OXFORD, Miss. — If you’re a filmmaker and an interested in making a short film capturing the unique people, events, and cultural elements of Mississippi, there could be some money in it for you. The Yoknapatawah Arts Council is issuing out eight grants to fund those projects. You can send your proposals to www.oxfilmsociety.com.
Filmmakers who qualify will also get free waivers to show their film at eight different festival across the state. The festivals include: Oxford Film Festival, Tupelo Film Festival, Crossroads Film Festival, Mississippi International Film Festival, Magnolia Film Festival, Grenada Afterglow Film Festival, Sun & Sand Film Festival and Tupelo Halloween Horror Film Festival (when genre specific).
“We are making efforts to establish Mississippi as a filming entity by fostering local filmmakers to pursue creative filming that highlights the culture and unique atmosphere of Mississippi,” Oxfilm co-founder Wayne Andrews said. “Our efforts are to build a large enough community in filmmaking that we entice larger entities to come to the area and film. With this goal in mind we hope to establish enough resources and community support to attract innovative filmmakers to Mississippi and the Oxford area.
“Mississippi and the Oxford area have rich cultures and history that yield themselves to the creation of uncommon and unique films,” Oxfilm co-founder Melanie Addington said. “There are many events, traditions and people associated with fascinating stories. Capturing these stories in film will preserve special moments of our culture. Also, it is so important to provide incentives such as these grants to help filmmakers in our state pursue their dreams.”
Film proposals can be submitted from any genre and would be in pre-production. Films that are already completed do not qualify for this grant. Deadlines for submissions are June 1, 2015 and January 1, 2016
