In preparation for 2020, the Oxford Film Festival is hosting two fundraisers next month called ‘Dinner with a Filmmaker.’ The restaurants Newk’s Eatery and McAlister’s Deli will each host one of the dinners. The dinners will include a conversation with a Hoka-winning filmmaker from this year’s festival and a meal of which a percentage of the proceeds will go toward the annual non-profit festival. 

The first event will be at Newk’s on April 9 from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. and will feature writer, director and producer John Reyer Afamasaga. After immigrating from New Zealand in 2016, Afamasaga founded the production company Three Time Dot Org that is based out of Oxford.  The company’s most notable films include this year’s ‘Door Ajar’ and last year’s ‘The Yard’, which was nominated for the John E. O’Connor Film Award of the American Historical Association in 2018. 

“I am eternally grateful to the people of the South for letting me tell their stories,” Afamasage said in a release put out by the Oxford Film Festival. 

McAlister’s will host the second event of the month on April 30 from 5 to 8 p.m. with Hoka winner John Rash. Rash was the director ‘Negro Terror,’ which won Best Music Documentary at this year’s festival last month. The documentary focused on a Memphis hardcore punk band by the same name.

Rash is a photographer, filmmaker and installation artist who is originally from North Carolina and earned his M.F.A from Duke University in experimental and documentary art. He has worked in both the United States and China as a photo and video educator for more than 15 years. Rash has had his award-winning films featured in many international film festivals including Brooklyn Film Festival, Chicago Underground Film Festival and the Shanghai International Film Festival. He currently works as an instructional assistant professor at the Center for Study of Southern Culture at Ole Miss. 

Those who attend the dinner at Newk’s will be able to donate 15 percent of their meal’s price to the Oxford Film Festival when they mention the festival while ordering. The festival will receive 20 percent of each person’s meal price at McAlister’s when they instruct the cashier to keep their receipt during the time of the event. 

The 17th annual Oxford Film Festival will take place on March 18-22, 2020.