Oxford Film Festival reveals week four lineup of virtual fest

Published 8:00 am Saturday, May 16, 2020

The Oxford Film Festival continues its transition of the 2020 edition to the virtual world this week.

Beginning on Friday, the fourth week of the OFF virtual festival begins and is highlighted by the return of an OFF alum and audience favorite, along with a Mississippi-made ghost film and a collection of LGBTQIA+ films.

Debuting during the 2015 festival, Mark Potts’ “Spaghettiman” is returning to OFF as one of the two feature films available in week four. The move centers around Mark, who has an incident with a malfunctioning microwave, and an old bowl of spaghetti that turns him into the unlikeliest of superheroes.

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The second feature film offered in week four is Christopher Wesley Moore’s “A Stranger Among the Living.” The film is about Henry Lyle, a young teacher who avoids a school shooting due to a terrifying premonition. Lyle then discovers his nightmare has just begun as phantoms begin to stalk him, trying to complete the job that death started.

“Ghostly scares, silly superheroes, LGBTQIA+ stories, Americana, animation and experimental cinema is all on tap this week,” said OFF executive director Melanie Addington. “This week will be a fun, adventurous slate of programming for our audiences, as well as having a great pair of panels and presentations courtesy of Seed & Spark for truly valuable information on crowdfunding and distribution for filmmakers to soak up, and then a chance to seriously look at the reality of getting our filmmakers back on the set here in Mississippi the following day.”

Several short films will be available this week, including one that features the late Leonard Nimoy.

Titled “I’m Not Spock,” Nimoy struggles to embrace his stardom and his new found identity as Spock. He then begins to explore alternative artistic outlets, much to Nimoy’s agent’s chagrin. The film was directed by Clem McIntosh.

The LGBTQIA+ block includes four short films titled “A Normal Girl,” “Belle,” “Home Girl” and “The Woodpecker.”

Seed & Spark will hold two virtual panels, discussing crowd-funding and the topic of film distribution. A “Filming Safely in Mississippi” panel will also take place.

Tickets for week four programming, which runs from May 15 to 21, and more information about the films and panels are available at oxfordfilmfest.com. The Oxford Virtual Film Festival is scheduled to run through September, featuring a new slate of film and panels each week that would have originally shown during the festival’s originally scheduled week of March 18-22.