Jackson Free Press stories: Filmhttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/film/Jackson Free Press stories: Filmen-usWed, 01 Sep 2021 14:11:00 -0500The Chosen Productions to Film ‘Love Never Fails’ Pilot in Jacksonhttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2021/sep/01/chosen-productions-film-love-never-fails-pilot-jac/

At 15 years old, Jackson native Essence Odomes finagled her way into an acting class that actress, director and producer Tasha Smith hosted in Atlanta. Smith offered the teenager a piece of advice: move out of her home state.

“She basically told me, ‘You are going to have to leave Mississippi if you want to (act) because there is nothing there,’” Odomes says. “So I spent the next couple years until graduation focusing on getting out of Mississippi.”

Odomes performed in her first play at age 7 and later honed her acting and theatrical skills in Jackson Public Schools’ Academic and Performing Arts program. After high school, she attended Spelman College for a semester before moving to California to attend the University of California, Los Angeles.

During a trip home, she met her now-husband Dezron Odomes, who soon joined her at UCLA and majored in music business. Essence completed her bachelor’s degree in acting for film and television. However, the pre- and post-production classes she took intrigued her the most.

“(Those courses) opened my eyes to the behind-the-scenes world that I never knew about,” she says. “I knew that if I could get a piece of the backend that I could then empower not only myself with the opportunities that I was looking for but I could also create them (for others) as well.”

Essence and Dezron moved to Atlanta in 2013, where the former worked several production jobs, including on the seventh installment of the “Fast & Furious” franchise. These experiences opened doors for both to land positions at Tyler Perry Studios. The couple married in 2018.

“We started working at Tyler Perry studios with the objective to one day soon do this type of work at home,” Essence says, and home they went, moving back to Mississippi in December 2020.

The Odomes founded their own production company, The Chosen Entertainment and Media, now The Chosen Productions, with a mission of using and creating a trained workforce for film and entertainment in the area, fulfilling a need that they noticed while growing up in Mississippi.

“Producers come from out of state and take advantage of our tax incentives. They may hire a few people in Jackson for a few weeks while they are in production, but most of them are bringing in crews because we don’t have the workforce here,” Essence says.

“(This) means when they yell ‘wrap,’ the city of Jackson is still left without the workforce and community of filmmakers here. It doesn’t really change what is happening in our city.”

By starting a Jackson-based production company, the Odomes hope to give aspiring actors and other Mississippians pursuing careers in film and television a means of using their skills without needing to leave the state.

“I always felt that there was so much talent here in Mississippi, and I felt so much frustration that I had to leave my family and the place that I know as home just to find opportunity,” Essence says.

Since forming the company, the Odomes have begun producing a pilot for a television series titled “Love Never Fails.” Modeled after Essence’s life, the script tells the story of a Black teenager growing up in Jackson, Miss., and struggling to find balance while pursuing her dreams and avoiding the pitfalls that she watches her own parents face.

Approximately 60% of the cast and crew used for the pilot call the Jackson metropolitan area home.

The power couple is also opening The Chosen Studios, an 8,000-square-foot facility on Northside Drive. Once complete, the space will feature a 5,000-square-foot soundstage with equipment, production offices, and rooms for wardrobe, hair and makeup. Their goal is to create a one-stop shop that can handle production from beginning to end, and they hope the first major production is their own.

“If all goes well and as we plan, then there will be a major television series about Jackson, Miss., shooting in Jackson, Miss., over the next few years,” Essence concludes.

To learn more about opportunities to become involved with The Chosen Productions, email Brand Manager Bianca Tatum at hello@biancatatum.com.

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Torsheta JacksonWed, 01 Sep 2021 14:11:00 -0500https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2021/sep/01/chosen-productions-film-love-never-fails-pilot-jac/
Crossroads 2020 Film Reviewshttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2020/nov/11/crossroads-2020-film-reviews/

This year's Crossroads Film Festival allows participants to stream any of the event's 18 films on their own time through the festival's end on Dec. 15. Films cover a variety of genres and themes and last anywhere from seven to 108 minutes. Read our writers' reviews of select films below.

'Warrior Women'

Over this last year, many of us have become more aware of the plights that certain 
demographics face in this country—as we witnessed a resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, with protesters organizing across the nation to speak out against racial injustice. Interestingly, the documentary film "Warrior Women" addresses a similar movement by taking a close look at the American Indian Movement of the 1970s, which fought for Native American liberation and for survival as a community of extended family.

Mother-daughter duo Madonna Thunder Hawk and Marcella Gilbert—both enrolled members of the Lakota tribe living in South Dakota—narrate the film. The film first contextualizes the historic oppression incurred against Indigenous populations that resulted in decades of inequality and subjugation from the United States. government. Afterward, a scene depicts Gilbert teaching children that the tribe is still living through consequences of a government that reneged on its responsibilities contained in an 1868 treaty.

Once the narrators finished establishing context, the film weaves in the significance of continuous activism, hammering home the message that change occurs when people work together to proclaim the power of collective action. Years ago, for example, Thunder Hawk, an AIM leader, helped shape a group of activists' children in the "We Will Remember" Survivor School, which served as a Native alternative to government-run education.

Scenes show Thunder Hawk reminiscing about what she learned from her involvement in AIM, "Indian Power" messaging, occupation of Alcatraz Island and the Wounded Knee uprising. These experiences taught her about mobilization and committing to a cause, which guided her during the North Dakota protests opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline project.

Like many founding members of Black Lives Matter, the central characters in the documentary are women. In 
addition to the two narrators, the community of Lakota and Native women are shown to generally spearhead the grassroots initiatives to fight for environmental preservation, cultural education and relationship-building among tribes.

"Warrior Women" reminds viewers that the Native struggle for sovereignty and cultural reclamation is far from over, but that many movement leaders remain steadfast in their activism efforts. —Mike McDonald

'Unadopted'

A layperson would probably acknowledge the complexities of the fostercare system, placing into account their interactions with government, the size of the bureaucracy, and the carefulness (or negligence) associated with human lives. "Unadopted" casts light on those possible assumptions, as the main figure and narrator discusses his own hardships and confusion living within the foster system, interviewing several teenagers who have had their own experiences.

Noel was 7 years old when he became a child in the California state foster system, separated from his older sister who was assigned to a foster family in Idaho. As the years passed, he, like many individuals before and after him, began to wonder what his life would have been like if the people biologically related to him were all in one place and things operated as they should in a dreamscape. However, as he recounts in the film, foster children know that reality can act as rebuttal to fantasy.

He seeks to understand the peculiarities of his case. He is no longer a foster child curious about the reason or reasons he was never adopted. Instead, he contends that the failure to adopt reflects as a failure of the system as a whole. Seeking to uncover details of his background, he aims to reconnect with his mother, who expresses remorse and contrition that she was not able to care for him.

Later, he finds comparative understanding with teenagers who have also undergone their own journeys as foster children: one who was offered adoption but declined, one who was legally adopted and has no desire to meet her biological mother, and another who left the bureaucratic environment entirely to fend for herself on the streets of Oakland. Each person has their own path of self-discovery and must reconcile their desire to know with the harsh reality of what they may find.

"Unadopted" presents viewers with a human portrait of the people who share experiences many of us outside the foster system cannot fully understand. Someone who may be considered a typical teenager at first glance may be engaging in issues of identity and emotional development, yet the foster child must contend with normality atop instability and uncertainty, trying to discover where they came from with each passing glance in the mirror. —Mike McDonald

'Paper Boats'

The opening credits of "Paper Boats" showcase the laurels that the short film has garnered in other film festivals, and it's apparent from the outset that the film deserved each of them, as the subtle opening score matches the almost melancholic ambiance of a young artist at work on a set of paper-making creations. The artist's mentor visits and reminds her of the sufferings she endured in her past, 
triggering a series of flashbacks.

The film then takes a dark turn and addresses how the artist and her mentor forged their relationship—the former revealing her own assault at the hands of her father. The mentor, a guidance counselor, advocates for the young woman and removes her from her dangerous situation.

While the bond between the artist and her mentor is undeniable, it is also complicated. The artist failed to remove her sister from the clutches of their father, and that sister is now missing. The narrator is left bound to a past she would rather forget, but she must retain her identity to remain accessible to her sister, whom she hopes will return and absolve her from her regret.

The mentor, too, ties the narrator to her adolescence, and the artistry of the movie pivots around this tension. The mentor forces the artist to confront her past, reminding her that she formed her true identity through what she overcame, not what she suffered. The narrator attempts to make a tenuous peace with this, and the movie suggests that because her discovered joy and triumph exist on the same spectrum as her loss and perceived failure, she cannot have one without the other, and she must find a way to reconcile her dark past with her bright future. —Taylor McKay Hathorn

'Catfish Kingdom'

"He was just my dad," Ed Scott Jr.'s daughter says in her voiceover for the eight-minute documentary. Though she never appears on the screen, she narrates her father's journey to becoming the first non-white owner of a catfish plant in the United States.

Though the film does not downplay the role of racism in Scott's struggle, his daughter provides glimpses of the humor and the salt-of-the earth goodness that her father possessed, humanizing him beyond the legislation that marred his career.

Animations creatively depict the ups and downs of his journey—the motion of the fish placing Scott on the map propelling the viewer to the next phase of Scott's life. Even in the climax of the video, when police come to shut down his business over racially motivated interpretations of farming laws, the focus remains on the animated catfish swimming upstream as they follow the arc of Scott's life and business.

This creative ploy works well, even as the storyline becomes grim: Scott's business is repossessed, and he begins a multi-year court battle to regain it. At this point, a 1985 interview with Scott is played, the only non-animated feature of the film. Scott humbly brushes off the praise he receives, claiming that his own successes speak more broadly to the successes of the community.

While the film reinforces his claim, recounting the jobs he provided to other African Americans, the film eventually returns to his daughter's narration. She states that her father's 2012 case against the racial politics that seized the farm was the last one of its kind, enabling her father to hand the check that would allow him to repurchase his farm from the very man who had seized it.

"The arbiter let my daddy tell his story," she says. "Catfish Kingdom" does the same, soulfully relating Scott's troubles while ensuring that the film itself sings of triumph. —Taylor McKay Hathorn

'The Tides That Bind'

For Clint Buffington, finding messages in a bottle is a way of "opening a window into the life of a stranger," and the documentary plays off this idea, featuring Buffington's search for bottles along waterways and highlighting his response to locating such messages.

Although unearthing a bottle bearing a message is often thought of as a matter of serendipity, Buffington has made it a matter of science, studying tide patterns and floodlines to heighten his chances of discovering a message. Once he finds such a missive, the film is clinical in its exploration of Buffington's subsequent actions, depicting his process of reconstructing messages that have been damaged by tides or the sun and using a diamond drill-bit to open a bottle without damaging its contents.

Merely locating the message is unsatisfying for Buffington, with the majority of the film focusing on his quest to locate the senders of the encapsulated messages, though many years often separate the writing of the message and Buffington's discovery.

Buffington is portrayed as earnest in the extreme, often remarking that he was "meant to find" the messages and that he is single-minded in his determination to locate their senders. He does this with varying degrees of success, as the awkwardness of some meet-ups is undeniable, with the senders clearly not expecting such an enthusiastic response to their one-off epistles.

The documentary does not try to mask this, nor does it expect viewers to view these encounters as a detriment to the story, as the journey of the bottle itself and Buffington's appreciation of that journey are often the focus of the narrative.

Indeed, viewers are challenged—though not in so many words—to usurp the norms of the digital age throughout the video, with the meaningfulness of sending a written message—particularly one that is not guaranteed to be read or responded to—highlighted at every turn. —Taylor McKay Hathorn

'Grapefruit'

In this postmodern spin on Walt Disney's "Cinderella," an unlikely fairy godmother (a mustached puppet with a patched coat) promises a grapefruit that he will transform it into a person so that it can find its one true love. The grapefruit consents, and a beautiful woman emerges from the refrigerator, intent on finding the love of her life.

The short film then takes a sharp detour as the woman glories in her bodily form yet seems confused by its limitations, taking shots of dishwasher detergent and smearing peanut butter on her face.

"Grapefruit"'s gag reel ends abruptly when the woman catches a glimpse of the love of her life, and the movie's strongest feature—the original music—is on full display: The woman sings in front of the windows and doors that separate her from the love of her life. The song is surprisingly stirring, full of longing and the desperation to act on that yearning without the possibility of being let down.

As a viewer, it's almost paralyzing to watch her weigh her options, as you dread her consignment to a life as fridge fodder while still fearing the ways she might embarrass herself if she does risk it all for love.

The woman does take the initial step toward her freedom and her supposed love, though the movie is deliberately ambiguous in answering whether the woman's true goal is freedom or love.

In a surprise ending, the woman returns to her roots (quite literally) to keep the clock from striking midnight on her dream of keeping her new form, and viewers are again left wondering whether the musical score about longing and unrequited love was merely an expression of her dissatisfaction with her current station in life.

The film's director seems to indicate that only those who are brave enough to take their discontentment into their own hands will ever rid themselves of it—an unexpectedly deep twist for a film that features a woman dancing in a skirt made of a trash bag in its earlier scenes. —Taylor McKay Hathorn

'SKY AELANS'

The documentary "SKY AELANS," which translates to "Sky Islands" in English, focuses on the South Pacific nation of the Solomon Islands in greater Oceania. The brief film (six-minute duration) could easily deceive the viewer into thinking they are watching the National Geographic Channel or a program on BBC, half expecting David Attenborough to suddenly offer observations on flora and fauna of the island.

