'A Song for Imogene', 'The Blues Society', 'Rising Hope' Win Top 21st Oxford Film Festival Prizes

A Song for Imogene directed by Erika Arlee (Honey Head Films)

A Song for Imogene directed by Erika Arlee (Honey Head Films)

The 21st Oxford Film Festival announced the winners with jury award for Best Narrative Feature going to Erika Arlee’s A Song for Imogene and Best Documentary Feature went to The Blues Society directed by Augusta Palmer. Rising Hope directed by Theo Avgerinos won the Audience Award Feature Film along with Best Mississippi Documentary Feature.

“The Oxford Film Festival would like to extend our deepest gratitude to all of the filmmakers, sponsors, staff, and guests that made our 21st edition the best one yet,” said Matt Wymer, Oxford Film Festival Executive Director. Programming Director Brian Ratigan added, “We are humbled and inspired by all of the filmmaker camaraderie and the support of artists from across the globe. This year was one for the books, and we really need to acknowledge the entire Programming Team and the Oxford Film Festival staff for curating such a memorable experience. Thank you to the filmmakers for showing up and presenting your work, the volunteers who made it all happen, the jurors for their time and contributions, and the attendees who made this edition so special.”

Festival categories included Foreign Language Short, LGBTQ Shorts, Student Shorts, Documentary Shorts, Fest Forward, Music Videos, Experimental Shorts, Narrative Shorts, Sci-Fi/Horror Shorts, Family Friendly Shorts, Comedy Shorts, Mississippi-Made Music Videos, Mississippi-Made Features, Mississippi-Made Documentaries, Documentary Features, and Narrative Features.

Full list of the winners (and honorable mentions) in each category.

2024 Oxford Film Festival Winners

Best Foreign Language Short

Specter of Innocence (France, dir. Mathis Tayssier) for its excellent musical score, creative storytelling using flashbacks, and original story idea.

Best LGBTQIA+ Short

Panic Attack (dir. Anthony Assad) for its vulnerability and bravery and necessary message in our current political landscape.

Honorable Mention: Lee Baby (dir. Leah Raidt)

Best Student Short

Knead (dir. Kelsey Scult) for its passionate journey of self-discovery that gives viewers a creative, raw peek into how a person’s craft can imitate the process of life.

Honorable Mention: The Corndog Movie (dirs. Bryce Durfey and Zoe Frassinelli)

Best Music Video

Comfort Zone (dir. Jason Affolder) for its awakening, eruption, transformation, and a robotic climax that reminds us of the 90s cult movie, Hardware, set to music.

Honorable Mention: The Odyssey of Cleve and Mike (dir. Kevin Webb)

Best Animated Short

Slower Animals (dir. John Christopher Kelley) for bringing together creative moving images, immersive sound, and a powerful concept, forcing us to think about the places we’ve been and the people we’ve left behind.

Honorable Mention: Balthazar’s Dream (dir. Dominic Baltazar Kowalski)

Best Experimental Short

Living Reality (dir. Philip Thompson) for faithfully recreating the setting and tone of a 90’s era sitcom, only to turn it on its head with a character who, like most of us would, feels out of place in sitcom-land, resulting in an unsettling ending that simultaneously inspires empathy and self-reflection.

Honorable Mention: Another Sinking Sun (dir. Tyler Rubenfeld)

Best Documentary Short

Please Ask for It (dir. Allison Waid) for its colorful portrait of a man who spent his life shining a light on other artists and using his success to give back to his community.

Honorable Mentions: Here, Hopefully (dir. Hao Zhou) and (I’m Not) Your Negroni (Antonio Tarrell)

Best Narrative Short

The Old Young Crow (dir. Liam LoPinto) for its calm, captivating narration of a childhood memory and its creative and seamless blend of animation, live-action cinematography, and storytelling.

Honorable Mention: Infraction (dir. Timothy Blackwood)

Best Sci-Fi/Horror Short

Marbles (dir. Kyle Hatley) for its powerful performances, rich characters, and emotionally complex narrative.

Honorable Mention: Tooth (dir. Jillian Corsie)

Best Family Friendly Short

Wider than the Sky (dir. Philip Taylor) for its imaginative storytelling through the use of cardboard cutout animation and themes of the power of believe, love, and hope.

Honorable Mention: Lost in the Sky (dir. Simon Öster)

Best Comedy Short

Barely Breathing (dirs. Derek Evans and Neal Reddy) for its comedic use of an an autoerotic asphyxiation support group to explore themes of grief, loss, and healing.

Honorable Mention: One Happy Customer (dir. WATTS)

Best Mississippi Made Music Video

Black Boy Cry (dir. Kira Cummings) for its engaging storytelling and complex underlying context asking, “why can’t this black boy cry?”

Best Mississippi Narrative Short

The Chair at the Edge of the Woods (dir. Mary Charles Ramsey) for its smart, well-paced narrative that maintains a fresh level of suspense and an authentic, understated performance from the lead actor, both of which left us asking, “Who knew moving a chair could be so suspenseful?”

Best Mississippi Documentary Feature

Rising Hope (dir. Theo Avgerinos) for its elegant tapestry of human experience, giving new context to so much of the baggage associated with the Deep South.

Best Mississippi Documentary Short

Please Ask For It (dir. Allison Waid) for its fresh and vivacious exploration of a landmark character.

Best Documentary Feature

The Blues Society (dir. Augusta Palmer) for its an evocative reintroduction to the important contributions of Memphis Country Blues to the fabric of American music through priceless archival footage and engaging interviews that provide depth and context to its depiction of 1960s Memphis and reflection on the blurred lines between appreciation and appropriation and examination of how we weigh intent against impact at the crossroads of race, culture and economics.

Honorable Mention: No One Asked You (dir. Ruth Leitman)