OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss.—The Walter Anderson Museum of Art will launch a free three-day film festival June 11-13 in Ocean Springs, featuring films, workshops and discussions focused on environmental storytelling. 

The Fisheye Film Festival will highlight work by professional videographers, emerging filmmakers and young environmental storytellers. Events will take place at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Arts Center and OS 1515 Crave Food Hall. 

The festival grew out of the museum’s partnership with National Geographic and Videos for Change through the Slingshot Challenge, which encourages aspiring filmmakers ages 13 to 18 to create short videos about environmental issues. 

The festival was created to showcase student work from the Slingshot Challenge and give audiences a behind-the-scenes look at the students’ filmmaking process. 

“We really want to highlight all the efforts that these young people make,” Program Coordinator James Karlson said. “We want to make sure our audiences understand the local issues and encourage other people to potentially participate in the program next year.” 

A black Fisheye Film Festival poster shows large white lettering, yellow sponsor text and circular illustrations of animals, flowers and insects.
A poster promotes the Walter Anderson Museum of Art’s Fisheye Film Festival, presented by Blossman Gas. The free three-day festival will take place June 11-13 in Ocean Springs and feature films, workshops and environmental storytelling. Photo courtesy Walter Anderson Museum of Art

Festival activities will include a Mississippi State University poster showcase, documentary screenings, filmmaker discussions and workshops. 

On Saturday, June 13, the Arts and Science Field Day will feature a writing workshop from director Kira Akerman and talks from Film Mississippi and the Film Alliance. Attendees can learn about Mississippi’s film industry, including resources, tax incentives, grant opportunities, locations and preproduction. 

For more information on the Fisheye Film Festival and Arts and Science Field Day, visit the Walter Anderson Museum of Art

This article first appeared on RHCJC and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Michelle Pinto, a native of Bogota, Colombia, is a 12th grade Gulfport High School student. Michelle would like to major in Digital Journalism. Michelle is Content Specialist for RHCJC.

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