Sweeping camera angles pay homage to the title of the piece, whereby the expanse of the land and surrounding ocean can be thoroughly appreciated from a wide lens. The stars and narrator of the film are the Indigenous people, who speak in a 
Solomon Pijin tongue and communicate their relationship with the land and all who inhabit it, knowing the environment is both sacred and precious.

During the film, the camera also zooms on individual species of plants, reptiles and amphibians, showing off samples of the island's ecosystem. The narrator describes these elements at the sum animating the landmass each morning as they wake. All represented creatures seem exotic and add further credence to the relatively untouched landscape miles away from the urban centers dotting the international map.

The narrators' central message, no matter which specific island being depicted, is the need to protect the environment from exterior forces. Viewers could surmise that these forces include excess industrialism and the commercialization that often accompanies urban areas. The Solomon Islands' government ruled development to be off-limits for elevations above 400 meters.

Island residents consider themselves cogs in the island machinery, working within ecosystems and recognizing the balance achieved by every living creature and the fragility of each biome. They also recognize their place within space and time—that their presence is brief and the trees and rocks and streams will outlast them, inuring a responsibility to care about the treasures the Great Spirit has entrusted upon them. I believe we could all learn a lesson from their appreciation of the land. —Mike McDonald

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JFP StaffWed, 11 Nov 2020 12:15:47 -0600https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2020/nov/11/crossroads-2020-film-reviews/
Let the People Decide: Hoping for Equality in Votinghttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2020/nov/11/let-people-decide-hoping-equality-voting/

In addition to the 18 films being offered during the Crossroads Film Festival, the event will also include a handful of panel discussions. On Sunday, Nov. 15, starting at noon, panelists Dr. Stephanie Rolph, Rev. C. J. Rhodes, Dr. Marty Wiseman, and Ms. Nsombi Lambright will open a dialogue about history and change, and examine pathways that may lead to Mississippians having and more fully exercising their right to vote.

The panel, which The William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation sponsors, is meant to amplify and expand themes presented in "Let the People Decide," a film by Gavin Guerra that is offered during this year's Crossroads Film Festival.

Learn more about the panelists:

Dr. Stephanie Rolph is an associate professor in the history department at Millsaps College. Rolph's work focuses on white resistance to civil rights, particularly connections between Deep South segregationists and radical right allies across the country. Her first book, "Resisting Equality: The Citizens' Council, 1954-1989," is a new examination of one of the more widely known resistance organizations during the Civil Rights Movement.

Rev. C.J. Rhodes is the pastor of Mt. Helm Baptist Church and is the youngest pastor to serve Jackson's oldest Black congregation. He also serves as founder and president of Clergy for Prison Reform, Director of Religious and Spiritual Life at Alcorn State University. Rhodes has authored two books and hosts the C. J. Rhodes Show airing on WRBJ 97.7 FM.

Dr. Marty Wiseman is director emeritus of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government, professor emeritus of political science and public administration at MSU, and a guest professor at JSU.

Nsombi Lambright is executive director of One Voice. She also served as executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi, where she led the ACLU's work to end the school-to-prison pipeline, addressing sentencing disparities and other constitutional issues. She sits on the board for the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Mississippi Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement and the New World Foundation.

See "Let the People Decide" from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15 as part of Virtual Crossroads 2020. For tickets and information, visit crossroadsfilmfestival.com.

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Crossroads Film FestivalWed, 11 Nov 2020 11:49:32 -0600https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2020/nov/11/let-people-decide-hoping-equality-voting/
Crossroads 2020 Film Festival Moves to a Virtual Platformhttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2020/nov/11/crossroads-2020-film-festival-moves-virtual-platfo/

Despite the lack of people going to movie theaters because of COVID-19, Crossroads Film Society remains determined to put on a successful film festival, but this year it will look a little different: It will be completely online.

This year's festival, Virtual Crossroads 2020, will be a complete departure from anything Crossroads Film Society has done before. The first major change, however, occurred in November of 2019, well before the pandemic started. The Crossroads Film Society board voted to move the festival from April, where it had been for the past 20 years, to November.

"That was a fortunate thing for us, because if we had had our film festival in April, I'm sure we couldn't have pulled it off. The fact that we moved it to the fall turned out to be a good thing for us," Crossroads' Festival Coordinator Michele Baker said.

The festival will take place through the online platform Eventive from Nov. 12 to Dec. 15, and tickets will be available for purchase starting Nov. 12. The festival typically lasts for one weekend and shows around 125 films, but this year it will last for a month and show 18 films. Workshops and panel discussions will be live-streamed, and each film will be available until Dec. 15 through video-on-demand.

Normally in her role of festival coordinator, Baker helps to create the process of selecting films and finding volunteers to work the festival and sell tickets; now, her role has completely been transformed.

Throughout 2020, Baker has been hard at work helping move the festival to an online platform.

"The hardest part has been figuring out what putting on a virtual festival means. For a long time, I was still thinking in the mindset of a physical festival, and it isn't. You just have to turn all your ideas on your head," Baker said.

One of Crossroads' missions is to 
celebrate film in all of its diversity, and Baker is hoping people will still come out and support independent filmmakers and their movies, even with it being completely online.

"People are Zoomed out and have screen fatigue. I'm just hoping and praying that my films are good enough to encourage them to get back on the computer or TV and pay money to watch these indie films. There's stuff from all over the world, and it's exceptionally good filmmaking," Baker said.

Crossroads Film Society is also going to do a profit share with filmmakers. If people buy a ticket for a block of films, a percentage of sales will go directly to filmmakers. Thus, by attending Virtual Crossroads 2020, participants not only see well-regarded films, they also support filmmakers directly.

On Sunday, Nov. 15, Virtual Crossroads 2020 will release the film "Let the People Decide"—a project that was created with the help of the William Winter Institute of Racial Reconciliation. Along with the screening, Portia Espy and Von Gordon of Winter Institute coordinate a panel 
discussion of the film.

"Mississippians are some of the most inspired storytellers, and these stories need to be told. These stories are important. And I feel that it's equally important to bring those other sorts of small intimate stories to Mississippi," Baker said. "I think that exchange—our storytelling going out into that world and other stories going in—makes this a vibrant place to live. I always say that film is the most equalizing of the artforms, so I think it's important to keep that as a very accessible artform."

See the full schedule for Virtual Crossroads 2020 and buy tickets at crossroadsfilmfestival.eventive.org/welcome.

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Jenna GibsonWed, 11 Nov 2020 11:45:33 -0600https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2020/nov/11/crossroads-2020-film-festival-moves-virtual-platfo/
‘Dear Johnny Reb,’ an Anti-Love Letter to Confederate Memorials in Mississippihttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2020/nov/11/dear-johnny-reb-anti-love-letter-confederate-memor/

In his recent short film, "Dear Johnny Reb," Jacksonian Philip Scarborough and a group of native Mississippians lament the damage that these statues have wrought through their immobility, and the film celebrates Mississippi history while indicting its darkest moments.

When he was 3 years old, the Jackson-born Scarborough and his family moved to Dothan, Ala., where his interest in filmmaking developed during his teenage years. After studying film at the University of Southern Mississippi, Scarborough returned to Jackson and began working in the film industry, eventually co-founding Spot On Productions with Tom Beck in 2011—a company that produces commercials, documentaries and corporate videos.

You start the video with the Confederate statue in Jackson. What's the significance of that for you, as a native?

I've lived in Jackson longer now than I lived anywhere else, and I was born here, at St Dominic's. I thought it was appropriate to start in Jackson, and it's also the Capitol.

Your video notes that there are around 100 Confederate monuments in Mississippi. How many monuments appear in the video, and how did you choose the ones that appeared?

There are 42 in the film, and according to my research, which I did mainly with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the internet, there are over 150 memorials of some kind to the confederacy (in Mississippi). That's counting the ones in the Vicksburg Military Park, which is where they should be.

(In the video), I focused on what's called the sentinels (soldier statues). There are 43 or 44 of those, so I focused on those because most are on courthouse lawns. Since I'm talking to these statues of the confederacy, I focused on the sentinels because they're statues of people.

When I filmed, I thought I did all of them. There were two I didn't know about, which bugs me, but those two were put up at the same time, by the same people, for the same reasons. So, there's a continuity that connects the statues. I also wanted to keep it short, and I didn't want it to be overwhelming. If I had done every statue, I would still be filming. Getting people to be in it was not easy.

Really? What was difficult about the recruitment process?

Only a third of the people I asked agreed to be in it. Most people said they agreed with the idea, but they said they couldn't be in it because they worked for the state or for the government. They were—I guess—scared. I don't completely blame them; they didn't know how the film would look in the end. I think they were afraid of the repercussions and the blow back from the film—which there hasn't been any.

Everybody who is in it are friends of friends and family friends, because it was just word-of-mouth, trying to get people to be in it. I tried to get a person from every town, but that was kind of impossible. Everyone (who did end up in the video) is a Mississippi resident. That was important to me—that they agree with the premise of the film.

Tell me about the writing of the letter that's read to the statues throughout the film.

I wrote it, but I was working on another film—which I'm still working on—which is about Mississippi history. Right when the Civil Rights Museum opened (in Jackson), I started going because I was having a problem finding research materials on Mississippi civil-rights history, so the museum was a dream come true. There's so much information there. I took a pencil and pad after the first time I went because it was overload.

So I went a dozen different times, and I did a section at a time. I wrote words that I saw and tried to trace the chronological story of Mississippi—not just civil-rights history, but the history of the whole state. The idea of me talking to the statues was an old idea of mine—for someone to notice the statue and start talking to it.

I took all my notes from the museum, and I wrote that letter. Everything in it came from the Civil Rights Museum. I'm a descendant of at least five Confederate soldiers, and I wrote a letter to them, to their ghosts, to their effect on me. It's still a literal letter to these Confederate soldiers: You did what you thought was right at the time, but it's over. Go home. I didn't want to be disrespectful to people's ancestors, but still—they fought to maintain the slave economy, so I wanted to be firm. It's almost like the statues are on trial.

From that letter, “You are a traitor and un-American” was the only line not delivered in English. What’s the significance of that?

I wanted another language (in the video) because not all Americans speak English. I wanted a friend of mine from the Choctaw tribe to say, "That's just the tip of the iceberg" in Choctaw, but there's no Choctaw word for iceberg. We tried to figure out a substitution, but there wasn't one.

Mostly, I just wanted to be inclusive. I wanted it to represent modern Mississippi.

The letter goes on to say, “All of this has become your heritage.” How do we separate Johnny Reb’s heritage from our own as Mississippians, or do we?

That line is making reference to people who defend the Confederacy by saying, "It's heritage, not hate." We need to celebrate the African American heritage in Mississippi more because they have made Mississippi what it is, as far as the blues and the food culture. All the positive things people think of when they think of Mississippi, they think of that culture. I think our new flag should have B.B. King on it, myself. (Laughs)

The number of descendants of slaves in Mississippi is humongous, and we need to recognize it. You can't erase the past, and we can still look at the Old South, but you've got to have context. We don't need to tear the statues down with a mob, but we need to talk about it. I personally think they should take all of them down, but if they don't take (them) down, they need to have a plaque for context.

People go to courthouses to seek justice, and (sentinels) don't belong on a courthouse lawn. These men actively fought against the Union. Some people don't know what they don't know, and (talking about it) would help start the process because it would help people like that see how other southerners see the statues, who are just as much Mississippians as they are. Our heritage is not a fuzzy, "Gone with the Wind" heritage. There should be memorials to the horrors of slavery and to the descendants of slaves. (Mississippi was) ground zero for slavery, so we should have the biggest one. I maybe should not be the person (to instigate the change), but maybe someone who sees the film will make that change.

What was the inspiration for the original score?

A friend of mine, a musician from Jackson who spends a lot of time in Oxford, Cole Furlough, (composed the score). My friend Alex Warren introduced us, since I wanted a Mississippi composer to compose the music and record it.

I wanted it to be orchestral—mainly violins and cellos. It was based on Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" and "Violin Phase" by Steve Reich. I let Cole hear that, and he had some other ideas.

He got a member of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra to play (his composition). I got teary-eyed when he first played it because it was the perfect piece. I love classical music and real instruments. I don't like using electronic music for my films.

Watch "Dear Johnny Reb" during the Crossroads Film Festival, which will be virtual this year and take place from Nov. 12 to Dec. 15. You can buy tickets now at crossroadsfilmfestival.eventive.org/welcome.

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Taylor McKay HathornWed, 11 Nov 2020 11:37:17 -0600https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2020/nov/11/dear-johnny-reb-anti-love-letter-confederate-memor/
Chris Wesley Moore Talks 'A Stranger Among the Living'https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/sep/04/chris-wesley-moore-talks-stranger-among-living/

While growing up, Chris Wesley Moore developed a passion for storytelling, largely sparked by the multitude of movies he watched during his youth. This appreciation for movies led Moore to participate in film club while in St. Joseph Catholic School, where he graduated in 2008, and later attend the University of North Carolina School of Arts, where he earned his bachelor's degree in screenwriting in 2012. After founding CWM Entertainment in 2015, he began producing his own films. His latest movie, a supernatural thriller titled "A Stranger Among the Living," premieres on Thursday, Sept. 12, at Malco Grandview Cinema. On Wednesday, Aug. 28, Moore spoke with the Jackson Free Press about the movie.

How did you get into filmmaking?

I always liked to tell stories, ever since I was a kid. I would do stuff like play in my room with action figures and concoct these ridiculous stories. That started to build.

I had always watched movies since I was a kid. My grandmother (Dorothy Blair) had this huge collection of tapes—she would tape everything that was on—so learned a lot from her.

