Crossroads 2020

Crossroads 2020 Film Festival Moves to a Virtual Platform

by Jenna Gibson

Despite the lack of people going to movie theaters because of COVID-19, Crossroads Film Society remains determined to put on a successful film festival, but this year it will look a little different: It will be completely online.

This year’s festival, Virtual Crossroads 2020, will be a complete departure from anything Crossroads Film Society has done before. The first major change, however, occurred in November of 2019, well before the pandemic started. The Crossroads Film Society board voted to move the festival from April, where it had been for the past 20 years, to November.

“That was a fortunate thing for us, because if we had had our film festival in April, I’m sure we couldn’t have pulled it off. The fact that we moved it to the fall turned out to be a good thing for us,” Crossroads’ Festival Coordinator Michele Baker said.

The festival will take place through the online platform Eventive from Nov. 12 to Dec. 15, and tickets will be available for purchase starting Nov. 12. The festival typically lasts for one weekend and shows around 125 films, but this year it will last for a month and show 18 films. Workshops and panel discussions will be live-streamed, and each film will be available until Dec. 15 through video-on-demand.

Normally in her role of festival coordinator, Baker helps to create the process of selecting films and finding volunteers to work the festival and sell tickets; now, her role has completely been transformed.

Throughout 2020, Baker has been hard at work helping move the festival to an online platform.

“The hardest part has been figuring out what putting on a virtual festival means. For a long time, I was still thinking in the mindset of a physical festival, and it isn’t. You just have to turn all your ideas on your head,” Baker said.

One of Crossroads’ missions is to celebrate film in all of its diversity, and Baker is hoping people will still come out and support independent filmmakers and their movies, even with it being completely online.

“People are Zoomed out and have screen fatigue. I’m just hoping and praying that my films are good enough to encourage them to get back on the computer or TV and pay money to watch these indie films. There’s stuff from all over the world, and it’s exceptionally good filmmaking,” Baker said.

Crossroads Film Society is also going to do a profit share with filmmakers. If people buy a ticket for a block of films, a percentage of sales will go directly to filmmakers. Thus, by attending Virtual Crossroads 2020, participants not only see wellregarded films, they also support filmmakers directly.

On Sunday, Nov. 15, Virtual Crossroads 2020 will release the film “Let the People Decide”—a project that was created with the help of the William Winter Institute of Racial Reconciliation. Along with the screening, Portia Espy and Von Gordon of Winter Institute coordinate a panel discussion of the film.

“Mississippians are some of the most inspired storytellers, and these stories need to be told. These stories are important. And I feel that it’s equally important to bring those other sorts of small intimate stories to Mississippi,” Baker said. “I think that exchange—our storytelling going out into that world and other stories going in— makes this a vibrant place to live. I always say that film is the most equalizing of the artforms, so I think it’s important to keep that as a very accessible artform.”

See the full schedule for Virtual Crossroads 2020 and buy tickets at crossroadsfilmfestival.eventive.org/welcome.

The Crossroads Film Festival this year will include 18 films that participants can stream at any time, including “The Tall Bike Joust” by Sam Frazier Jr.

courtesy

Let the People Decide: Hoping for Equality in Voting

Courtesy Crossroads Film Festival

In addition to the 18 films being offered during the Crossroads Film Festival, the event will also include a handful of panel discussions. On Sunday, Nov. 15, starting at noon, panelists Dr. Stephanie Rolph, Rev. C. J. Rhodes, Dr. Marty Wiseman, and Ms. Nsombi Lambright will open a dialogue about history and change, and examine pathways that may lead to Mississippians having and more fully exercising their right to vote.

The panel, which The William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation sponsors, is meant to amplify and expand themes presented in “Let the People Decide,” a film by Gavin Guerra that is offered during this year’s Crossroads Film Festival.

Learn more about the panelists:

Dr. Stephanie Rolph is an associate professor in the history department at Millsaps College. Rolph’s work focuses on white resistance to civil rights, particularly connections between Deep South segregationists and radical right allies across the country. Her first book, “Resisting Equality: The Citizens’ Council, 1954- 1989,” is a new examination of one of the more widely known resistance organizations during the Civil Rights Movement.

Rev. C.J. Rhodes is the pastor of Mt. Helm Baptist Church and is the youngest pastor to serve Jackson’s oldest Black congregation. He also serves as founder and president of Clergy for Prison Reform, Director of Religious and Spiritual Life at Alcorn State University. Rhodes has authored two books and hosts the C. J. Rhodes Show airing on WRBJ 97.7 FM.

Dr. Marty Wiseman is director emeritus of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government, professor emeritus of political science and public administration at MSU, and a guest professor at JSU.

Nsombi Lambright is executive director of One Voice. She also served as executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi, where she led the ACLU’s work to end the schoolto-prison pipeline, addressing sentencing disparities and other constitutional issues. She sits on the board for the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Mississippi Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement and the New World Foundation.

See “Let the People Decide” from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15 as part of Virtual Crossroads 2020. For tickets and information, visit crossroadsfilmfestival.com.