FRIDAY, Feb. 22

Conversation With Roger Avary

Friday, 7:30 p.m. (Malco)

Ticket is $8 or free with a film festival pass for weekend.

Roger Avary, perhaps best known for his work with Quentin Tarantino in the early 1990′s, helping to write stories such as Reservoir Dogs and the Academy award-winning Pulp Fiction (Best Original Screenplay, 1994), will discuss his career as a screenwriter with fellow writer Chris Offut.  Avary went on to adapt Bret Easton Ellis’ novel The Rules of Attraction into a successful screenplay, before adapting Beowulf with Neil Gaiman, among other projects. He is currently working on a biopic of Ian Fleming. Moderator Chris Offutt is also on the Screenwriting Panel.

SATURDAY, Feb. 23  

Children’s Acting Workshop

Saturday, 9:00-10:30 a.m. (9-11 year olds); 10:45 a.m.-12:00 p.m. (Powerhouse) Free, reservation required (See oxfordfilmfest.com for details.)

Acting is part of a collaborative process that cannot happen without the work of Writers, Directors, Gaffers, Set Designers, Makeup artist, local communities, among others. The workshop will touch on both games and techniques that can help a young actor’s understanding of the work, time, and devotion it takes to truly understand and embody any character within a film or play.  Each class is limited to 15 participants and is led by Rhes Low and Anna Donnell of the Oxford Acting Studio.

Tips from Casting Agents and Actors in the Trenches

Saturday, 10:00 a.m. (Lyric)

Come learn more about breaking into Hollywood and independent productions. Questions will range from auditions to how casting works and feature a range of panelists. Panelists include Kim Taylor, Christine Elise McCarthy and Angie Moncrief.

Kimberly Taylor began her career in the entertainment industry almost 20 years ago in New York as a Commercial Print Model and a Commercial Actress. Upon graduating from college with a B.S. In Exercise Science and a Minor in Theatre, Kimberly headed to New York with the dream of modeling.
After securing a Talent Agent and being told she should concentrate on Commercials and Print because she was not tall enough to model, Kimberly began working as a Commercial Actress.
After a few years in business, Kimberly once again found herself back in the entertainment industry as a personal manager to a small group of adult actors in the southeast market. Eventually, she added a youth division and went public four years ago with her Talent Management Company “KTA” Talent Management Group.
(Kimberly Taylor and Associates). Kimberly has helped to develop talent in the southeast markets helping actors to first get work experience in their own market before making the transition to the LA and NY markets. This strategy has worked well and Kimberly manages talent bi-coastal. Kimberly also has producer and casting director credits and works as a audition and set coach. Kimberly is a member of the Talent Management Association in Los Angeles.
KTA clients Feature Film credits include supporting and lead roles (Partial List) “The Mechanic” opposite Jason Statham, “Beautiful Creatures” Emmy Rossum, “Season of the Witches” Nicholas Cage, “As I Lay Dying” James Franco, “ Playing for Keeps” Gerard Butler, “We’re the Millers” Jennifer Anniston, “Homefront” Jason Stratham, “Rites of Spring” “Bad Boy” Pitch Perfect” Anna Kendrick. “No One Lives” Luke Evans, “The Chaperone” “The Host” “Ticking Clock” “We Are the Millers” Jennifer Anniston.
TV Credits (Partial List): Series Regular “Jared Talbot” RECTIFY Sundance Channel’s first ever scripted one hour drama. Bones, Guest- Star, Til Death, Guest-Star, Identity Guest-Star (Modern Family “Skylar” Guest-Star (Possible Recurring) Rachel Crow Music Video, Victorious Guest-Star.