There was a video store that I went to a lot as a kid called Video Library. That was basically my first film school in a lot of ways. I would pretty much try to rent anything that I could, and that taught me so much. I learned what kind of stories I liked to tell.

... I was always trying to make films since I was about 10. I would take my family's camcorder, and I would get my friends together, and we would make these ridiculous movies. I mean, they were just terrible, but we thought they were just the best in the world—but of course we were so young. So I was making stuff from about 10 to 18 before I went to film school.

Tell me about the film.

I got this idea sometime around college. I had this dream that just came to me out of the blue, and I remember waking up and thinking, "Oh my god, that would make a great scene in a film." But I didn't really know what to do with it, because most of my films are realistic-ish. So there wasn't really a place for random dreams and stuff, but I concocted this story to go around it where this dream would start the film, and what it would be is basically a premonition or a warning of things to come. So if you see the film, there's lots of things in the first 10 minutes that don't really make a lot of sense until the film comes to an end, and then everything in the dream comes together by the end.

So once I had that idea, I came up with the story of this teacher who has this dream. And he basically is so disturbed by this that he doesn't stay at work the next day. And by doing that, he avoids this massacre. After that, he realizes that maybe this dream was trying to tell him something and that he should have been there. ... These minions of death are trying to bring him to the other side, like he was supposed to die. And I thought that would be fun because I had never done a sort of supernatural thing.

What was the dream about?

I was in the car with a group of friends I had only recently acquired. It was late at night and super dark, and we kept driving in circles. We were super lost. We stopped at a gas station, and once we were inside, it looked like a McDonalds from the '90s. All these people were there, but they were spread out and just staring. I remember turning around and not seeing my friends anymore, but when I turned back, they were there, but there was blood dripping out of their noses. I tried to get out, but the people there were trying to block me. A woman with a baby stroller blocked my way. I remember (somehow) making my way to the double doors. When I opened them a bright light hit me, and it was suddenly daytime. The car was parked by the gas pumps. This mechanic comes out in a panic asking if I was okay. When I looked at my reflection, I was drenched in blood. And then I woke up. ... I immediately wrote it down after waking up. I had never had a dream that was so close to a nightmare but was filled with so much existential dread.

What are some of the film's themes?

There's a lot about grief and how certain people deal with grief—or really don't. The main character of the film is someone who has never tried to step on anyone's toes. He doesn't really want to upset the status quo that much, and that kind of comes to bite him in the a. He doesn't want to try to rock the boat a lot, and if he had, maybe a lot of this wouldn't have happened. So it's sort of about him coming to terms with what he's done and accepting it. ... There's also a thing about toxic masculinity and how guys aren't supposed to cry or show emotion, and that's something he's having a problem with. Really, the whole film is about him coming to terms with the fact that it's OK to not be strong, and that it's OK to cry and feel things.

Why do you think these themes are important?

I don't think we discuss these themes enough. The film also deals with the issue of school shootings and how—it's weird that predominantly these attackers are straight white men for some reason; I don't know why. But it's something about what we're teaching these kids. So there's a bit of a scene in there about the shooter and how he has the same kind of entitled, misogynistic outlook on life. I think it's important to talk about why these things happen and try to figure out how we can stop it so that we can be happier and safer.

What do you hope viewers will take away from the movie?

More than anything I hope they just have a good time, because it is a fun, suspenseful, eat-some-popcorn kind of movie. But at the same time, I do hope it makes people think about how as a country we have a little work to do in how we raise our boys, and how we should probably teach them that it's OK to cry and feel things, and that violence is not going to be the way to get your point across.

The film premieres on Thursday, Sept. 12, at 7 p.m. at Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison). People can purchase tickets for "A Stranger Among the Living" in advance at brownpapertickets.com.

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Nate SchumannWed, 04 Sep 2019 12:12:04 -0500https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/sep/04/chris-wesley-moore-talks-stranger-among-living/
Christina Cooper: Combating Gun Violence with Filmhttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/aug/07/south-central-love-combating-gun-violence-film/

When Christina Cooper was 19 years old, her ex-boyfriend, James Boyston, was shot and killed in Los Angeles, and to this day, police still haven't found his killer. His death set her on a path to use the medium of filmmaking to speak out against gun violence.

Boyston's death was not the first time she lost someone to gun violence. Cooper lost some childhood friends as well, and rapper Nipsey Hussle's murder also had an effect on her. She cried while on the phone with a friend after news broke of his death, she said.

"I grew up listening to his music ever since middle school," she says of Hussle. "The most saddening part is how inspiring he was and how good of a person he was to his people."

Through the tragedies, though, Cooper has found a passion and purpose for filmmaking. The 24-year-old director, writer, producer and actress is making films dedicated to addressing gun violence, including "South Central Love."

"I have to use this growing platform," she says."My main goal is to work on something I'm passionate about that will help people, help our humanity, help our world."

Her film, "South Central Love," will screen at Malco Grandview Theater in Madison on Aug. 20 at 7 p.m.

'I Said You Can Do That'

Cooper grew up in Los Angeles with a hectic home life. Her parents divorced when she was young, and it affected her greatly. "There wasn't too much love in my household, so I always tried to get away from that and find love in the streets," she said.

She said she found love in other people and would skip school to hang with her friends. She almost did not graduate from high school, so her parents sent her to Crenshaw Soledad Enrichment Action, an alternative school, with students in similar circumstances.

"The good thing I learned was not to judge people," Cooper says. "I felt more at home there than I felt anywhere else. We had all been through something. It was more relatable."

The school felt like home because people did not judge each other, she said. Her grades improved, and she forged a family with kids who understood what it was like to struggle. While she was working at Fox Hills Mall in Culver City, a photographer and agent came into the store where she worked and asked her about modeling. Soon afterward, she signed with The One Models agency in Milan, Italy, walking in Milan and New York fashion weeks.

Acting soon followed. Cooper's agent booked a role for her on Netflix's "Dear White People."

A brief interaction with director Tina Mabry piqued Cooper's interest in being behind the camera.

"She's amazing," she says of Mabry, who is from Tupelo, Miss. "Seeing her on set inspired me to get behind the camera. Of any set I've been on, I'd never seen an African American female director."

Soon, Cooper's friends encouraged her to pursue filmmaking, but her final sign came in the form of John Singleton's film "Baby Boy."

"I was watching 'Baby Boy,' and in the credits it said it was written, directed and produced by (Singleton)," she said. "I said, 'You can do that.' I picked up a piece of paper and started writing."

'Make It With a Purpose'

The new filmmaker created her own production company, Christina Cooper Productions, in 2018. The company has since produced the Emmy-nominated daytime drama, "Blue Laces"; the documentary, "If I Don't Make It Home"; and her own talk show, "The Christina Cooper Show."

"Loyalty," a short film, was the first project she released under her production company. The film follows Davonte, a young black man navigating the tough streets of South Los Angeles. He starts to get into trouble after his best friend, Rex, begins influencing him, and he later realizes what loyalty means to him.

The film earned several Oniros Film Award nominations and won an Oniros award for "Best Actress" in 2018. Cooper wanted to challenge herself and get her film out to a wider audience. So, she expanded and revised the script and came up with "South Central Love," a two-hour feature film.

The film is set in Los Angeles and follows Bria (Cooper) and Davonte (Jamal Henderson), two teens who grow closer through trials and tribulations and find that they have much in common. The film features an ensemble of newcomers like Jesselynn Stegall, a Jackson native and Jackson State University alumna, and some familiar faces, like Vanessa Simmons (BET's "Games People Play") and Timothy Delaghetto (MTV's "Wild n' Out").

"The film addresses a violent act and how one attempts to move to the next phase of life while grieving such a loss," a press release said.

Cooper wrote, directed, produced and stars in the film, which was a difficult task for her, she said. In one moment she's in a scene, and the next minute she's directing. It could become too much at times, but she learned a lot from juggling so many roles, she said.

"Just planning, being prepared and not procrastinating, that's what I've learned. Teamwork makes the dreamwork. I have to learn, I can't do everything on my own. Going forward, I don't want to put too much on my plate," Cooper says.

Her motivation for making the movie is to inspire youth to spread love and awareness in their communities, while also mitigating gun and gang violence. She is dedicating this film to Boyston, Nipsey Hussle and other victims of gun violence.

"If I'm going to make my own film, I need to make it with a purpose. It's good to teach kids more knowledge on guns and the effects of them. Coming together, loving each other and uplifting each other will help eliminate everything going on," she says.

Cooper is bringing her message here to Jackson, Miss., on Aug. 20 with a screening of the movie. The filmmaker heard that there are some parts of Mississippi that suffer from gangs and gun violence, so she wanted to bring her message to the youth here.

"With Jesselynn (Stegall) being one of our leads, we definitely have to put Mississippi on the map," she said.

'To Inspire in Any Way Possible'

Filming the movie also helped Cooper heal from her ex-boyfriend's death. Acting has been an outlet to getaway from the world and heal, she said.

"If there's a scene where I have to cry, it helps because there's a lot I have to heal from. All the things I had been through, it makes sense," she said.

She said what keeps her motivated is her family, friends and her community.

"I have to make it because I have a family to feed. I have a community I want to inspire and provide for. If it's ever for self, it doesn't motivate me much," Cooper said.

After the release of "South Central Love," she plans to write another movie and film another season of the TV show "Blue Laces."

She is also meeting with Lionsgate and Disney about future projects.

"I honestly feel like my legacy is to inspire in any way possible. If I don't do anything else in life, I just want to be known for inspiration, for being a good person and doing exactly what I said I was going to do," she said.

"South Central Love" will be released in select theaters nationwide on Aug. 7. A screening is at Malco Grandview Theater (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison) in Madison at 7 p.m. at Aug. 20. Visit southcentrallovemovie.com.

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Aliyah VealWed, 07 Aug 2019 10:22:41 -0500https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/aug/07/south-central-love-combating-gun-violence-film/
Of Pirates and Zombies and Sherlock Holmeshttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/apr/03/pirates-and-zombies-and-sherlock-holmes/

Of Pirates and Zombies and Sherlock Holmes

When the zombie apocalypse came to Ovett, a small Mississippi town, people acted immediately, killing zombies and eventually throwing one of them off a bridge. As all this happened, Curtis Everitt kept his camera rolling. Everitt is the director of photography for Blair Kelly's upcoming film, "Splat," for which the bridge is one of the settings.

"He had police shut down traffic, and so we're sitting there killing zombies on a bridge, and then we had to move cars and let vehicles come by every 15 minutes because the traffic got so congested," he says.

One of the highlights of the day, Everitt says, was when they threw a dummy zombie off the bridge. "(The main character Jerry) is fighting with the zombie, and we're like, 'Alright, put the wig and stuff on the dummy,' and took the dummy (and) fwoop," he says.

Everitt owns local film company Saints Studios Films, LLC. Originally, the Alaska native wanted to be an actor, but after doing that a little bit, he decided he wanted to be on 
the production side of the camera.

"A lot of times, actors don't have any control over the movies that they're in, like the quality," he says. "The quality of it, that falls on the director, who's telling the story."

Everitt lived in Alaska until 2002, when he and his parents moved to Mississippi to be closer to family. He received his bachelor's degree in business administration from Mississippi College in 2013.

"I made movies the whole time I was in school, probably when I should have been doing internships... with real businesses," he says, "Me, I'm like, 'I'm just going to start my own business. It's going to go according to plan, and everything is going to be perfect.'"

He originally called his film company Kids Co., but he changed it to Saints Studios in 2008. The business has been an LLC since 2014, but it's only been in recent years that Saints Studios has turned a profit, he says. On the business side, the company does videography for events such as weddings, but then he also makes his own movies. In fact, he just came off a project where he shot 12 movies in 12 months. When a rival filmmaker started talking about making 12 Western-themed films in 12 months, Everitt began to wonder if it was even possible to shoot that many feature films (those that last 45 minutes or more) in a year. He accomplished the feat in early 2019 and has been in the process of editing the films, which he plans to release on Vimeo over the summer.

While Everitt's "12 films" project in 2020 will focus exclusively on Southern films, the genres for the 2018 project varied widely, he says.

For example, in January, he and crew members shot a comedy; and in February, they shot a slasher film in which drones are the killers. He also shot films such as "Dr. S," a film that he calls "every genre of movie."

"It's sci-fi, superhero, everything, it's all rolled into one," he says. "We filmed that from like March to July. Out of all the films we did on this 12, it was the one that we poured the most time into and effort."

Dr. S., he says, had been 14 years in the works. He wrote the script in 2004.

"It was my first feature-length script," he says. "I've just been revising it ... until we actually made it."

Over the 12 months, Saints Studios also made films such as "Sherlock Holmes: Bound to the Dark" and a female-led pirate film called "The Brigg."

When it comes to filmmaking, Everitt says his weakest genre is comedy.

"It's so hard to do comedy and find what's funny for everybody and make it universally appealing," he says.

His favorite genre? "Thrillers," he says. For example, one of the other films he made for the 12-films project is "Windows to the Soul," a thriller about a woman who gets a cornea transplant and then starts to see spirits.

"It's supposed to be really creepy," he says.

Everitt says that technology has made filming projects easier, but now, the logistical side can be the difficult part.

"Up-and-coming filmmakers can use their phone to make a movie. The most precious commodity when you make films, though, is time," he says. "People don't realize that."

For Saints Studios' "12 Southerns in 12 months" project in 2020, Everitt says he wants to collaborate with other filmmakers instead of make most of them himself. One film will be a southern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet called "Rome and Julie."

A way to elevate the state's film industry, specifically the independent film sector, is for more filmmakers to work together, he says. He would also like to see more local classes and ways for the creators to publicly showcase their work.

