{"id":31136,"date":"2016-02-10T12:00:56","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T18:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=31136"},"modified":"2016-02-04T13:07:37","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T19:07:37","slug":"13th-annual-oxford-film-festival-bigger-than-ever-a-conversation-with-new-director-melanie-addington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/13th-annual-oxford-film-festival-bigger-than-ever-a-conversation-with-new-director-melanie-addington\/","title":{"rendered":"13th Annual Oxford Film Festival Bigger Than Ever: A conversation with New Director Melanie Addington"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"hoka-spearman\"<\/a>
hoka-spearman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Oxford Film Festival<\/strong>, gearing up for its thirteenth year, has already established itself as one of the most high-profile weekends on Oxford\u2019s entertainment calendar. But starting this year, the festival will expand beyond the confines of one movie theater and out into the Oxford community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Festival Director Melanie Addington<\/strong>, in her first year as the festival\u2019s full-time director, has been visiting film festivals around the country in search of ideas to snowball the festival\u2019s current footprint into something bigger.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is that we would start small and expand a little bit this year,\u201d says Addington, \u201cbut that we would eventually have a festival that\u2019s everywhere in Oxford.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s festival boasts 144 total films – sixty more than 2015\u2019s fest – including twenty-one world-premiere short films and twenty-one works from returning filmmakers. Over fifty festival screeners have been watching submissions over the past year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the most [films] we\u2019ve ever had, for sure,\u201d Addington laughs. \u201cWe\u2019ve been watching a lot of movies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The selection process ensures that both newcomers and regulars alike can find something to enjoy over the weekend. The lineup for the festival includes everything from midnight B-movies (Dude Bro Party Massacre 3<\/em><\/strong>) to faith-based narratives (Joey Lawrence<\/strong>\u2019s Saved By Grace<\/em><\/strong>).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are certain stories that work really well in Oxford, and our emphasis is not really on the flashy technology as much as it\u2019s on the story itself,\u201d Addington says. \u201cWe try to pick things that will challenge the Oxford audience, [but] also the feel-good, fun films that we know they\u2019ll enjoy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To help accommodate the festival\u2019s scope (and, as Addington explains, \u201cso people can see more of Oxford than just the Malco\u201d), the festival will be screening music videos at The Round Table<\/strong>, as well as free screenings of experimental and animation blocks at Shelter on Van Buren<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Powerhouse<\/strong> will also be featured prominently, housing screenings, art exhibits, and Mississippi\u2019s first-ever virtual reality screening.<\/span><\/p>\n

The virtual reality exhibit, a multimedia documentary entitled Searching For Hell<\/em><\/strong>, is one aspect of the festival that Addington has been planning out for some time as she\u2019s been visiting festivals around the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI went to New Orleans Film Festival and saw the virtual reality stuff that they\u2019re doing,\u201d Addington explains. \u201cA lot of why I went [to Sundance] was to see more virtual reality, because they\u2019ve been doing New Frontier stuff for ten years, sort of expanding the concept of storytelling outside of 2-and-3-D models.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo I wanted to bring that to Oxford, and I found out in doing so that we\u2019re the first in the state to show any virtual reality. So I\u2019m very excited.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Other highlights include a panel on animation featuring Adventure Time<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s head writer Kent Osborne<\/strong> (who works on the show alongside Oxford\u2019s very own Jack Pendarvis<\/strong>), Greg Sestero<\/strong> of The Room<\/em><\/strong> fame signing his book The Disaster Artist<\/em><\/strong> at Off Square Books<\/strong>, and a Friday evening conversation panel featuring Joey Lawrence and moderator John Widman<\/strong> of NPR\u2019s The Daily Buzz<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Events at The Lyric<\/strong> will include the opening night\u2019s Thacker Mountain Radio <\/strong>show, as well as the Hoka Awards<\/strong> presentations on Saturday, Feb. 20.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though this year\u2019s festival is already a highly involved undertaking, Addington says that she\u2019s looking to expand the presence of arthouse film in Oxford beyond just one weekend a year.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFive years out, I don\u2019t know how many more changes we\u2019ll be making beyond even better programming, more special guests,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re beginning this year to bring more distributors out to see films they might purchase.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Addington adds that, though the festival will curate monthly screenings from this point forward, the ultimate goal is to show arthouse cinema in Oxford on a daily, year-round basis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf somebody out there wants to give me a lot of money,\u201d she laughs, \u201cwe can get that started!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Oxford Film Festival will run from Feb. 17-21 at various locations throughout Oxford. For a full schedule, ticket pricing, and updates, visit <\/em>oxfordfilmfest.com<\/em><\/a> and follow the Oxford Film Festival (@oxfordfilmfest) on social media.\u00a0\"The<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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