Christine Elise McCarthy, originally from Boston, has been acting professionally for 25 years. She has been seen on many televisions shows, most notably as Emily Valentine on “Beverly Hills 90210,” Harper Tracy on “ER,” HBO’s “Tell Me You Love Me,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “China Beach” and “In the Heat of the Night.” Her film credits include many indie projects, including Route 30 and Mojave Phone Booth, as well as Boiling Point andVanishing Point (both with Viggo Mortenson). As a writer, Christine has three episodes of “Beverly Hills 90210″ to her credit and had a pilot optioned by Aaron Spelling. She has been senior programmer for Michigan’s Waterfront Film Festival for all of its 15 years.  2012 saw her directorial debut, Bathing & the Single Girl,screen at over 100 film festivals & win 20 awards.  She is now shopping her first novel, also entitled Bathing and the Single Girl.

Angie Moncrief is a native Mississippian and mother of three children currently living in Flowood, MS.  In 2011, she became the managing agent for Action Talent Agency in Jackson, MS.

Action Talent Agency is a full service talent agency representing children, teens and adults for print, promotional, commercial and film work.  Angie’s progressive marketing and managing skills have led to signing talent all over the United States, now representing over 200 people.

ATA bookings in 2012 include a series regular on the new Sundance Channel series RECTIFY, A & E Television series BREAKOUT KINGS, BET bio pic LET THE CHURCH SAY AMEN, the SyFy Channel movie THE MONKEY’S PAW and more.  Feature film bookings include AS I LAY DYING starring James Franco, HOMEFRONT starring Jason Statham, SPACE WARRIORS starring Josh Lucas and Danny Glover, SAVING HARMONY starring Billy Zane and many others.  ATA talent can also be seen in local and national commercials including Bank Plus with Eli Manning, Shout! with Jennie Finch, Mossy Oak, MS Dept of Transportation,  MS Public Broadcasting plus many more.  More ATA bookings and contact info can be found at www.actiontalentagency.com and on Facebook .

Documentary Filmmaking

Saturday, 12:00 p.m. (Lyric)

In this annual panel, filmmakers and industry professionals take a look at the hot topics in documentary filmmaking. Featured panelists include Deirdre Haj (Executive Director of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival), Shirley Mixon (Programming Director for Mississippi Public Broadcasting), Bobby Thompson and documentary filmmaker Shannon McCoy Cohn.

After attending the Professional Actors training program at SUNY Purchase, Deidre Haj spent many years in front of the camera with roles on television shows such as Dallas, Star Trek: the Next Generation, and Cheers before transitioning to legal affairs and production. Her work includes documentaries such as Scene Smoking and Brushes with Life, and running her own production company, Ruffian Media. In 2010, she became the executive director of the Full Frame Documentary Festival at Duke University.

Andy Harper is the Director of the Media and Documentary Projects Center and an Instructional Assistant Professor of Southern Studies and Journalism at the University of Mississippi, where he teaches documentary and environmental studies classes. He holds a Ph.D in History from Northern Arizona University. Harper is the executive producer of all MDP projects, including those in this year’s OFF: Lecile, Pride and Joy, and Rebels: James Meredith and the Integration of Ole Miss.

Shirley Mixon joined Mississippi Public Broadcasting as Director of Content in May of 2004 overseeing MPB’s radio department, news and public affairs and a staff of eight television producers.  In January of 2010, she assumed the role of programming director. Mixon’s career began as a newsroom assistant in 1976 at WLBT-TV in Jackson.  In 1981 she joined WLOX-TV in Biloxi where she stayed for 10 years, before returning to WLBT-TV in 1992 as executive producer. She has produced a wide array of programming during her television career including award-winning newscasts, documentaries, public affairs programs and weekly magazine programs. She attended Mississippi University for Women, Mississippi State University, Hinds Community College and the Poynter Institute of Media Studies. Mixon resides in Madison County with husband, Bill, and three long-haired Chihuahuas.

Shannon McCoy Cohn is an independent film/TV producer and lawyer. She has worked with Mangusta Productions, an international film production company based in New York City, Rome and Los Angeles, since 2006 producing and distributing such award-winning films as Being in the World (2010), 2012 Time for Change (2010) and The Memento Mori Project.  She recently completed filming a new travel series, Sea Nation, which she produced and appears on camera alongside Globe Trekker’s Megan McCormick, currently airing on Discovery Channel International and National Geographic.  She attended the Graduate Film Program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and has a law degree from Vanderbilt University.

