From the Oxford Film Festival website:
“The 2011 Oxford Film Festival came to a close last Sunday night, and now the ballots for audience favorite are in. Mississippi Innocence, the non-competition documentary by filmmaker Joe York, took home the top prize for overall audience favorite. Two years in the making and produced with Tucker Carrington and the Mississippi Innocence Project at the UM School of Law, Mississippi Innocence tells the compelling story of Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer, two men who combined spent over thirty years behind bars for crimes they didn’t commit.”
Congratulations Joe York!
This week marks the 60th anniversary of the world premiere of Intruder in the Dust and the Media and Documentary Projects Center was well represented in the effort to commemorate the milestone. The event, a fundraiser for the Oxford Film Festival, was held at the recently restored Lyric Theater in the same room where the film first screened in 1949. MDP producer Joe York had a premiere of his own as his documentary, When We Were Extras was shown prior to the screening of Intruder in the Dust. Joe interviewed quite a few of the locals who took part in the original production. Look for his film here on the blog in the coming weeks. MPD producer Micah Ginn served as the master of ceremonies for the event. Micah kept the crowd, shall we say, entertained…….
The Media and Documentary Projects Center was well represented last night by two films showing at the Oxford Film Festival summer series. The first was a documentary by Mary Warner and Joe York that resulted from Mary’s Southern Studies MA Thesis on Thacker Mountain Radio. Mary Produced Thacker for several years and we were lucky enough to work with her that whole time. Mary has graduated and moved on to Atlanta where we wish her well.