For Everitt, the sheer number of frames per second in film gives creators a greater chance to do something meaningful and to tell a compelling story.

"I was a visual artist for a while," he says. "You paint a picture, draw a picture, show it to somebody, they might look at it and like it or whatever. You write a book, show it to somebody, they might like it. A picture says 1,000 words, and a book has so many words in it, but then you make a movie, you have 24 frames a second for 45 minutes, you have a lot of opportunities to do something cool."

For more information, find Saints Studios on Facebook. — Amber Helsel

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Amber HelselWed, 03 Apr 2019 14:24:09 -0500https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/apr/03/pirates-and-zombies-and-sherlock-holmes/
Crossroads Film Festival 2019https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/apr/03/crossroads-film-festival-2019/

The Crossroads Film Festival, which is in its 20th year, is April 11-13 at Malco Grandview Cinema in Madison, though some films will screen at Hal & Mal's. For more information, visit crossroadsfilmfestival.com.

Learning the Ropes at Crossroads Film Festival

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Crossroads Film Festival, or XFF, which brings together local, national and international films to Mississippi. During the annual event, local film lovers and industry professionals can view independent projects, meet filmmakers and learn more about the film industry. Past festivals have offered "master classes" on important topics in the industry for local aspiring filmmakers. For the 20th anniversary, organizers saw an opportunity to expand on those offerings.

On Saturday, April 13, 2019, one of the three screens the festival will be specifically designated for the master-class offerings. Those sessions provide in-depth looks at the intricacies of the many aspects of film production, and they give novices a forum to learn industry secrets from professionals.

Crossroads Festival Coordinator Michele Baker says that these classes differ from previous year's workshops because they are curated more than in the past and all feature experts in the movie business.

"These have been specifically planned," she says. "We sought out industry professionals whose work is well-known in these areas (to teach them)."

During the first session at noon, "Motion and Emotion: Using Light to Tell a Story," Oscar Nominee Roberto Schaefer, who has served as the director of photography for "Finding Neverland," "Monster's Ball," "The Kite Runner" and "Quantum of Solace," will discuss cinematography. The encore class of the evening "From the Page to the Screen: Crafting Comedies for TV and Film" will feature comedy writer David Sheffield, a Mississippi native who has worked on screenplays such as "The Nutty Professor," "The Nutty Professor II: The Klumps," "Police Academy" and "Coming to America." He ha written for Saturday Night Live and was one of Eddie Murphy's primary comedy writers.

Philip Scarborough, XFF copresident, cofounder and festival director, says the classes offer valuable insights for local professionals who are interested in advancing their skills in filmmaking. Baker adds that although the classes are geared toward improving the knowledge base of professionals in the state's film industry, even those not interested in the production aspects of the business may find them interesting and useful.

"One of the classes that we have in the middle of the day is 'How to Get Your Kids in the Movies' by casting director (Cher Foley)," Baker says. It will offer information for parents interested in finding film opportunities for their children.

Using one entire theater to host classes for a full day means that the festival will show fewer films. In past years, Crossroads has shown between 125 and 130 films of various lengths. This year, the festival will only show around 100. Baker says that it is a worthy sacrifice.

"We made the conscious decision to say screen B will show no films this year," she says. "We're only going to do classes. They take the place of films at what is (commonly known as) a film festival. That is how important we feel these (master classes) are."

Baker adds the class offerings fulfill one part of the XFF mission: "to educate and promote the craft of filmmaking in Mississippi."

"We have people who are at the top of their game, and they are coming to share this information with people who are trying to become more professional in their lives as filmmakers," Baker says.

The two expect the classes fill up quickly as festivalgoers learn more about the topics and presenters. They hope the master-class offerings become a permanent addition.

The Crossroads Film Festival is April 11-13. Most films will show at Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison). Master classes begin at noon on April 13 and run through 7:30 p.m. They are $10 and open to the public. For more information, visit crossroadsfilmfestival.com or find the event on Facebook. — Torsheta Jackson

Into the World of Show Choir

If you have lived in the Jackson metro area long enough, there's a decent change you've heard Clinton High School's show choir, Attache.

The group holds the longest winning streak in show choir history: It has won the title of grand champion 80 out of 89 competitions. Its longest winning streak was 22 championships from 2001 to 2008. As of March 2019, the choir is currently at 18 wins. And Attache is now the subject of a film of the same name, which Melissa Pace Overholt directed.

The film covers everything from the group's founding in 1981 to the rigors of being in the show choir. Along with interviews from students in the choir, filmmakers also talked to those who have gone through the program and went on to greater things, including Lance Bass, a singer, dancer and actor most known for his time with NSYNC.

The film "Attache" illustrates why something like the show choir is important to a place like Clinton and Mississippi, and the passion of the people involved.

Attache" will show at 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, during the "Attache" film block on screen A at Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison). — Amber Helsel

The Ultimate Taste-Taster

The film, "Masters," which Mark Ward wrote and directed, is a mockumentary that focuses on Abbie Pastuszek (Shannon Meehan) as she prepares for one of the hardest tests in the world: the "Masters" test that determine the world's elite taste-testers.

"It took seven tries, two failed marriages and a hip replacement to pass the Masters Test, but it is the greatest achievement of my life, including the birth of my children and my several degrees," one of the characters, Col. Quincy Pedroza (Fredric Lehne) says at one point.

For most of the film, Pastuszek is sitting at a table with Pedroza, taste-testing chips in preparation for her exam. These elements communicate the seriousness of taste-testing, from Pastuszek breaking down in tears during an interview to her washing her mouth out after each test. The best part of the film is the commentary while trying each chip. She often speaks quickly when judging each chip, and most of it pertains to the food she's judging, but the longer she tries everything, the more ridiculous her commentary gets. For example, she describes the texture of one of the chips as "not unlike the Martian surface."

This is a great film for anyone who likes comedy and food.

"Masters" shows during the "'White Guys Solve Sexism' and Other Comedic Tales" film block at 1 p.m. on screen C at Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison). — Armani T. Fryer and Amber Helsel

'Old Time Music'

The short documentary from Damien Blaylock, "Great Big Yam Potatoes!", is a story about the Great Big Yam Potatoes folk-music gathering, and the community these Mississippi folks songs have created.

The film explores the influence of "fiddle culture" on the state and its history. It also shows how Mississippi benefitted from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Federal Music Project, which he started in 1936. For part of the project, a team went to Mississippi to research folk music around the state. This project led to more than 3,500 "fiddle tunes" collected throughout Mississippi. The film also shows how that research is still pivotal to the community's aim of keeping these songs alive.

The historical story it told against the backdrop of sounds and scenes of musicians and others playing some of the tunes on the sprawling green campus of Jefferson College in Natchez, Miss.

Throughout the documentary, viewers learn what makes Mississippi fiddle tunes unique and the importance of preserving parts of our musical culture.

"Great Big Yam Potatoes!" will show during the "'Music Saved Us' and Other Music Docs" film block at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, on screen A at Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd, Madison). — Brynn Corbello

Hunt or be Hunted

"The Fox," a short animation film from Tehran, Iran, explores what it means to be the hunter and the hunted, as well as how quickly those tables can turn.

The film is a fast-paced journey with dazzling geometric designs, haunting orchestral strings, and cues of color that guide the story along. Based on a 200-year-old story from Iran's Qajar kingdom, the film covers a day in the life of a fox as he hunts, tries to seize a chance at love and eventually becomes the hunted. Viewers watch the chase as it results not in the fox's death; instead, the hunter places a bell around his neck, taking away stealth, his greatest skill.

After this, the fox still has his same set of duties in life, even though he can no longer be stealthy. The film explores how he struggles through events that were nearly impossible feats for this animal before, and how the moments with the hunter and his dogs haunt him.

Director Sadegh Javadi Nikjeh's use of only music and sound effects in the film serves to create a more intense experience as the fox fights starvation and waning hope. The film uses mystical elements through animation to show how he will reclaim his order of hunter rather than hunted. The ending, though, might surprise viewers.

"The Fox" will show during the "'Turned to the Sun' and Other Visually Striking Shorts" film block on screen A at 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 11, at Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison). — Brynn Corbello

Tales of Freedom

Good stories can come from anywhere, but oftentimes the most compelling ones come from places that have seen hard times. Many of Mississippi's great tales, from the origin of the blues to some of the state's sports greats, come from the Delta—one of the financially poorest regions of the state, but also one of the culturally richest.

Cue stories like those in the "Rosedale Freedom Stories" film in this year's Crossroads Film Festival. The photo-essay-turned-movie is part of the Rosedale Freedom Project, a modern-day initiative that seeks to elevate young leaders in Delta towns, specifically Rosedale, through community building, artistic creation and grassroots organizing. In August 2018, eight youth ages 12 to 15 attended Youth Leadership Workshop & Media Immersion, in which they learned about civil rights and civic engagement, and media such as photography. The project eventually turned into "Rosedale Freedom Stories."

The film tells the stories of some of the people in the town, from Barbara Pope, owner of the White Front Cafe; Mildrette Netter White, an Olympic gold medalist; and Rosedale police officer Conchetta Turner.

It provides a compelling narrative for one town in the Delta, from the photos of Rosedale and of the subjects to voice-overs from the participants themselves.

The film screens during the "Freedom Stories" film block at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday, April 13, on screen A at Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison). — Amber Helsel

Laying Everything Bare

Viva Las Vegas' words, "Stripping is an art, and strippers are artists," set the scene for the documentary, "Thank You for Supporting the Arts."

The film is about the life of Liv Osthus, a Portland-based, 40-something stripper who performs as Viva Las Vegas.

"Thank You" lays her life bare and reveals what life is really like for a stripper. It also shows all facets of her from her being a mother to a musician to a cancer survivor, and how her Viva Las Vegas and Liv Osthus personas compare and contrast.

Interviews with her, her friends, former boyfriends, parents and other relatives, and even her surgeon tell her intensely personal story, warts and all.

As each piece of clothing is stripped away (metaphorically speaking), another aspect of her life becomes real and is told in such a way that the viewer can feel the emotion of it.

"Thank You for Supporting the Arts" is a powerful and inspiring story of a woman who decides to live her life outside of society's expectations, of her victories and defeats and of her never-give-up attitude to life.

"Thank You for Supporting the Arts" shows on screen B during the film block of the same name on Friday, April 12, at 5 p.m. at Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison). — Richard Coupe

Can White Guys Solve Sexism?

"White Guys Solve Sexism" is a farcical romp through absurdity that tackles some of Hollywood's reaction to the #metoo movement. In the film, two clueless men (those two words go together don't they?), Mike and Clark, are horrified by the reach and breadth of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the revelations that the movement brought forth.

Director and producer Christopher Guerrero said in an interview about the film: "They told me about a number of male filmmakers from a famous university coming together to mourn the 'loss of filmmaking' in a post-Weinstein world. These men were so blindsided and shocked that women could be treated so terribly for so long... and they didn't even know. While Weinstein's abuse is both shocking and horrifying, it is far from the first sign of sexism in the film industry."

Though the film is short at less than seven minutes, it packs a comedic and thoughtful punch. Leah Lemarr, a standup comic and actress, plays Veronica, Mike's wife, in the film. She has the best lines and facial expressions as she tries to manage the meltdown of the two men, Mike (Max Baumgarten) and Clark (Kyle Helf) as they struggle to understand what has happened. At one point, she rolls her eyes and deadpans, "Of course 'Good Will Hunting' is sexist. They let Matt Damon do math before they let a woman."

It may seem like an absurd premise on the surface, but it is one that is worth thinking about when you see this film.

Like Voltaire's "Candide" or Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels," this is a first-rate satirical farce, one that will make you laugh at the absurdity, but leave you uneasy with the truth in it.

"White Guys Solve Sexism" screens during the "'White Guys Solve Sexism' and Other Comedic Tales" film block at 1 p.m. on screen C at Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison) on Saturday, April 13. — Richard Coupe

Alone in the Universe

The Emissary" makes it clear that space can be one of the loneliest places in the universe if you are by yourself.

The short film, which Bryan Tan directed, is about a scientist, Liv Laika (Viviana Chavez), on a solitary mission to the planet Yaghan to find her ancestors who left the Earth almost a century ago. She is an emissary whose mission is to restore diplomatic ties with the people of Yaghan.

The film starts with Laika's unnamed significant other (Jonathan Horne) talking about how she left a life behind to fulfill her mission. "For a moment, there was no distance between us," he says. "Now the sun's light will not reach you in a lifetime. You were sent to restore the broken bond. You shatter another."

Then, the first few scenes inside the spacecraft are fairly mundane—she eats, sleeps, prunes plants—but the film gets exponentially more dramatic as she approaches Yaghan and begins almost constantly broadcasting to them. She tries over and over to contact them, and the longer no one answers, the more frantic she gets, and the more the viewer can see how the mission has affected her. She has sacrificed her life on earth to travel 100 light years to find those who left, and now she is on this solitary journey.

The film communicates that loneliness well, specifically with its shots of space and other special effects. The message touches on the impermanence of time and sacrificing oneself for the greater good.

"The Emissary" will screen on Saturday, April 13, during the "'Helios' and Other Thrilling and Sci-Fi Stories" film block at 6:45 p.m. on screen C at Malco Grandview Theater (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison). —Amber Helsel

Growing 'Roots and Wings'

"Roots and Wings," a documentary from Collins, Miss.,-based filmmaker Hanna Miller, highlights one family's struggle with poverty in south Mississippi.

Leatrice Black, the narrator of the film, supports her husband Robby Black and their 7-month-old son Caleb by working at Ward's, a food joint known for its chili dogs and burgers. However, Leatrice desperately wants Robby to get a job so that the family can live off more than one income, with the eventual goal being to get their own place.