Bobby Thompson has sat on the Board of Directors for the Kansas City Jubilee Film Festival since 2005, and has been a senior programmer since 2009. He served 6 years on the Board of the Kansas City Independent Filmmakers Coalition. Bobby was a final juror for the Kansas City 48 hr. Film Project in 2012 and KC Creepfest in 2009. He’s been a panelist at Slamdance, Temecula Valley International Film/Music Festival, Kansas City FilmFest, and Kanas City Fringe Fest, as well as lectures at Rockport College in Maine, University of Central Missouri, Maine Photographic Workshops, Missouri Film Commission, and the International Film and Television Workshops.

Film History Tour

Hosted by Jack Mayfield Saturday, 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., leaving from Malco, 60 min. Free, no ticket required

Take a tour through the city of Oxford on the iconic Double Decker bus with local historian Jack Mayfield. The tour will visit sites of former movies filmed in Oxford, settings from novels now turned into films (upcoming “Joe” and “As I Lay Dying” and more) along with some William Faulkner trivia as it relates to his more cinematic storytelling. Buses are courtesy of the Oxford Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Music in Film

Saturday, 2:00 p.m. (Lyric) Free, no ticket required

Music plays such a pivotal role in film and television that many filmmakers find the search for the right music a daunting task.  In this panel, experts from all sides of the music and film industry sound off on the process of finding the best music, whether its originally composed or licensed, and the real-world experience of scoring and licensing music.  Panelists Scott Bomar, Ian Hieron, and Rush Hicks discuss the state of film music and modern-day trends, the role of music in film, placement of music in film and licensing issues, essential information for anyone interested in the business, process, and procedures of creating and finding music for film and television.

Scott Bomar is a Memphis musician, Emmy Award-winning film composer and Grammy nominated music producer and recording engineer.  Projects include the films Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan and Soul Men and producing and engineering Cyndi Lauper’s Grammy nominated album ”Memphis Blues” at his Electraphonic Recording Studio.  Bomar is also the leader of The Bo-Keys, a Memphis soul group whose most recent album, “Got to Get Back !” has been featured on NPR, the BBC, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today.  Bomar is a Trustee of the Memphis Chapter of the Recording Academy.

Ian Hierons was the Senior Vice President, Acquisitions, of Milan Records, one of the premiere soundtrack record labels in the world.  For more than ten years he successfully distributed soundtrack albums for numerous commercially and critically successful films including Pan’s Labyrinth, Mulholland Drive, The Queen and City of God. Score Revolution connects film music rights holders with licensing customers worldwide.  Employing the most sophisticated web technology, music is presented in a dedicated, expertly curated catalog making it easier for filmmakers and music licensing customers to explore and license music while providing music owners the opportunity to monetize their music assets while retaining ownership rights.

Rush Hicks has practiced law in Nashville on historic Music Row representing artists, songwriters, artist managers, business managers, record companies, record producers, booking agencies and publishing companies for more than twenty-five years.  He is professor and Chairman of the Music Business Program at the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University, teaching Music Licensing, Artist Management, Intellectual Property and Legal Issues in the Music Industry.

Screenwriting as Storytelling

Saturday, 4:00 p.m. (Lyric) Free, no ticket required

Moderator Coop Cooper talks with veteran screenwriter David Sheffield, critic turned screenwriter Kim Voynar, screenwriter and professor Chris Offutt and critic Gerald Peary on the importance of storytelling for the screen.

