If you follow the Mississippi Film Society on Instagram, you likely saw that I was able to attend this year’s Sundance film Festival in Park City, Utah. This year was special because I was attending to recruit films for future Society screenings here in the state. This year’s trip was made possible, in part, through an organizational min-grant from the Mississippi Arts Commission, which allows staff to attend events like this.
Participating in film festivals like this is beneficial for a Film Society for numerous reasons, but chief among them are networking with other executive directors to discuss best practices and, perhaps most importantly, screening films and talking with festival programmers to have a sense of what films may (or may not) be dominating the conversation in the coming year.
I screened ten films at the festival, and four stood out to me as strong possibilities for special screenings here in the coming year. The most memorable film, for me, was Train Dreams, from the team behind Sing Sing, which we previewed here in Jackson last year. It’s an absolutely stunning film that feels like an instant American classic. Based on a novella by Denis Johnson, the story follows Robert (Joel Edgerton) a logger in the turn-of-the-century Pacific Northwest who struggles to balance his family life with his work building the railroad. In my mind, it’s worthy of at least five Oscar nominations next year. Stay tuned for this when it releases on Netflix later this year, hopefully after they give it a proper theatrical release.
Seeds, a documentary that chronicles the lives and work of black farmers in the southeast, is one of the most beautiful documentaries that I have seen in a long time. Shot in stark black-and-white photography, every frame feels like a portrait/picture/landscape that could be hung in a gallery. Filmmaker Brittany Shyne, who has served as a cinematographer on numerous films but makes her directorial debut here, never specifies where we are in the Southeast (nor does she need to), but I did catch a couple of glimpses of some Mississippi business and car tags, so part of this story connects with communities here.
The next project is actually a documentary-series called Bucks County, USA, which follows teenagers Evi and Vanessa, best friends despite their opposing political beliefs. As nationwide disputes over public education explode into vitriol and division in their hometown, they work to discover the humanity in “the other side.” We screened the first two episodes, and they were absolutely riveting. The screening was followed by one of the liveliest Q&As I’ve ever been a part of. Hopefully this will find a streaming home soon.
Finally, A24’s upcoming family film, The Legend of Ochi premiered at the festival. In the film, a young girl learns to never go outside after dark because of reclusive forest creatures known as the ochi. However, when a baby ochi is left behind by its pack, she embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to reunite it with its family. I’ve already locked this in for a special preview screening in April, which will be part of an even more special, larger event, which I can’t wait to share with you all very soon. Just check out this trailer!
Thanks to all of you who support our work in so many ways and to organizations like the Mississippi Arts Commission, which nurtures the arts and arts-based programming across Mississippi.
Cheers,
Ryan Parker
Executive Director, Mississippi Film Society