The film also highlights the problems that stand in their way, including a lack of decent jobs in Collins and Robby's attention-defecit hyperactive disorder. He does not have the insurance or funds to afford medication. Most of his previous employers fired him because of his inability to focus without his medicine.

"Roots and Wings" is a compelling documentary that highlights issues such as teenage parenthood, poverty and living in a rural, small town. Despite addressing these heavy topics, the film also features lighthearted scenes from the family's everyday life, including conducting a Bible study and parenting Caleb. It also seems to support the theme of loving life no matter what path you may be on.

"Life is about what you make it out to be," Robby says at one point in the film.

In the end, the couple find a silver lining in their troubles.

"Roots and Wings" will show during the "'Her Body' and Other Shorts by Female Filmmakers" film block on screen B at 6:45 p.m. on Friday, April 12, at Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison). —Armani T. Fryer

Negro Terror

Punk may not seem like a genre that promotes unity, but for Omar Higgins, the founder, bass player and lead vocalist of Memphis, Tenn.,-based African American punk band Negro Terror, it was a way to do just that. The band has been around since 2015, and is now the subject of a Southern Documentary Projects film of the same name.

The band is made up of young African American men who use their music to highlight social issues such as racism and police brutality.

One major theme of "Negro Terror" is the band's representation as black men in a genre that people perceive as traditionally white.

One fan of the band says, "We don't have that representation. It means a lot to see a band that looks like me."

Interviewees in the film also talk about rock-and-roll and how, though people may perceive it as a "white" genre, its roots are African American.

While the film focuses on the band Negro Terror, it also gives a viewers a critical look at Memphis and some of the issues that persist in the city. For example, Higgins talks about the gentrification of Midtown and the racism in the city.

The camera-work is one aspect of this film that makes it interesting. It juxtaposes the interviews and the band performing with scenes from Memphis, footage from a #Fightfor15 march in the city and more.

The film is compelling because not only does it tell the story of a punk band; it paints a picture of them as both musicians and activists.

"Negro Terror" will show during the "'Music Saved Us' and Other Music Docs" film block at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 13, in screen A at Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison). — Armani T. Fryer and Amber Helsel

The Delta Girl

"The Delta Girl," which Jackson, Miss., native Jaclyn Bethany directed and co-wrote as part of her master's degree from the American Film Institute, tells the story of one woman whose eyes are opened after she witnesses a murder.

At first, the story, which is set in the 1960s-era Mississippi Delta, seems a little too filled with rural southern cliches, such as the girls beautifully coiffed in their white-and-blue smocks at their all-white girls school with a brilliantly white school building with Corinthian columns, set against the dark and muddy "Delta" filled with white boys drinking and roughhousing, and generally being stereotypically male.

After a senseless act of white-on-black violence, the rest of the movie seems to head toward a re-imagining of white people's behavior in that era, and how some white person would come to their senses and see justice done.

But the film surprised me and headed in another direction. It's told from the perspective of Magnolia (played by Isabelle Fuhrman of "The Hunger Games"), a 17-year-old high-school student who witnesses the violence. Magnolia struggles with her conscience. She debates whether she should tell the sheriff, her father, that her brother is a killer or keep silent. "We killed him," she says at one point, seeming to recognize the larger complicity of southern women in racially motivated violence.

Magnolia knows that there can be no happy ending to this story and her despair is palpable. The film is worth watching and the angst and uneasy feeling it generates is one we need to remember.

"The Delta Girl" screens during the "'Her Body' and Other Shorts by Female Filmmakers" block at 6:45 p.m. on Friday, April 12, on screen B at the Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison). —Richard Coupe

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JFP StaffWed, 03 Apr 2019 12:56:29 -0500https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/apr/03/crossroads-film-festival-2019/
OPINION: Talking About ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/feb/06/opinion-talking-about-if-beale-street-could-talk/

For those of you who have read the book "If Beale Street Could Talk," the film is as heart-wrenching and depressing as the book. For those of you who have not read it, plan to do something very encouraging and uplifting after you see the movie.

Now, to be clear, I am not telling y'all this to keep y'all from seeing it. It is a great film, but it addresses one of the sad realities of our time: the manner in which the judicial system has complete autonomy to destroy black lives just because it can.

The film is set in the 1970s. It 
follows the journey of couple Clementine "Tish" Rivers, played by Kiki Lane, and Alonzo "Fonny" Hunt, play by Stephan James, as they seek to clear his name of wrongful charges.

And, yet, what's most gripping about "If Beale Street Could Talk" is that not much had to be changed from when James Baldwin wrote it 45 years ago. That is the sad reality of America and its need to maintain a permanent underclass to maintain a permanent free-labor base.

However, if one can endure the pain and anger that the film evokes, one can also see a very powerful and beautiful film about the will and ability of African peoples to survive and thrive even when warring against each other under the most hellish attack of white supremacy.

True to Baldwin's work, the film does not sugarcoat the nuances and complications of being human. We do not cheer for the protagonists of "If Beale Street Could Talk" because they are perfect but because they are great examples of trying each day to be better than they were yesterday while facing the fangs of white supremacy.

Even more, the film makes one of the best cases for the value of love—eros (romantic), platonic, storge (family), and agape—showing that in the most trying times love is the only nutrient and weapon that can sustain one against this world's evil.

So, get your minds, hearts and souls ready because this is an important film. As African peoples, we cannot complain about the limited amount of offerings we have when we don't do our part to see well-crafted works just because those works might make us uncomfortable. In fact, that's the point of art—to make us uncomfortable. Because the human species is adept at finding comfort in terrible circumstances, one of the goals of art is to make us so uncomfortable with our circumstance that we are forced to reevaluate it and move. So, let's get moving to the theater to see "If Beale Street Could Talk."

Then, y'all go see "The Upside" and "Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse." I haven't seen "Aquaman," yet, either because I was saving my money to see "If Beale Street Could Talk" first. Now, I can go and get me some laughs 'cause I damn sho' need 'em.

C. Liegh McInnis is an English 
instructor at Jackson State University, the former editor and publisher of Black Magnolias Literary Journal, and the 
author of eight books.

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C. Liegh McInnisWed, 06 Feb 2019 10:44:25 -0600https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/feb/06/opinion-talking-about-if-beale-street-could-talk/
Jewish Cinema Mississippi 2019https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/jan/24/jewish-cinema-mississippi-2019/

The 17th annual Jewish Cinema Mississippi film festival will take place at the Malco Grandview Theater in Madison on Jan. 24, 26, 27 and 29. Each year, JCM committee members review dozens of films from around the world that either focus on or have a connection to Jewish history and faith, and select a handful of the best ones to screen for the festival. The 2019 festival will feature four films, one for each day.

"The importance of Jewish culture and history has been the key element of our festivals from the very beginning," Jonathan Larkin, publicity chairman for JCM and a member of the film selection committee, told the Jackson Free Press. "We're always looking for a diverse group of films of no particular genre that can appeal to all sorts of people."

The festival begins on Thursday, Jan. 24, with a German film titled "Bye, Bye Germany." The film is in German with English subtitles and involves a group of Holocaust survivors working to raise money to immigrate to America.

On Saturday, Jan. 26, JCM will screen an Argentinian film titled "The Last Suit." The film revolves around Abraham Bursztein, an 88-year-old Jewish tailor who travels to Poland to keep a promise to sew a suit for a friend who saved his life during World War II. The movie is in Spanish with English subtitles.

Sunday's film is an American documentary titled "GI Jews - Jewish Americans in World War II." The film tells the story of the 550,000 Jewish men and women who served during the war. In honor of veterans and their service, JCM will grant free admission to all active duty military personnel and veterans who present their military ID.

The final film airing on Tuesday, Jan. 29, is "A Quiet Heart." The story takes place in modern-day Jerusalem and stars a concert pianist named Naomi who learns to use music as a means to deal with culture clashes in both her life and those of her two similarly musically gifted friends.

"All of our films this year should have a wide appeal and possess great quality from a cinematic standpoint," Danielle Wahba, co-chair of the film festival, told the Jackson Free Press. "These are all award-winning films, and we especially look forward to the chance to acknowledge the contributions of Jews to World War II and our American military today."

The Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday films will be screened at 7 p.m., and the Sunday film will be screened at 2 p.m. Seats are not reserved and are subject to availability.

For more information on the film festival, festival passes or individual film tickets, visit jewishcinemams.com. View trailers for all of this year's films at jewishcinemams.com/2019-films.html.

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Dustin CardonThu, 24 Jan 2019 12:47:44 -0600https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/jan/24/jewish-cinema-mississippi-2019/
'Between the Pines' Tackles Mississippi Sports Historyhttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/dec/05/between-pines-tackles-mississippi-sports-history/

When brothers Jon and Henry Wiener founded Bash Brothers Media, it seemed like a no-brainer to produce feature sports documentaries, Jon says. He is a sports personality who has worked at various media outlets in Jackson, Miss., and Henry has a master's degree in film documentaries from Stanford University.

Henry's skill with a camera and Jon's love of Mississippi sports made a good combination for their latest project, "Between the Pines: Mississippi's Greatest Sports Stories," a series of documentaries that focus on telling many untouched sports stories throughout the state.

In this era of media, many TV networks are looking for new original content to draw audiences away from streaming video. The one-hour episodes, along with commercials, help local stations around the state add "must-see" programing to their schedule, Jon says. "Between the Pines" episodes are now available on cspire.com.

Episode one of the series, "The University of South Panola," focused on South Panola High School. The Batesville, Miss., school is a football power, and from 2003 to 2008, the team won 89 games in a row. That is the longest winning streak in Mississippi high-school football history and the third-longest high-school-football winning streak in U.S. history.

South Panola won five straight Mississippi 5A titles, and several of its players went on to the highest levels of college football. Many athletes from the school have also played in the NFL.

"Nearly every great Mississippi sports story starts on a Friday night in a small Mississippi town," Jon says. "High-school football is huge in our state, and South Panola has to be considered the crown jewel."

The next documentary, which aired Saturday, Nov. 17, was titled "The Vet" and focused on the history of Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson. Since its construction, the stadium has shaped college football in our state. Every university in Mississippi can point to the stadium for a highlight in its football history.

Some of the greatest games in state history took place at the venue. For example, the University of Mississippi clashed with many SEC foes at the program's height in Jackson. Mississippi State University also won against the University of Alabama at the Vet in 1980. Jackson State University, Alcorn State University and Mississippi Valley State University made history in Jackson in front of mega crowds there, as well.

For the documentaries, the Wieners have interviewed sports greats such as former Mississippi Valley State University quarterback Willie Totten and former Ole Miss quarterback Archie Manning, father of Peyton and Eli Manning. However, the best interview so far, Jon says, was former Governor William Winter.

In addition to being an important figure in the state's Civil Rights Movement, Winter was an elected official in the Mississippi Legislature when it approved the building of the Veterans Memorial Stadium.

"The amazing thing about Governor Winter is his recall of events—it was amazing to just get those stories on film from him," Jon says.

For more information on "Between the Pines," visit cspire.com or bashbrothersmedia.com.

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Bryan FlynnWed, 05 Dec 2018 12:34:22 -0600https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/dec/05/between-pines-tackles-mississippi-sports-history/
Angie Thomas' Hometown Celebrates Release of 'The Hate U Give' Moviehttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/oct/11/angie-thomas-hometown-celebrates-release-hate-u-gi/

Angie Thomas, best-selling author of "The Hate U Give," promised not to cry at a private reception honoring her young-adult-novel-turned-movie, which comes out this week in her home state. She said her makeup artist would kill her.

"To know that all of you took time out to come here tonight to celebrate what's happening, and in some ways to celebrate me, I am honored," she said. "This makeup on my face looks good. I'm not going to cry. That's what I said."

Thomas said she wants to continue to be an example of the good that comes out of this state, where she plans to stay.

After the release of her debut novel in 2017, Thomas has been around the world, promoting her work. At an Oct. 10 event celebrating the Jackson native at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and Museum of Mississippi History, she rejoiced in not having to take time in her remarks to clear the air about her home state.

She said she often lists off five things to contest misconceptions about Mississippi: First, the state has indoor plumbing; second, Mississippians wear shoes; third, people do not have to sit on the back of the bus because of the color of their skin anymore; fourth, she has never had to drink from a colored-only water fountain; and fifth, she has never been called the n-word in Mississippi but probably has been via Twitter.

"We have a long way to go, but we've come a long way," Thomas said. "I'm proud to say that Mississippi is hopeful. I'm proud to say I have a lot of faith in this state. I'm proud to say I come from this state. It's going to be my duty to show people that all the assumptions they make about us are wrong."

Mayor Chokwe Antar and Ebony Lumumba, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, the Well Writers Guild and the Mississippi Book Festival co-sponsored the event, which nearly 400 guests attended. Thomas said she wishes every person who comes to her events could see the crowd gathered there, which represented a mix of races and ages.

Mayor Lumumba congratulated Thomas—the first recipient of the key to the City of Jackson under his administration.

"This is truly an exciting day, not only for Angie, but for this community that loves her very dearly," he said.

The mayor said that wife Ebony, the chair of the English department at Tougaloo College and a doctoral candidate at the University of Mississippi, was the one who introduced him to "The Hate U Give," which began as a senior thesis while Thomas was at Belhaven University.

"When you are abroad and pushing your mission forward, we are celebrating you right here in Jackson, Mississippi," Ebony said. "Angie, that's because you are the culmination of our hope for this space. She is a JPS product. That deserves a round of applause."

Ebony encouraged the room to share the book with young people and added that she was intentional about bringing the first couple's two young girls, Alake and newborn Nubia, to this celebration.

