Oxford Film Festival

Overview

The Oxford Film Festival is Mississippi's most important film festival. Founded in 2003 and held annually in February in Oxford, a small university town in the north Mississippi hills, the festival is Academy Award-qualifying in its short film categories and has established itself as one of the American South's most respected regional film events.

Oxford's identity as the home of the University of Mississippi and as the longtime home of William Faulkner -- one of America's greatest writers -- gives the festival a distinctive literary and intellectual character. The town's concentration of artists, writers, and academics provides an unusually engaged audience for independent cinema.

The festival has a strong emphasis on films that engage with Southern culture, history, and storytelling traditions, providing a platform for perspectives that are underrepresented at coastal film events.

Key Sections

• Feature Film Competition -- narrative and documentary features
• Short Film Competition -- Academy Award-qualifying programs
• Mississippi Shorts -- films by Mississippi filmmakers
• Documentary Competition -- nonfiction features
• Special Screenings -- events and retrospectives

What Filmmakers Should Know

Oxford accepts open submissions. The Academy Award-qualifying short film competition is the most strategically important element. For Southern filmmakers, Oxford provides access to an engaged, literary-minded audience and to the growing network of Southern film professionals.

Major Awards

• Best Narrative Feature -- jury prize
• Best Documentary
• Best Short Film -- Academy Award-qualifying
• Best Mississippi Film
• Audience Award

Festival History

Oxford Film Festival was founded in 2003 and has grown into one of the South's most respected regional film events, building on the town's strong literary and intellectual traditions.

See Also

For Southern film culture, see Independent Filmmaking Strategies. For festival strategy, see Film Festival Strategy.