Oxford Film Festival announces winners at the Powerhouse

Published 9:45 am Monday, February 20, 2017

To celebrate the numerous filmmakers who came to town this past weekend, a handful of Hokas were given out at the awards ceremony for the Oxford Film Festival.

The Spirit of the Hoka trophy is named after a Chickasaw princess and have been awarded to filmmakers since 2004.

The first category to be honored was Best Animation which went to “The Fox and The Whale” directed by Robin Joseph. A Special Jury Award was given to “A Little Love Goes A Long Clay”, a Claymation feature that deals with cyberbullying.

Email newsletter signup

“The Trader”, a film about a stock trading leaving his job behind, took home the Hoka for Best Experimental Film while “Paco” won the award for Best New Media.

The award for Best Virtual Reality, which was a new juried category this year, went to “I, Philip” which pits its audience in the mind of author Philip K. Dick.

“Broken Paths” won for Best Mississippi Music Video Award and was directed by J.B. Lawrence and filmed in Brandon, Mississippi.

The winner in the LGBTQ category, which was also in its first year of award eligibility, was “Woman On Fire”, a documentary about a transgendered fire woman.

The Lisa Blount Memorial Acting Award went to Victoria Negri for her performance in “Gold Star” which she also directed.

“Don’t Come Around Here” won in the Mississippi Feature category and “Some Freaks” won for Narrative Feature. Tim Harm, who worked on the film, accepted the award with a brief speech.

“We’ve been coming to the festival a number of times,” Harm said. “This is terrific to win. Thank you Melanie Addington (the director of OFF) and the rest of the staff.”

In the rest of the categories, “Otha Turner” won for Mississippi Short Film, “The Refuge” won for Documentary Short, “Goodbye Neenaw” for Narrative Short and “First Lady of the Revolution” for Documentary Feature.