Oxford Film Festival

Named a Top 50 Film Festival worth the entry fee over several years by MovieMaker magazine, the 20th Oxford Film Festival is currently planned to be held in March 1-5, 2023.

Our Mission:
The Oxford Film Festival celebrates the art of independent cinema. Through year-round programming, the festival works to encourage filmmaking in Oxford and North Mississippi as part of the global film community, while cultivating audience appreciation of cinema through screenings, workshops and educational programs that culminate in the annual festival.

Our Core Values:

Independent film and filmmaking
- We value the significance of independent film and the art of filmmaking.

Artistic integrity
- We honor artistic integrity while striving for excellence.

Artistic development
- We embrace the process of developing artists.

Sense of community and community experience
- We create opportunities for community connections and impactful conversations.

Equity, inclusion, and representation
- Oxford Film Festival and OxFilm year-round programming will focus on equity, inclusion, and representation on and off camera.

The festival exhibits quality films from across the globe and has been praised for its hospitality. The festival was founded in 2003 by the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council. In 2008, the Oxford Film Festival became an independent non-profit organization with 501c3 status committed to celebrating the art of independent cinema.

The festival screens short and feature-length films in both showcase and competition settings, hosts panel discussions on issues in contemporary filmmaking, and invites the filmmakers to interact with the audience at a number of social events.

The Oxford Film Festival entertains and educates its participants, providing residents and visitors with the opportunity to watch independent films, as well as to meet the filmmakers and learn from industry professionals. The variety of films, in addition to the panels, attracts filmgoers of all ages and backgrounds. The festival also supports moviemaking in the area through the production of the community film and support of OxFilm which loans equipment to filmmakers filming in Oxford.

Our festival, the Oxford Film Festival, is in Mississippi (USA) and should not be confused with the Oxford International Film Festival in Ohio, now known as the Cincinnati Film Festival, nor OxDox in Oxford, England nor the Oxford International Film Festival in Oxford. England.

Home to the University of Mississippi, past haunts of William Faulkner, Larry Brown, Barry Hannah and John Grisham, current home of Ace Atkins, Jack Pendarvis, and listed as one of John Vilani's "100 best small arts towns in America," Oxford offers a unique blend of literary and artistic appreciation within the setting of a vibrant college town.

Recent years have included visits from Hugo Sobelman with SOUL KIDS, Dale Dickey with A LOVE SONG, Angie Thomas with THE HATE U GIVE, Danny Glover to introduce I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO, Robert Longstreet with THE MISSING GIRL, and Tim Blake Nelson with THE SOUND AND THE FURY. Academy Award winners and nominees, Independent Spirit Award nominees, and favorites on the film festival circuit in addition to local and regional films.

"Regional festivals are becoming more and more important in the film landscape, uplifting new, diverse voices in a time where people are viewing films in a group setting less and less. At Oxford, the success lay in the crop of powerful stories from fresh voices, many of which aligned with, and then furthered, our cultural conversation."
- Meredith Alloway, Filmmaker Magazine

"The word that one hears over and over again at the Oxford Film Festival is “community…” This is a festival that seeks to reflect the community from which it arises, both the local one and the international one connected by filmmaking. It is a homegrown, intimate festival that nonetheless features voices from around the world, harmoniously united through the community of film."
- Brian Tallerico, rogerebert.com