This year’s Magnolia Film Festival brought in more than just Mississippi natives, filmmakers from Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Spain arrived, bringing their unique films with them.
Although the competition has increased with more variety and national talent, Mississippi continues to provide quality films.
Four Mississippi directors received awards for their efforts, including “The Flight of Calvin Walters,” which won The Ron Tibbett Award for Excellence in Film.
Based on a true story, “The Flight of Calvin Walters” is about a Mississippi High School Basketball Player of the Year that struggles to decide on his future that, surprisingly, highly affects his community.
“It’s a short film inspired by a football player, Billey Joe Johnson, that supposedly shot himself after being pulled over by the cops,” director and Columbus native Andrew Colom said. “I shot it here in Columbus and used all local actors. It’s different because it’s heavily involved with black people and with sports, which is kind of different for an independent film,” he said.
Sammy Lee, sophomore kinesiology major and lead actor of the film said he was very proud in the film.
“It’s been a great experience,” Lee said. “I had a lot of fun with the whole thing. [Acting in the film] is something I never dreamed of doing. It’s not my goal in life, but I’d love to do it if I got another offer.”
With 35 films, the festival showcased a talented bunch, said the festival’s director, Joe Evans.
“It was really, really a huge level of creativity,” Evans said. “We have so many different kinds of films. There’s no certain theme; we’ve got comedies, we’ve got dramas, we’ve got little science fiction-type films. We really have everything and we’ve tried to mix it up the whole weekend.”
Variety was the spice of the festival as short films, feature films and experimental films regarding a range of topics and issues were shown throughout the three-day event. Hollywood Premier Cinemas hosted the event beginning on Thursday night.
What’s truly unique about the festival is how it takes care of its participants. Those who submit their films receive food and housing on the house, something the festival’s founder, Ron Tibbett, envisioned.
“We consider it our mission to carry on his vision,” Evans said. “He supported and promoted filmmakers in this area, and really, everywhere. We’re the only festival that feeds and houses our filmmakers when they’re here. If they can get here, we’ll take care of them. Nobody else does that.”
Andrea Dinep, a Starkville native, has attended “The Mag” since 1997 when Ron Tibbett first created the festival. She said she thoroughly enjoyed the variety.
“They all had different things that stood out,” Dinep said. “‘Organic’ was really eye-opening and informative. Then, ‘Flash’ was really intense and emotional. I liked how they stitched the story together.”
She said she has always enjoyed the culture the festival adds to Starkville and plans to return next year.
“It’s good to see things that you normally don’t get to see here in Starkville. It has good variety and brings new ideas to Starkville,” Dinep said. “I think it’s great to have something like this and I hope they keep doing it.”