"We brought our young people, our children, tonight because if you're familiar with the concept of T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E, you know what the hate you give does to young people, what it does to future generations," she said, referencing the late rapper Tupac Shakur's renowned tattoo of the acronym: "The Hate U Give Little Infants F*s Everybody." It is also the inspiration behind Thomas' book.

Ebony continued: "I laud you, Angie, for taking on the task of making us responsible for what comes after us—thank you, sister."

Thomas offered a direct message for the youth of Mississippi.

"Specifically to the young people in this room, when you look at me, I hope you see what you can become, but I hope you know that you can do even better," she said. "I hope that I'm a mirror for you to see that you have greatness inside of you right here in Mississippi.

"I hope that 10, 20 years from now, when one of you is standing up here, we won't have to say 'Black Lives Matter'—it'll be understood. I hope that you take that torch and you run with it, and I hope that you show people that Mississippi is a good place."

Thomas' breakout novel is about a 16-year-old girl named Starr who crafts a delicate balance in code-switching between a predominantly white prep school and the inner-city where she lives with her family. She is forced to reckon with those careful boundaries after witnessing a police officer shoot and kill her childhood best friend during a traffic stop after a party.

The book has spent 84 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list, and the film will come to Mississippi theaters on Friday, Oct. 13. Thomas encourages everyone to go out and support the movie, which she characterized as a love letter to Mississippi.

"I mean, when your cousin comes at you with the flash drive talking about, I've got 'The Hate U Give' for free, you need to tell your cousin that Angie said, 'Nah, we can't do that,'" Thomas said, encouraging laughs from the crowd. "I want them to see that right here in Mississippi, some of the most love and support for this film was born right here."

Email city reporter Ko Bragg at ko@jacksonfreepress.com.

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Ko BraggThu, 11 Oct 2018 12:31:47 -0500https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/oct/11/angie-thomas-hometown-celebrates-release-hate-u-gi/
Oxford Film Festival Grants, Schwartz “Buddy Bear” Campaign, and “Broadway in Jackson” and “Jackson Live!” https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/sep/25/oxford-film-festival-grants-schwartz-buddy-bear-ca/

The Oxford Film Festival, an annual independent film festival that launched in Oxford, Miss., in 2003, recently announced that it is partnering with the Magnifying Glass Fellowship in Mississippi to offer grants of up to $2,500 for local filmmakers.

The Magnifying Glass is an independent film fellowship that Russell Sheaffer, founder of California-based film company Artless Media, created. The fellowship focuses on small-budget, progressive or radical short films that address social issues such as violence, racism, sexism, homophobia and gun control. Films should be two to five minutes long with a total budget of no more than $2,500.

“One of the most important things for our film festival is a diversity of voices, so we’re excited to partner with the Magnifying Glass to help Mississippi filmmakers create their stories,” Melanie Addington, executive director for the Oxford Film Festival, told the Jackson Free Press. “We’re looking for anyone in Mississippi who has a story to tell.”

Filmmakers from Mississippi must submit their application online along with their idea for a short documentary on social issues before midnight on Oct. 31.

Submissions should include a one-page explanation of the project, an expected total budget, a description of intention for the awarded funds, key crew bios, a sample of the filmmaker’s previous work that is less than five minutes long, if available, and an outreach strategy. The Magnifying Glass will give preference to artists who are documenting oppressed communities of which they are a member.

Applicants who receive grants will be able to screen their documentary at the 2019 Oxford Film Festival, which takes place from Feb. 6 to Feb. 10. Projects must be complete and ready to screen by Jan. 2, 2019.

For more information, visit oxfordfilmfest.com. Learn more about the Magnifying Glass Fellowship here.

Schwartz & Associates Launches “Buddy Bear” Campaign

Richard Schwartz & Associates, P.A. (162 E. Amite St.) held a press conference on Wednesday, Sept. 19, to announce the launch of a campaign to provide free Teddy bears for children at accident scenes or other traumatic events.

The law firm will partner with local law enforcement agencies and first responders to give out what it is calling “Buddy Bears.” Police departments in Madison, Rankin and Hinds counties have collected the first 500 stuffed animals.

“The Buddy Bear is a stuffed bear wearing a blue T-shirt to symbolize police officers,” Kelli Williford, marketing director for Schwartz & Associates, told the Jackson Free Press. “Richard gave them that name because we want them to serve as a friend or buddy for a child to hold on to in the wake of a tragic incident like an accident.

“We want a first responder to be able to help better console these children in difficult times and hopefully have an impact that can make such experiences less traumatic for a child. The idea is for officers to keep the Buddy Bears in their vehicles to have ready if the time comes.”

Departments wishing to participate in the “Buddy Bear” campaign can call the public relations department for Schwartz & Associates and request the number of Teddy bears they would like to receive. Schwartz & Associates can provide more bears by request when they run out. Although the campaign is geared toward police officers, other first responders such as firefighters and paramedics are also welcome to participate.

For more information, call 601-988-8888 or visit 1call.ms.

‘Broadway in Jackson’ and ‘Jackson Live!’ Return to Thalia Mara

Chicago-based company Innovation Arts & Entertainment is bringing its two local series, “Broadway in Jackson” and “Jackson Live!,” back to Thalia Mara Hall (255 E. Pascagoula St.) this October.

“Jackson Live!” will feature a variety of musical performances, including Grammy Award-winning blues guitarist Buddy Guy in concert on Oct. 11, musical circus act Cirque Musica’s “Wonderland” on Dec. 20, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in Concert” on Jan. 19, 2019, and gospel, soul and R&B legend Mavis Staples in concert on March 22, 2019.

“Broadway in Jackson” will include six theatrical productions, including Tony Award-winning musicals such as “Jersey Boys” on Nov. 10, “Kinky Boots” on Feb. 6, 2019, “Les Misérables” on March 5, 2019, and “The Sound of Music” on March 23, 2019.

For a full schedule of events, as well as information on season tickets and VIP services, visit jacksonbroadway.com or call 888-502-2929.

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Dustin CardonTue, 25 Sep 2018 12:16:49 -0500https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/sep/25/oxford-film-festival-grants-schwartz-buddy-bear-ca/
Maximus Wright, ‘Lola’ and the Future of Local Filmhttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/jul/05/lola-and-future-local-film/

Maximus Wright’s entry into the entertainment world began with a question: Why can’t Mississippi be a destination for film and TV?

About six years ago, his daughter, Jaime Wright, approached him and said she wanted to try out for parts in Disney productions. To Jaime, then 14 years old, that meant eventually moving away from their home state.

“She told me, ‘Dad, when I graduate high school, I’m going to have to leave Mississippi.’ I was like, ‘Why?’ And she said, ‘I can’t be on television in Mississippi.’ That struck a cord with me. That bothered me,” Wright says.

Wright, a Yazoo City native who has lived in the Jackson area since 2004, began taking his daughter to auditions and says that he saw the scheme of things. These productions weren’t attempting to build anything in Mississippi.

He decided to get more involved in boosting the local film community, hosting entertainment events and purchasing a camera to make his own short projects. In 2013, he launched his company, Phoenix Rising Entertainment, through which he now creates films and novels.

“When I was growing up, if they said, ‘What do you want to be? You have a choice of being an astronaut, a writer or a ninja,’ then I would have said, ‘Looks like I’m going to be a ninja because I love Bruce Lee,’” he says with a laugh. “I really couldn’t have fathomed that this is what I’d be doing.”

While film wasn’t a career path he anticipated, Wright says that he always loved movies and paid close attention to dialogue. Once he got into the field, though, all of his quirks made sense, he says, whether it was picking up on how people moved or their speech patterns.

Wright’s latest project is a short film adapting part of his second novel, “My Name Is Lola.” Initially, the events in “My Name Is Lola” were more of a backstory he had in his head for the titular character while writing his authorial debut, “Soul Damage.”

He released “Soul Damage” in March 2017 and says that the book took off. He has since created a stage play based on the story and is currently working on a feature-length film adaptation, which he plans to premiere this year in November. Wright says he was grateful that people enjoyed the book, but he didn’t like how some readers viewed Lola, the mother of main character Sirius.

“She had a lot of trauma in her own life, and it was just a vicious cycle,” he says. “The way that some people were interpreting her was as a villain. And I didn’t see her that way. That’s what forced me to go back and say, ‘Let’s get more of this story so we can get a better look,’ not necessarily to justify her, but to better understand what she came from.”

He began producing a short film telling a portion of that story in November 2017, around the time he released “My Name Is Lola” in novel form. However, that wasn’t his intention when the camera first started rolling. Instead, the purpose was to, well, roll the camera, as they had just bought new equipment and wanted to test it out.

Wright says that it may not have been the initial goal, but telling the story on film has allowed it to connect with audiences in a different way than the book.

“There’s something about film, to me, that invites all these senses. You know, you can’t taste it. But if you’re really good at it, you can make them feel like they can taste it,” he says. “That’s what I like about film. It engages more of your emotion … visually and what you’re hearing, audibly.”

Should there be adequate demand for more of Lola’s story, he says they may continue adapting her dramatic tale of drug addiction and trauma as a series of shorts. For Wright, the goal is to not only continue making content in Jackson, but also to further develop and promote the film industry in the Magnolia State.

“I feel that Mississippi has the greatest pool of natural talent in the world,” he says. “There’s a place called American Samoa, a little island in the South Pacific. You know their number-one export? Their number-one export is football players. … They produce more football players for the NFL than any state in the U.S.—more than Texas, more than Mississippi, more than Alabama.

“I want to do that for Mississippi when it comes to film. I want to not just create actors, but directors and producers. I feel that if Mississippi can realize that this is a viable option, then we’ll be in a great place. We’re perfect for film, … but we’ve still not seen that and we’ve yet to create a strong infrastructure for film. And the most important thing is you can’t tell stories about Mississippi (in film) if Mississippians are not telling them.”

For more information, visit pho3nixrisingentertainment.com.

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Micah SmithThu, 05 Jul 2018 12:36:04 -0500https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/jul/05/lola-and-future-local-film/
Chris Moore Talks Comedy and Terror in 'Triggered'https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/jul/03/chris-moore-talks-comedy-and-terror-triggered/

Jackson filmmaker Chris Moore's latest movie, "Triggered," came from pairing an old idea with some new inspiration.

A few years ago, he had worked on a script titled "The Girl Who Cried Slasher" about a young attention-seeker who fakes an attack from a serial killer, accidentally putting her in an actual killer's sights.

"So that was just a small germ of an idea," he says. "Then, I think it was a year or so ago, someone had posted an article on my timeline on Facebook about this person who was in college, and they were trying to get everyone up in arms because they were serving sushi in the cafeteria. It was deemed cultural appropriation, and I thought that was so funny."

The story, which national publications such as The Atlantic and The New York Post reported on, came from Oberlin College, where a handful of students protested the cafeteria's international food offerings for being inauthentic, and thus, racially insensitive.

After that Facebook post, Moore, 28, began researching the topic further and says he discovered a "cult" of people who were looking to raise ire about the smallest of issues.

"I thought, 'Oh! If I put that idea together with this other one, that would be pretty interesting,'" he says. "And so I think I wrote the script in about a month, and that was pretty much that."

This idea ultimately evolved into "Triggered," which stars Meredith Mohler as the lead character, Callee Bishop, and Jesse Dalton as best friend Ian Falwell—filmed around the Jackson metro area throughout October 2017.

Unlike the more straightforward horror of his feature-length debut, 2016's "Blessed Are the Children," Moore's latest outing falls into the blended genre of horror-comedy.

"It's interesting," he says on balancing the two. "I think it's just sort of an instinct that you have. I genuinely believe that the best horror films have some element of comedy because I feel like if you just keep hitting harder and harder, ultimately, the audience gets tired. They start to laugh at stuff that's not really supposed to be funny."

By giving the audience intentional moments of humor, Moore says the scarier and more suspenseful moments play better. In a sense, it also makes the film feel more realistic, he says, because everyone has had bad days or bad months, but there are instants of levity within that.

"I just hope my instincts are right, but I think there are some characters in this film that hopefully you'll root for," he says. "I think if you can do that, then when they're put in jeopardy, it's much more intense, and you actually care."

That can be difficult to accomplish when the main character antagonizes those around her as Callee does in "Triggered." Moore says one way the film keeps viewers connected with its protagonist is that, on occasion, she's absolutely right about the injustices around her.

"It's kind of like a weird balancing act," he says. "There are moments when you think, 'OK, I'm on her side completely,' and then, she does something completely ridiculous. And there are little moments here and there where you kind of see the facade fall. You can see the reason she's doing this is that she just wants to feel like she's making some kind of a difference."

In addition to being a horror-comedy, "Triggered" is a slasher film, a subgenre Moore says he loves, but sees many current directors using less creatively. Modern slasher movies tend to be a tribute to what came before, rather than a unique take on the format, he says.

"I feel like there's one of these every week or every month, where it's a crowd-funding campaign to raise funds for these movies, and the descriptions will make me stop and think, 'Why would I want to donate to a film that's not really doing anything new?'" he says.

With "Triggered," Moore says he was excited for the opportunity to subvert the genre and play with audiences' expectations, as well as the social commentary aspect. Fresh off its debut at Fears for Queers, a Dallas horror festival celebrating LGBT Pride Month, the movie will screen for the first time in its home market on July 12. Moore says this will be his first time to watch it with an audience.

"I hope they laugh, I hope they yell and scream, and they just have a great time because it is a very fun film," he says. "It does touch on some important topics, but I think it does it in a really fun way. We're not punching down. I don't think it's an offensive movie, mainly because it pretty much makes fun of just about everyone and everything."

