The Magnolia Independent Film Festival or The Mag, a

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

based in

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, was founded by Ron Tibbett in 1997 in

West Point, Mississippi West Point is a city in Clay County, Mississippi, United States, in the Golden Triangle region of the state. The population was 11,307 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Clay County and the principal city of the West Point Micropolitan ...

. It was the first film festival to take place in Mississippi. Three years later it was moved to Starkville. The Festival is held in February. Films are judged during the festival with awards given at the end. Some of the categories include short films,

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...

, full-length, and

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

s.Frommers Online. Retrieved March 25, 2008. Filmmakers are invited to town, taken to and from the airport, and housed at no charge. Breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and additional celebrations are held in their honor throughout the weekend. In 2022, The Mag held its 25th anniversary, returning to Columbus, Mississippi for the first night before returning to Starkville, Mississippi for the remainder of the festival.

24th Magnolia Independent Film Festival

In response to the

COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, The Mag chose to hold the festival through an online format. One evening of the event was held in-person but through a drive-in method.

References

External links

Official website
*Matthew Allen
Mag Draws Filmmakers to Starkville Cinema 12
, ''The Reflector'', online newspaper of Mississippi State University. Film festivals in Mississippi Film festivals established in 1997 Tourist attractions in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi 1997 establishments in Mississippi {{US-film-festival-stub