The 2011 Oxford Film Festival came to a close last weekend, and Mississippi Innocence, the non-competition documentary by filmmaker Joe York, took home the top prize for overall audience favorite. Two years in the making and produced with Tucker Carrington and the Mississippi Innocence Project at the UM School of Law, Mississippi Innocence tells the compelling story of Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer, two men who combined spent over thirty years behind bars for crimes they didn’t commit.
Also winning by audience vote was the music video Cold Red Clay, a song by T.B. Ledford, video directed by Ron Blaylock.
The festival’s Spirit of the Hoka awards were presented to the following films:
Animated Short = The Birds Upstairs / directed by Christopher Jarvis
(Honorable mentions presented to The Thomas Beale Cipher and Prayers for Peace)
Documentary Feature = The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: an Urban History / directed by Chad Freidrichs
(Honorable mention for cinematography in a documentary presented to Beijing Taxi)
Documentary Short = Sand / directed by Cari Ann Shim Sham
(Honorable mention to Mozambique, and an “honorary designation of acknowledged recognition of heightened illumination and education” to The World of Film Festivals)
Experimental Short = Inside Out/Side One / directed by Matt Meindl
(Honorable mentions presented to Wrestling with my father and Flutter)
Mississippi Film (Narrative) = Murderabilia / directed by David Matthews
Mississippi Film (Documentary) = The South Will Rise Again / directed by Ben Guest
Narrative Feature = Prairie Love / directed by Dusty Bias
Prize includes: a certificate from Kodak redeemable for $1,000 in film stock, and a $10,000 camera rental package from Panavision.
(Honorable mention for acting presented to David Call in Two Gates of Sleep)
Narrative Short = Pillow / directed by Josh and Miles Miller
(Honorable Mention presented to God of Love)
The award for Mississippi Music Video, as selected by our audience = Cold Red Clay / song by T.B. Ledford, video by Ron Blaylock
The inaugural Lisa Blount Memorial Acting Award was presented to Ed Lowry (Pillow).
The Ron Tibbett Audience Award was presented to Mississippi Innocence, a non-competition documentary directed by Joe York.
[ via Oxford Film Festival ]