The Mississippi premiere for "Triggered" is on Thursday, July 12, at 7 p.m. at the Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison). Tickets are $10 and are only available in advance at eventbrite.com. The film contains violence, strong language, nudity and sexuality. Parental guidance is suggested. For more information, find "Triggered" on Facebook.

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Micah SmithTue, 03 Jul 2018 12:23:14 -0500https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/jul/03/chris-moore-talks-comedy-and-terror-triggered/
The 2018 Crossroads Film Festivalhttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/apr/11/2018-crossroads-film-festival/

The Big Clay Booom by Amber Helsel

"Big BoooM" looks at Earth's creation and evolution over time through an unconventional method: Claymation.

The film begins with a gray, black and white blob breathing in and out, which then blasts into thousands of smaller pieces, and eventually, the Earth appears, going from barren planet to one covered with greenery and water. It then shows the planet over time—from plant life forming to animals evolving to the Ice Age to humans evolving to the creation and progression of civilization.

This film's soundtrack that progresses from an atmospheric melody to light and playful accordion music that plays faster and louder as civilization progresses makes the film pack an even bigger punch. "Big BoooM" is a creative insight into the history of our planet and our potential future.

The film will show during the "Animation Station" block on Saturday, April 14, at 1 p.m. on screen A.

Haunted by 'Black Canaries' by Mike McDonald

In the 20th century, coal miners carried canaries into mines to detect toxic gases such as carbon monoxide. If the bird died, it alerted the miners to seek refuge or wear a respiratory device.

"Black Canaries," which is based on writer, producer and director Jesse Kreitzer's coal-mining ancestry, tells the story of a man, Clarence Lockwood, who used the apiary safety tool once, but the trick was ineffective. He survived a mine accident, and his father fell ill and one of his sons became blind because of it. The narrator, Lockwood's other son, says in the beginning: "Hard to say what kept him going. ... After the mine collapse, he swore that the land was still rich."

Still, he continues to mine. Coal beckons to him, not as a cold, inanimate object, but a material very much alive, on fire, glowing in his hands in a vision or reminding him of that fateful day, as well as the power of the resource through the iron grates on his fireplace, emanating warmth day and night.

He is drawn to coal, ignoring that it nearly killed him and hurt his family.

The film is rich in tempered hues, mostly grayscale. The family lives in a one-room cabin, which makes the death of the grandfather more pervasive. The cabin is in a field, windswept and surrounded by tall grass and alfalfa.

The narrator's voice, combined with the music, is haunting and sobering, reflecting this hardscrabble lifestyle where survival is a daily enterprise.

Crossroads Film Festival will show "Black Canaries" on Saturday, April 14, at 1:30 p.m. during the "Global Snapshots" block on Screen C.

The Cinema of Sound by Micah Smith

As diverse as this year's Crossroads Film Festival entries are, few individual blocks pack as many different styles in one as the music video showcase. Festivalgoers can check out visuals for rock, country, Americana, and even fife-and-drum blues music from the Jackson metro area and all corners of the country. Here's a list of what you can expect to see (and hear).

"Damaged": American Automatic

"Sentimental": Cheshi

"Glory, Glory": Sharde Thomas and the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band

"Manna": King Woman

"My Golden Rule": Melissa Gail Klein

"Serve All": Stace & Cassie

"Till I Cross Your Mind": Young Valley

"Bubblewrap": Baron Von Rumblebuss

"Class Dismissed": Too Many Vices

"A Hard Rain": Stace & Cassie

"Moss Point, Mississippi" Don Smith

"World Gone Crazy,": 61 Ghosts

"How Much": Ormond White

Crossroads Film Festival's music video showcase is on screen A at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 13 .

A Life of 'Compartments' by Mike McDonald

Humans have a tendency to compartmentalize experiences, people, relationships and memories when dealing with trauma, or to simply manage circumstances in life.

This phenomenon is present in the animated film "Compartments." In the film, which uses paper-doll-esque animation, the characters have a bookshelf on their chests that represent their lives: family history, life experiences, culture and everything in between.

"Compartments" is an animated film project from Daniella Koffler and Uli Seis. It is about a young woman, Netta, who wants to move to Germany, although her father, a son of Holocaust survivors, has warned her about the evils of the German people for her entire life.

After meeting a man, Netta moved to Germany, and her father will not talk to her. When the film opens, she receives a package from her father. "Compartments" follows her as she contemplates opening the package as she thinks about her past. Both she and her father have to find ways to deal with their demons to save their relationship.

The animation style of the film fits the film's theme of reconciling one's past with the future. "Compartments" also hits on themes such as loss, history, personal and cultural identity, generational differences and human behavior.

"Compartments" will show on Saturday, April 14, during the "Animation Station" film block on screen A.

Dear Mr. Bryant by Amber Helsel

Gov. Phil Bryant signed House Bill 1523, which protects certain "sincerely held religious beliefs" from government discrimination, into law on April 5, 2016, amid outcries among civil- and human-rights groups, people across the state, businesses and even some faith leaders in Mississippi.

Filmmaker Jenni Smith told the Jackson Free Press in February that she and fellow filmmaker Robbie Fisher wanted to be part of the response, so they decided to create a film that would tell a different story than the one legislators are telling.

"We knew that all of Mississippi didn't think this way, and that (a lot) of Mississippi was aware of the dangers of these types of laws and the problems with them, so we reached out to a couple of people, and the response that we got from faith leaders in Mississippi was just very uplifting," she said.

Smith, Fisher and the rest of the team shot "Dear Mr. Bryant" entirely on an 
iPhone. The filmmakers interviewed 17 faith leaders and followers of Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions, including Rev. Ronnie Crudup Jr. of New Horizon Ministries, local philanthropist Bilal Qizilbash and Rev. Paige Swaim-Presley, executive director of Millsaps College's Center for Ministry.

The film opens with a choir crooning the lyrics of Tena Rix Clark's "My, My Mississippi," then fades into a title card that cites data Williams Insitute shows that Mississippi's LGBT community is 60,000 strong, and the state ranks No. 1 in the nation on same-sex couples raising children. Throughout the film, each person in the film speaks on their disdain for HB 1523 against the same background.

"Dear Mr. Bryant" reads just like the name sounds: like a letter to Gov. Phil Bryant, and legislators and state leaders who support HB 1523.

"Dear Mr. Bryant" will screen during the "Wonder Women: Stories by Female Filmmakers" film block on Saturday, April 14, at 3:15 p.m., on screen B.

Steps Forward from 'Setback' by Micah Smith

"Minor Setback, Major Comeback: Supporting Black Dollars and Businesses in Jackson, Mississippi" may begin with a quick look at the past, but its perspective is all about keeping an eye toward the future.

After a jovial voiceover from one of the three young filmmakers, the short, which students in the Mississippi Youth Media Project created, launches into interviews with residents who are working to stimulate growth on Farish Street, once a vibrant black business district in Jackson that fell into decay in the decades since legal segregation ended..

"Minor Setback" introduces viewers to Marshall's Music & Bookstore owner Maati Joan Prim, Johnny T's Bistro & Blues owner John Tierre and David Mosley, chairman of organization Respect Our Black Dollars. The film contrasts the vibrant interiors of their businesses with shots of shuttered storefronts in the once-booming neighborhood, but it is clear that the filmmakers are most interested in providing a path forward.

The short seeks to inspire viewers to be active in the development of not just Farish Street but the black-owned business community as a whole, whether it's Mosley stressing the importance of people of color engaging in local economic growth or Prim discussing the need to provide quality services to customers and push past infrastructure issues to succeed.

While "Minor Setback" could have benefited from a consistent visual style, it is a solid call to action for Jackson's future.

"Minor Setback, Major Comeback" will screen during the "Lindy Lou" block on Saturday, April 14, at 7:45 p.m. on screen B.

A Man and A Teddy Bear by Amber Helsel

A black man runs through a thick forest, shotgun in his hand. Three dogs run alongside him, barking and growling. Suddenly, the man stops, aims his gun and shoots. Amid the smoke, the words "Holt Collier" appear on the screen.

The film, "Holt Collier," which Heather D. Mathews produced, tells the story of Collier, a famed hunter who killed more than 3,000 bears in his lifetime. Collier's family members were slaves at Howell Hinds' Home Hill Plantation. At the age of 10, Hinds brought him to the family's Plum Ridge Plantation in Washington County, where he first learned to shoot. Four years later, he ran away to join his master, Howell Hinds, and Hinds' son Thomas in the Confederacy. At one point he ended up shooting on the front lines. Collier later rode with the 9th Texas Cavalry until the end of the war. After Hinds died, Collier returned to his home in Greenville.

Over the years, Collier had become such a famous hunter that President Theodore Roosevelt wanted him to be his tracker while bear hunting. In the woods of Sharkey County in Rolling Fork, Miss., Collier told Roosevelt and Major George M. Helm to sit and wait while he looked for a bear. When Collier cornered a bear near the site, the two were nowhere to be found. Instead of killing the bear, he knocked it unconscious, and then lassoed it and tied it to a tree. When Roosevelt came back, he saw the bear, but because news reporters were among the entourage, he decided not to shoot it. The incident made headlines. In one political cartoon, "Drawing the line in Mississippi," cartoonist Clifford Berryman drew the bear as a cub—a Teddy bear.

The film features interviews from people such as author Minor Buchanan and Roland Hurts, the director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University. Along with interviews, the film also features reenactments of scenes from Collier's life, including him hunting and of the 1902 hunt with Roosevelt, and even some animation.

"Holt Collier" will show during the "Afro-Centric Cinema: International Black Film Collective" film block on Friday, April 13, at 6:15 p.m. in screen B.

Cue music and ... action! by R.H. Coupe

"Hard Way—The Action Musical" is a tongue-in-cheek movie that blends together several film genres that people may not generally think are compatible. Think "Mad Max" breaking into song and dance a la "The Greatest Showman," or maybe a bit more like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." The film follows the main character, Jake, as he and his S.W.A.T. team raid an abandoned factory to take down a terrorist, all while singing and dancing.

The student film's action takes place in Detroit, but the filmmakers actually shot it in Germany. Most of the main actors are fairly well-known, including Hannah Britland, who plays Abigail in Netflix series "Lovesick," and Charlie Anson, who plays Mr. Hurst in "Pride & Prejudice & Zombies."

The movie is something for everyone: A love story (unrequited love that is eventually reconciled), a literal battle between the sexes, and between order and disorder, singing and dancing, suspense and surprise, and even some violence with singing and dancing in the end. 
 I suspect "Hard Way—The Action Musical" will have a cult following. The film is definitely worth a view.

"Hardway—The Action Musical" will show on Saturday, April 14, at 5:30 p.m. during the "Comedies II: Extra Dark Roast" on screen A.

Of Earthquakes and Goodbyes by R.H. Coupe

A grandmother sings a lullaby to an unseen child in a swinging bassinet. Then, the scene goes dark with the sounds of debris falling and then a crying baby.

"Ananta Yatra (The Eternal Journey)," which Sunil Pandey directed, is set in Nepal during the devastating 2015 earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people and injured about 22,000. Pandey created the film as a eulogy to his grandmother who died during the earthquake.

"The Eternal Journey" is an eerie movie with few spoken words, subtitled into English, and no background music—just the sounds of the wind, birds, the earthquake and the rustle of water.

After the screen goes dark, the picture returns with the grandmother, who is dressed differently now, sitting calmly looking out the window at a desolate landscape with the room askew, and the baby crying. Then begins her "eternal journey." The film follows her journey as her grandson says goodbye, and she has to get across the Baitarani River in her path to afterlife.

"The Eternal Journey" is a film worth watching for its insight into another culture and how it resonates with our own beliefs.

"Ananta Yatra (The Eternal Journey)" will show on Saturday, April 14, during the "Global Snapshots" film block at 1:30 p.m. on Screen C.

Medgar Evers' Legacy by Mike McDonald

"Where Medgar Evers Lives Today" ponders the idea of where Medgar Evers' legacy resides. To Jacksonians and Mississippians generally, Evers may live in his old office on Farish Street, or his home on Margaret Walker Alexander Drive where he was assassinated, and also in every town in the state where he wished for a desegregated future.

Though the film does not definitively answer that question, it contends that one place Evers may live is at his namesake library on Medgar Evers Boulevard near Freedom Corner.

The film features interviews with the library director, Anne Sanders, and its diverse patrons. They talk about how the library embodies the legacy and civil-service mission that Evers dedicated his life to and why the library serves as an integral part of the community.

Several interviewees in the film say that events and programs at the library bring together people from surrounding neighborhoods. They fester a coalition of humanity centered around common goals like educational attainment and social well-being, which would make Evers proud if he were alive today. Both young and old in the film believe that Eves serves as a role model for what one person can achieve when he or she is focused on the betterment of others and society.

"Where Medgar Evers Lives Today" will show during the "Fighting for Social Justice" film block on Saturday, April 14, at 1:15 p.m. on screen B.

Nellie Jackson, 'Mississippi Madam' by Mike McDonald

Communities across the United States contain colorful characters, both past and present. Certain professions may attract these types of personalities more than most, such as becoming a madam or lady of the evening.

"Mississippi Madam: The Life of Nellie Jackson" tells the story of Nellie Jackson, who ran a brothel called Nellie's at 416 N. Rankin St. in Natchez.

The film begins with Jackson's great-niece, Nellie Howard, walking around the old house, now vacant and succumbing to the elements, detailing how the house looked and the activities that would happen in different rooms. For example, in the kitchen, a long wooden table stood in the center, and Howard would often cook breakfast for "her girls" in the morning, using leftover bacon grease with cornmeal to feed the dogs after the food was served.

