Jackson Free Press

When Gov. Phil Bryant signed the controversial "Religious Freedom Bill," HB 1523, into law Tuesday, April 5, many individuals, organizations and businesses made their objections to the bill known. For Oxford, Miss., resident Melanie Addington, that meant fighting fire with film.

While Addington has been the executive director for the Oxford Film Festival since 2015, she began volunteering for the organization in 2006. She became a co-director in 2008 and continued volunteering in the position until last year, when the festival's board of directors raised the money to hire her full time.

After HB 1523 passed, Addington and the board spoke and agreed that the bill conflicted with the festival's nature, which is to share diverse voices from Mississippi and elsewhere. They made a statement denouncing the bill and promising a special LGBT film block for future Oxford Film Festivals, only to be met with opposition from some of their social-media followers.

"We've already shown LGBT films, but this was to sort of strengthen that and provide an entire category that's juried with awards," Addington says. "Then, that did not sit well with some people when we announced it. We realized that we maybe shouldn't wait till February to start screening."

She approached the University of Mississippi's Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies, which was already working with student groups and organizations to arrange Oxford's first gay pride parade May 7 at 2 p.m. She shared the idea of hosting a film screening that would emphasize the struggles of Mississippi's LGBT community. Once they expressed interest, Addington reached out to director Robbie Fisher, the president of Jackson's Crossroads Film Society.

Having served on the jury for the 2016 Crossroads Film Festival, Addington had seen the five short films from the LGBTQ block, which included Bonnie Blue Edwards' "Out in Alabama," Shannon Beeby's "RSVP," Casey Parks' "The Ballad of Little Pam," "Instababy" from co-creators Lauren Cioffi and Rosie Haber, and "Peace in the Valley" from directors Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher.

"I immediately thought, instead of trying to go find new films out there, I knew she had created this great set of films about coming out or living life in the South while being gay," Addington says. "There's any sort of topic from adoption to coming out, and there are all sorts of great things in this block."

On Friday, April 15, Oxford Film Festival and Crossroads Film Festival announced "LGBTQ Shorts: Struggles and Celebrations of Being out in the Deep South." The event will present Crossroads' LGBTQ block to a fresh audience Sunday, May 8, at 4 p.m. at Shelter on Van Buren (1221 Van Buren Ave., Oxford). While putting together a film screening in less than 10 days is no small feat, Addington says she and her Oxford Film Festival crew have already begun plans for another LGBT-centered film screening in June for Pride Month.

"I've also been talking with Wes Benton from Sun & Sand (Film & Music Festival), and Catherine Leatherwood, who is on the coast," she says. "There are a lot of organizations involved with film that want to do more, so this is just one of the first of, I think, many throughout the state that are going to be shown."

Having the screening on the same weekend as the pride parade was intentional, of course, but the timing was also about the current mindset in the state. Fear is leading Mississippi right now, Addington says. By making the screening free, she hopes that viewers will get to see through a different set of eyes and realize that they aren't so different from those in the LGBT community.

"Why I love film and film festivals is that they give you an opportunity to hear from a bunch of diverse voices that you otherwise maybe never would have run into," she says. "The people from your community are the ones you know and hear from, but sometimes, there's a larger world out there that you otherwise won't have a chance to experience. ... We keep focusing on this idea of 'the other'—being transsexual or being gay—but this is about people being people. And I think that's what matters."

For more information, visit oxfordfilmfest.com.