Coop Cooper, the “Small Town Critic,” has the versatility of a Swiss Army knife when it comes to writing in the motion picture industry. After earning his BFA in Cinema at Southern Methodist University and an MFA in Screenwriting at the American Film Institute in Hollywood, he collaborated with Academy Award-winning director Seth Winston on a Civil War-themed screenwriting project. He then applied his newly acquired skills to writing script coverage, movie reviews, entertainment-related articles and various screenwriting projects. After five years spent teaching English, writing and screenwriting at North Hollywood High School, he returned to his hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi where he writes movie reviews for the Clarksdale Press Register, operates his movie-related website Smalltowncritic.com, aids/promotes film crews seeking to shoot feature films in in the Mississippi Delta, teaches seminars, does location scouting, works on about a dozen screenwriting/film projects at a time and still manages to watch an average of 2 movies per day.

CHRIS OFFUTT has written and produced for True Blood, Weeds, and Treme. He’s also written two pilots, “Tough Trade” for Lions Gate, shot on location in Nashville, and “Star Wheel Badge,” for CBS, set in Texas. His screenplays include the produced short The Trapper. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi, and joined the Department of English at the University of Mississippi in 2011.

Gerald Peary is a long-time film critic for the Boston Phoenix, a cinema studies professor at Suffolk University, Boston, and the programmer of the Boston University Cinematheque. He is the author of nine books on film, and the film editor for the University Press of Mississippi “Conversations with Filmmakers” series. His documentary, For the Love of Movies: the Story of American Film Criticism, played at the 2010 Oxford Film Festival.

Mississippi native David Sheffield began his writing career at the age of 18 when he won the Deep South Writers Conference award with his short story, “Out of the Cold.” Following graduation from the University of Southern Mississippi, David and his brother Buddy wrote several children’s musicals for the Sheffield Ensemble Theater, a national touring company, that appeared at several prestigious venues around the country, including Wolf Trap and the Kennedy Center. In 1980, he joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live where he met writing partner Barry W. Blaustein. The two wrote several of Eddie Murphy’s most famous sketches, including Buckwheat, Gumby, Velvet Jones and James Brown’s Celebrity Hot Tub Party. In 1988, Blaustein & Sheffield wrote the screenplay for Coming to America, followed by Boomerang and The Nutty Professor I and II. They also co-wrote and produced What’s Alan Watching? for CBS, which won the National Television Critics Award as best special of the year. In 2004, Sheffield won the Faux Faulkner contest with his parody, “As I Lay Kvetching”. More recently, Sheffield has returned to fiction.  In 2010 his short story “Love In Vain” was anthologized in Delta Blues which included short stories by John Grisham, and Charlaine Harris.

Kim Voynar, a long-time film critic for Movie City News, began transitioning into filmmaking last year with her short film, Bunker (sneak preview, OFF 2012). She is currently producing projects in the realm of gaming and epic fantasy drama for Hostile Work Environment, a production company founded by former Wizards of the Coast owner Peter Adkison.

The Oxford Film Festival has been awarded a $2800 grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC). This grant is a portion of the $1.5 million in grants the Commission will award in 2012-2013 and will be used to fund the 10th anniversary festival in February 2013. The grants are made possible by continued funding from the Mississippi State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

“The grants awarded by the Commission to arts organizations across the state provide funding for the staging of festivals, theatre performances, and many other arts-related activities. With these funds, the organizations work diligently to help tell the unique story of their community, and to reinforce the value of building a creative economy,” said Malcolm White, Executive Director of MAC. “Additionally, the arts provide a positive environment for learning, both in the classroom and in the community.”

The Mississippi Arts Commission, a state agency, serves the residents of the state by providing grants that support programs to enhance communities; assist artists and arts organizations; promote the arts in education and celebrate Mississippi’s cultural heritage. Established in 1968, the Mississippi Arts Commission is funded by the Mississippi Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation, the Phil Hardin Foundation, the Riley Foundation, the Mississippi Endowment for the Arts at the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson and other private sources. The agency serves as an active supporter and promoter of arts in community life and in arts education.

The 10th annual Oxford Film Festival has been scheduled for February 21-24, 2013.