(I'm Not) Your Negroni

I’m Not Your Negroni is a deeper look into the under current of creativity and culture in the small, Southern town of Oxford, Mississippi. The town, which is somehow both quaint and over the top, has sports, arts, and the Square, a thriving downtown area where college students and locals converge to take in everything the picturesque town has to offer. One of the more influential figures on the Square is award winning bartender, Joe Stinchcomb. Once a dishwasher, Joe worked his way up to become the Bar Director for a prominent restaurant on the Square, where he became known for his creative craft cocktail menus.

When Joe released a Black History Month menu in February 2018, he had no idea his carefully curated cocktails would cause deep-seated tensions to bubble to the surface of what many believe to be a picture-perfect town. While the menu may have opened old wounds, my hope is that with the telling of Joe’s story, these wounds can start to be tended to in a deep, meaningful way.

Though a documentary, this film moves along with cinematic, sweeping shots of Oxford as its backdrop. It blends history and pop culture, the old and the new, as it explores how all of these things intertwine and affect people in their real lives today. This film shows the beauty of Oxford while confronting the town’s painful past and present reality. Ultimately, I hope this film changes Oxford and beyond for the better by inspiring hard and uncomfortable conversations. Oxford is a phenomenal community that can and will grow to be better, but only when its citizens are willing to step into their feelings about the town’s not so perfect past and confront the things within Oxford and within themselves that may need to change.

Change only happens when you have people willing to use their passions and talents to not only grow themselves but their communities as well, so thank goodness Oxford has Joe. It was an honor to capture a small part of Joe’s story that ended up having a much bigger impact than ever intended. Six years later the menu is long gone, but the conversations are still happening. So, pull up a seat, pour yourself a drink, and open yourself up to the uncomfortable. Cheers.