrack Band, the Good Listeners, and DJ Mearii), have raised thousands of dollars to support music education for kids. The parties were also awesome. In LA, torrential rains, torrential love. Tomorrow, as our film opens in L.A., we're launching our online auction, with drums signed by Metallica, Rush, Judas Priest, Broken Social Scene, Brian Viglioni, artwork by Shepard Fairey, and more.

Next week, Austin and Salt Lake City! For more information on screenings and the online auction, visit www.adventuresofpower.com

See our photos from the Intruder in the Dust anniversary!

Vintage cloth banner from original 1949 premiere at the Lyric Theater courtesy of Jo Ann Vick

Thanks to our photographers Brooke White and Katherine Rhodes Fields for taking such beautiful (and flattering!) photographs during our anniversary screening of Intruder in the Dust, which also served as our fall fundraiser.

Please refer to our Gallery Page for a slideshow (remember to click "start"!)....

These photos have also been posted to our Facebook page.

In praise of: The Center for Media and Documentary Projects

Matthew, Micah and Karen from MDP hard at work.

Inadvertently left off of our extensive thank-you letter following Friday's fundraiser, as published in Monday's Oxford Eagle, was the Center for Media and Documentary Projects at the University of Mississippi. This was a colossal failure to recognize on our part, so we want to show them some love.

Without MDP, we would not have the technical support necessary to put anything visual on the screen. Not only do they help us with the actual equipment, but they also put together the trailers and promos that we play before films. And as the home base for both our co-director Micah Ginn and filmmakers Joe York and Matthew Graves, they make it look so easy that we often forget how much work they actually do. Reigning them in is Andy Harper, who is always the voice of calm and reason during our stressful storms.

They are a big piece of the Festival's puzzle, and without them we would not be where we are today. We could not do this without them.

Intruder in the Dust: 60th Anniversary

Photo by Bruce Newman for the Oxford Eagle

Thanks to all who attended and/or supported our 60th anniversary screening of Intruder in the Dust. We are anxiously awaiting the photos from our intrepid photographers, and hope to post them by/before the end of the week.

Highlights included: hearing stories from Lee Caplin (agent of the Faulkner literary estate), watching Claude Jarman, Jr. meet and greet those who had met him 60 years ago, laughing with the crowd about x-ray glasses during Joe York's documentary, When We Were Extras, and again during the Q&A, and eating mini salmon cakes and other delights from City Grocery.

This was our big fall fundraiser, and attendance was estimated to be between 350 and 400 people. We won't know the final numbers until we clear our expenses, but in the most general of terms, it was a successful evening on all levels. We still need your help, however -- we have a long way to go to make our budget -- but this is a great start.

Missed the Deadline? Extended Deadline still available on Withoutabox

There's still time to send in your entry for the 2010 Oxford Film Festival.

An extended deadline is available until OCTOBER 1 for those who submit via Withoutabox.com.

Click here to link to our WAB profile.

Q&A with filmmaker Tate Taylor

As part of our monthly catch up series with past Oxford Film Festival filmmakers, we introduce Tate Taylor (the guy on the right with actress Missi Pyle). One of our favorite filmmakers, Tate graduated from Ole Miss and is originally from Mississippi. He has since moved on and is a filmmaker in Los Angeles. You may recognize him from his stage and TV role in Sordid Series, but he first caught our eye with his short film "Chicken Party" and since has impressed us with "Pretty Ugly People" which opens in theaters on Sept. 18. See below for what Tate has been up to in his own words:

Q: Tell us about the films you screened at Oxford Film Festival and at the summer series?

A: We screened, Pretty Ugly People at the Summer series. We played to a packed crowd and the response was great.

Q: What has happened with the film since then?

A: Since then, we have won two additional festivals and got domestic distribution with Osiris Entertainment. The film will be available on DVD this coming January. A small theatrical release happens on Sept 18th.

Q: Why did you decide to submit to the Oxford Film Festival?

A: Well, I went to Ole Miss and felt that the southern slant to my film making would be well received in Oxford. I was right.

Q: Any favorite memories of your time at the festival?

A: Getting bombed with Melanie (film fest media coordinator) is one great memory. My family drove up from all over the state and we had a reunion of sorts before and after the screening. That was fun.

Q: Tell us more about Pretty Ugly People and how people can see it.

A: First, they should check out our web site. www.prettyuglypeople.com. We have lots of fun extras on the site. Actor interviews, trailer, and a naughty spoof music video.

Q: What influenced you to become a filmmaker Tate?

A: I came to L.A. to act. I eventually found myself attending classes at the GROUNDLINGS improv theater. During the third year, students are asked to start writing characters for themselves and to write scenes/skits to put up before a judging panel. I keep finding myself more interested in the other characters in my skits. I would act in them but in a very limited way. I was having more creative fun inventing the world within my skits. Loved creating other characters and casting them with my classmates. I enjoyed forming and manipulating these performances (directing) I eventually realized that film making was the best way for me to honor my true talents and desires... To write and then execute a made up world. I still act but much prefer Film making. It is the ultimate in creativity and control.

Q: What's next for you both?

A: I have just finished writing a Romantic Comedy set in India with my friend Charlie Stratton. Brunson (Green, Taylor's producer) and I just returned from India on a location scout. The project is call "My Name is Sara" We hope to film this January. After that I'm very excited to bring the Times Best selling Novel, "The Help." by Mississippi Author, Kathryn Stockett. It is a tale of triumph set in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963. Everyone should go read the novel. I have the film rights and have just completed the screenplay. We hope to film in Mississippi, fall 2010.