From pictures in the film, viewers can see that Jackson decorated the house like a grandmother's home, with bulky stained wood furniture, pictures in frames on the walls and antique trinkets on bookshelves.

All interviewees (some with a sheepish grin) state that everyone knew the business dealings at 416 North Rankin, yet did not care. Jackson was popular. She provided young women from the region and midwestern states with a job, and kept a firm grip on the rules in the house, brandishing a pistol when needed and handling rowdy customers on her own without the need for law enforcement. In fact, politicians and lawmen alike allowed Jackson to conduct her business, believing her presence in Natchez was just another part of the checkered history in this old river town.

"Mississippi Madam: The Life of Nellie Jackson" will show during the film block of the same name on Friday, April 13, at 8:15 p.m. on screen B.

Read more at jfp.ms/crossroads2018.

CORRECTION: The "Black Canaries" blurb has been edited to reflect a change. Mike McDonald, not R.H. Coupe, wrote the piece.

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JFP StaffWed, 11 Apr 2018 13:44:36 -0500https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/apr/11/2018-crossroads-film-festival/
EDITOR'S NOTE: Celebrating Teen Excellence at Crossroads Film Festhttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/apr/11/editors-note-celebrating-teen-excellence-crossroad/

Last summer, I walked in on a diverse group of teenagers recording a haunting a capella version of the black spiritual "Wade in the Water." They had decided to record themselves singing the song as their soundtrack to their short documentary, "Woolworth's Sit-In: Protesting for Life, Freedom and Dignity."

The team of Mississippi Youth Media Project students chose the Woolworth Sit-in as a subject after we read about the sit-in in Anne Moody's seminal book on race in the state: "Coming of Age in Mississippi." Most had never heard of the Woolworth sit-in in 1960 a couple blocks from where we were in downtown Jackson. A handful then visited the sit-in exhibit at the Smith Robertson Museum nearby, where they saw the actual lunch counters.

That inspired the documentary on the sit-in as well as a long-form story exploring the parallels between activism then and now in the Black Lives Matter movement.

The haunting Woolworth doc is one of three YMP films included in the Crossroads Film Festival this week. You can see it at 1 p.m. on Thursday at Malco during the "Mississippi Student Showcase of Films."

On Friday night, the powerful "Digging Deeper: Confronting Youth Crime's Causes and Solutions" will screen at 6:15 p.m. during the "Afro-Centric Cinema: International Black Film Collective" block at Malco. The seeds for the 10-minute doc were planted when a group of Wingfield High School students decided to write the many causes of youth crime on paper to create a "crime wall" in the YMP office in spring 2016. Several students had witnessed or experienced violent crime in one way or another and felt deeply about the issue.

Then after Leslyn Smith, a student from Callaway High School, enrolled in the summer project, she stood staring at the wall, then telling me she wanted to continue the project. A group of the students chose youth crime as their focus, creating the documentary and writing a seriously impressive long-form story filled with causes and solutions for youth crime, along with strong narrative. They interviewed an amazing line-up, from a former gang leader to the head of the Jackson FBI.

YMP's third festival film, "Minor Setback, Major Comeback: Supporting Black Dollars and Businesses in Jackson, Mississippi," is a beautifully filmed short documentary focusing on the rise and fall of Farish Street, the historic black business district in Jackson that started failing after integration. The young African American team feel deeply about the need for black-owned businesses to survive and thrive and wanted to figure out why they didn't.

The long-form story for this project is also super-impressive, even delving into problems of "redlining"—a loan discrimination practice that kept black Americans from building generational wealth. It screens in Saturday's 7:45 p.m. block, opening for "Lindy Lou, Juror Number 2."

It's hard to express how hard these and other YMP students worked to do top-level work on these projects. Like most adults, they struggled with time and project management; navigated stress and grumpiness; got over fear of making phone calls and doing interviews; greeted interviewees at the door; did deep research on causes and solutions; wrote and edited multiple drafts; and factchecked the heck out of their work.

Honestly, I've known plenty of adult journalists who don't work this hard, or produce work this impressive. Their work goes far beyond easy he-said-she-said politics that passes for journalism these days; it's deep and transcends ideology.

Oh, and these students are determined to help our community with information, not just complain about problems. (Ahem, adults.) It tickled me no end, as I expect it would the Solutions Journalism Network approach that guides us, that the most-asked question around YMP was, "So, what is the solution?" They don't want to just hear about problems; they want to find and implement solutions.

Many of you know that excellence is my personal goal in everyday life, and for our city and state (that aren't often known for it). Little pleases me more than seeing teenagers from all parts of Jackson achieve great things and be recognized for them such as their inclusion this week in the Crossroads Film Festival. Last year, they had one film in it, "HB 1523: Growing Up LGBT in Mississippi"; this year three.

I launched the Mississippi Youth Media Project as a full-time summer training project in 2016 with the help of a W.K. Kellogg Foundation fellowship. Since then, I and my collaborators over at Mississippi Public Broadcasting and various other mentors have worked with close to 100 students to help them create solutions-driven journalism and writings about issues that matter the most to them and their communities, and we plan to again this summer.

Our goal is to assemble the tools, outfit an inspiring space (next door to the JFP in Capital Towers), provide professional mentoring and project guidance, expose young people to working professionals and creatives, have deep discussions about issues that inspire them to choose their own topics, hand them the leadership reins, and then step back and allow them to create. Yes, we're there to keep them on track and give guidance, but it is their work.

At this year's Crossroads Film Festival, you will see a lot of these young filmmakers running around with badges and looking mighty proud of what they've accomplished. What I hope you will do is come out, pack the theaters for their films, cheer them on, and then tell them afterward how proud you are of every one of them.

I've said it many times: Our young people can do anything if they believe they can and have the tools. And they can and will do it on behalf of our community if enough adults step up to really listen to them—face it, grown-ups talk more than listen to young people, typically—and help facilitate the changes and opportunities.

In fact, Leslyn, Ruben Banks and other students, along with teenager from the Kappa League, are volunteering to host a series of youth-crime dialogues around the city. I hope you will attend at least one and be heard; email info@youthmediaproject.com to get on the mailing list.

Meantime, the students and I will see you at the movies this week.

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Donna LaddWed, 11 Apr 2018 13:19:48 -0500https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/apr/11/editors-note-celebrating-teen-excellence-crossroad/
Crossroads Goes Back to Its Rootshttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/apr/11/crossroads-goes-back-its-roots/

Crossroads Film Festival is going back to its roots this year, Festival Coordinator Michele Baker says.

"We thought very long and hard about that before we began the planning of this festival," she says.

For the 19th year of the event, Baker says they have tightened the scope of what the festival would screen.

"We made very deliberate choices about those films within the context of what we wanted to do," she says. "We knew we wanted to showcase female filmmakers, young filmmakers. We wanted to showcase filmmakers of color; we wanted to make sure that we showed Mississippi stories specifically; we wanted to show a nice mix of documentaries and features. We wanted to make sure that we had animated things and experimental things, short (films), long (films), (music videos)."

Baker has been part of Crossroads Film Society for eight years. She was born in Illinois but came to Mississippi when she was 4 years old. She attended Millsaps College and Mississippi State University, and then went on to the University of Arkansas, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in foreign language in 1992. Before she began working for Crossroads, she had been working for the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service (now Volunteer Mississippi) for 13 years as its director of public relations and marketing. After then-Executive Director Marsha Kelly retired, Baker decided it was a good time to change paths.

"I was just ready to go do something else, and that was a good, natural break for me," she says.

A friend of Baker's asked if she knew Nina Parikh, the then-deputy director (now director) of the Mississippi Film Office.

"I said, 'No,' and she said, 'You two would love each other. You need to meet,'" she says.

She shadowed Parikh and then found out that Crossroads Film Society had an opening. She interviewed for the position, and that same day, Crossroads hired her.

For this year, Crossroads received more than 500 submissions, she says. The festival will show 136 of those films, with 21 film blocks spread over three days—Thursday, April 12, through Saturday, April 14.

The organizers decided to scale down the event this year to make it a festival that represents what the Crossroads Film Society is at the mission level, Baker says.

"We wanted to concentrate on getting the fundamentals perfect," she says. "And then build that back out to include more workshops, more panels, off-site things."

She says about 30 percent of the films this year have something to do with Mississippi, whether they are about a person or topic that concerns the state, or a Mississippian made it. "We're very excited about the fact that we're living our mission," she says. "We're able to bring those Mississippi films out for people to see, and we're also able to bring those global films home."

Mississippians by nature are creative, she says.

"We just are. We have some of the most talented singers and writers and athletes and medical specialists," she says. "I mean it just goes to reason that we would be amazing filmmakers as well. Really all you have to do is sit down on your front porch and write down what you see. I think that's how Eudora Welty wrote her stories. She just wrote down what she saw in her neighborhood every day, and she wrote award-winning, amazing stories."

She says the state's checkered past also allows for storytelling.

"People are talking about race and gender and politics as much as we are here because we're right at the forefront of all of those issues," Baker says.

"We lived through the civil rights era. We're the last stand on things like integration, so those things are very present and very raw, and it makes for amazing filmed material."

Things to Know for Crossroads

Crossroads Film Festival passes are $35 and up for all-access passes, and $20 for industry and student passes. Day passes are $15 and up, and individual blocks are $5 and up. Most film blocks will screen at Malco Grandview Cinema (221 Grandview Blvd., Madison, 601-790-3090). "Tales of Terror" will screen at Hal & Mal's (200 Commerce St., 769-208-6408) on Saturday, April 14, at 8 p.m.

Film Blocks

Thursday, April 12

1 p.m., screen A: "Mississippi Student Showcase of Films"

3 p.m., screen A: "Urban Country"

5 p.m., screen A: "Five @ 5:00"

7 p.m., screen A: "How They Got Over"

Friday, April 13

6 p.m., screen A: "Chasing the Blues"

6:15 p.m., screen B: "Afro-Centric Cinema: International Black Film Collective"

8 p.m., screen A: Music Video Showcase

8:15 p.m., screen B: "Mississippi Madam"

Saturday, April 14

1 p.m., screen A: "Animation Station"

1:15 p.m., screen B:

"Fighting for Social Justice"

1:30 p.m., screen C: "Global Snapshots"

3 p.m., screen A:

"Comedies I: Light Roast"

3:15 p.m., screen B: "Wonder Women: Stories by Female Filmmakers"

3:45 p.m., screen C: "The 'Funk' in Dysfunctional"

5:30 p.m., screen A:

"Comedies II: Extra Dark Roast"

5:45 p.m., screen B: "Fantastic Stories: Sci-Fi and Fantasy"

5:45 p.m., screen C: "LGBTQ Stories: Endings, Changes, and Beginnings"

7:30 p.m., screen A: "Purgatory Road"

7:45 p.m., screen B: "Lindy Lou"

8:30 p.m., screen C:

"Smells Like Teen Spirit"


All films: crossroadsfilmfestival.com

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Amber HelselWed, 11 Apr 2018 13:05:18 -0500https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/apr/11/crossroads-goes-back-its-roots/
Anime Fest Checklisthttps://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/mar/09/anime-fest-checklist/

It is March in Jackson, which means two things. First, spring is almost here, and second, the Mississippi Anime Festival is upon us. The second annual event, which takes place March 10 at the Mississippi Trade Mart, brings together vendors, special guests, artists, cosplayers and more under one roof to celebrate Japanese animation and pop culture. Here are some things to look for while you're there.

Vendors

Kittiyes Kreations: bead art featuring video-game, pop-culture and anime characters in pixilated form, as well as key chains, decorated headwear and more

PixelMoth Apparel: anime and pop-culture T-shirts, hats and more

Lady Helen's Soaps: handmade lotions, lip-glosses and soaps, some of which take inspiration from popular TV shows and films such as "Fight Club" and "Star Wars"

Sprinkle.Spit Tattoos: anime art prints, stickers and more

Reignfire Jewelry Designs: jewelry such as rings, necklaces and earrings, keychains and more

Guests

Johnny Yong Bosch: starred on TV shows such as "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers," "Power Rangers Zeo" and "Power Rangers Turbo," and voiced the character Ichigo Kurosaki on "Bleach"

Anjali Bhimani: appeared on TV shows such as "Modern Family," "NCIS" and "Silicon Valley," and voiced video-game characters Nisha on "Fallout 4" and Symmetra in "Overwatch"

Tara Jayne Sands: voiced characters on TV shows such as "Disjointed," "Little Witch Academia," "One Punch Man," "Sailor Moon Crystal" and "Naruto Shippuden"

J. Michael Tatum: voiced characters on TV shows such as "Black Butler," "Attack on Titan," "My Hero Academia," "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood" and "Yuri!!! on Ice"

Cosplayers: RaeBae Cosplay, Hane Cosplay, Dragon Blossom Cosplay, Cosplay Central and Airship Demenca

Film Screenings

10:15 a.m.: "Eureka Seven: Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers" 12:20 p.m.: "Steins;Gate: Load Regions of Deja Vu" 2:05 p.m.: "Trigun: Badlands Rumble" 3:45 p.m.: "Black Butler: Book of Murder"

Mississippi Anime Festival is Saturday, March 10, at the Mississippi Trade Mart (1209 Mississippi St.) from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pre-sale tickets are $15 before midnight on Friday, March 9. Regular admission is $20. Admission is $5 for children ages 2 to 8, and children under age 2 get in for free. For more information, visit msanimefest.com.

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Amber HelselFri, 09 Mar 2018 13:17:35 -0600https://jacksonfreepress.com/news/2018/mar/09/anime-fest-checklist/