Lights, Camera, Mississippi: UM Students Shine in Inaugural Festival

The Stranger Than Fiction Film Festival showcased eight feature-length films, two Mississippi-produced short films and an introductory workshop. The events were Saturday and Sunday (April 12-13) in the historic Capri Theatre in Jackson.

Programming included a Sunday screening of the short film "Jason Bouldin: Corporeal Nature," directed by Tanner Goodeill, an Ole Miss junior majoring in film production, and "Eudora," a documentary on renowned author and longtime Jackson resident Eudora Welty by Mississippi filmmaker Anthony Thaxton.

"The festival is sponsored by the Mississippi Film Society, so I thought it would be incomplete without Mississippi voices," said Ryan Parker, the society's executive director. "Mississippi has a rich cinematic legacy, and I'm excited to platform two Mississippi filmmakers that are contributing to it, and who have direct ties to the university." 

Goodeill, from Boerne, Texas, was drawn to the concept of transferring stories from one generation to the next. That interest led him to choose Oxford portrait painter Jason Bouldin as the subject of his 12-minute documentary, an assignment for a documentary class taught by John Rash, UM assistant professor of film production and Southern studies. 

"We read that his father was a really famous portrait painter, and we were fascinated by that relationship – how the torch gets passed down in such a specific art form, the pressure that can come with that and what it must've been like for him to lose his father after all those years," he said. "When we met with him, he was incredibly open and had such a unique story to share."

Goodeill worked with Madeleine Perkins, another Ole Miss junior from Waco, Texas, to plan, direct, show and edit the project.

"Working on that documentary with Tanner and Mr. Bouldin was such a rewarding and a new experience," said Perkins, also a film production major. "I grew up loving documentaries and watching them all the time and so working on my own was pretty surreal much less having it play in a film festival.

"It was also really interesting to learn about a local artist and how much they have impacted their community."

The screening was a rewarding experience, Goodeill said.

"This was the biggest audience that something of mine is screened to, so that's exciting because it's playing before a feature length documentary," he said. "The film community is being so supportive, and in Mississippi, it seems like it's just as tight as the art community. It's cool to see artists supporting artists." 

The festival's opening day included an Introduction to the Film Industry workshop, co-hosted by the Mississippi Film Office and the university's Department of Theatre and Film.

The workshop was designed to introduce Mississippians to the many types of work available within the film industry and the applicable skills they might offer, said Sarah Hennigan, associate professor and head of the Ole Miss film production program. It included a hands-on session highlighting work performed by the grip and electrics departments on a film set, using equipment from the university's film production studio.

"I hope that this is the start of something that can endure and that future versions grow to include more days, locations and, of course, films," Parker said. "Hopefully, future festivals will include entire blocks of programming for Mississippi filmmakers."

Top: Painter Jason Bouldin stands in his Oxford studio. 'Jason Bouldin: Corporeal Nature,' a documentary by Ole Miss students Tanner Goodeill and Madeleine Perkins, was screened in Jackson as part of the Stranger Than Fiction Film Festival, organized by the Mississippi Film Society. Submitted photo