Do you remember how last year around this time I took a last-minute trip to Oxford, Miss., to appear on a panel at the Oxford Film Festival, filling in for my friend Weinberg, who’d had a dental emergency? No? Well, you can read about it here.
The point is, I had a great time, and they’ve invited me back for the 6th Annual Oxford Film Festival this weekend. I’m on the jury that will award prizes to the short films playing in the festival, and I’ll be on a panel discussion on Friday. The panel is free and open to the public, so if you’re near Oxford, why not swing by? I mean, honestly, what’s stopping you?
The topic is “What Is the Role of a Film Critic?” and the official description is: “Are critics meant to serve as mediators between a film and its audience only before they purchase a ticket, or do they instead help to shape the way we think about movies in general?” Good question! I guess that’s what we’ll be talking about. Kim Voynar of Movie City News will be the moderator; Weinberg (barring any further dental mishaps) and I will be panelists, along with Jeff Wells, James Rocchi, and a few others; and I assume there will be a Q-and-A at the end.
It’s at 10:30 a.m. this Friday, Feb. 6. at the Overby Center on the Ole Miss campus in Oxford. If you attend, be sure to come up and say hi to me afterward, if only to prove that there are people in Mississippi who know who I am.
