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Robyn Moore, Festival Coordinator and assistant professor of Photography and Video at Delta State, examines Best Animation Award honoree, “Word” by Gerald Habarth of W. Va., as part of her preparation for the upcoming Delta International Film and Video Festival. The festival will begin Friday on the campus of Delta State University. |
Devoted to showcasing the work of independent film and video artists working in the United States and abroad, the Delta International Film and Video Festival (DIFVF) screens films and videos that exhibit exceptional artistry, insight and innovation in all categories and genres.
Delta State University will play host to this exciting and worthy celebration, as the Festival commences Friday, April 21 at 7 p.m., inside the recital hall of the Bologna Performing Arts Center on campus. The night’s program will introduce the jurors’ short film selections, with select screenings of work by filmmakers from South Carolina, New York, West Virginia, California, Mississippi, New Jersey and Paris, France. Genres include animation, documentary, experimental, narrative, and student. Some filmmakers will be in attendance for a question and answer session directly after the screening.
With the belief that filmmaking is a profoundly unique phenomenon of cultural exploration and self-expression, the DIFVF wishes to promote and give visibility to the art of independent filmmaking by bringing films and videos not commercially released in theatres to the communities of the Mississippi Delta.
Saturday evening’s program will attempt to just that with a “Special Preview” screening of Robert Mugge’s latest film, “New Orleans Music in Exile” (2006, 117 minutes; produced by Robert Mugge, Diana Zelman and Michael Ruggiero). The screening will also begin at 7 p.m. inside the recital hall of the Bologna Performing Arts Center on the campus.
A noted music documentarian, Mugge (Deep Blues, Last of the Mississippi Jukes) creates an emotional portrait of horror, heartbreak and hope as the musicians who lived through the disaster, pick up the pieces and try to rebuild their lives. Interviews with the musicians and others make it clear how a Category 5 hurricane, broken levees, floods, looting, black mold and their consequences have wreaked havoc on music and life in America’s most colorful city.
This is a special preview of “New Orleans Music in Exile,” with the official world premiere to take place in New Orleans on May 12, followed by a special benefit concert featuring many of the film’s musicians. Funds raised will assist displaced musicians and their families and help rebuild school music programs in New Orleans.
Mugge will be in attendance and available for a question and answer session directly after the screening.
Festival Coordinator and assistant professor of Photography and Video at Delta State, Robyn Moore, believes, “The Delta International Film and Video Festival provides a unique opportunity for the people of the Mississippi Delta to experience exceptional contemporary independent filmmaking that, usually, would only be accessible in more urban areas. The DIFVF offers audiences an exciting and thought-provoking program of innovative films from filmmakers working in the US and abroad.”
For more information on the festival, please contact Moore in the Delta State art department at (662) 846-4731 or visit www.deltastate.edu/pages/1989.asp.
