Oxford Film Festival to Host Mississippi premiere of 'As I Lay Dying'

Oxford Film Festival has announced a one-night only theatrical Mississippi premiere of James Franco's "As I Lay Dying" with special guests' producer Lee Caplin and executive producer Heidi Jo Markel this Monday, Oct. 21 at the historic Lyric Theatre on the Square in Oxford.

Also on hand will be local actors that have roles in the film and other special guests to talk about their experience along with a Q&A after the film with Caplin and Markel.

The film screening will happen before the iTunes release of the film so audiences can be the first to see the film and see it on the big screen. Filmed in Mississippi in 2012, the film was an adaptation of the William Faulkner novel of the same title.

The film stars James Franco as Darl Bundren, Logan Marshall-Green as Jewel Bundren, Danny McBride as Vernon Tull, Tim Blake Nelson as Anse Bundren, Beth Grant as Addie Bundren, Jim Parrack as Cash Bundren, Jesse Heiman as Jody and Scott Haze as Skeet MacGowan.

The New York Times recently wrote that Franco has "accomplished something serious and worthwhile." The script was written by Franco with Matt Rager.

The multi-voiced story is about a family on an errand to haul the dead body of one of its members through rough Mississippi terrain in the 1930s. Written while working at the power plant at the University of Mississippi, Faulkner wrote the novel in six weeks and is consistently ranked among the top novels ever written. The story is set in Yoknapatawpha County or what those of us in Oxford like to call, the alternate version of our home, Lafayette County.

The film premiered at Cannes Film Festival in May and has been seen in New York and Los Angeles.

The Lyric is perhaps best known as the place where William Faulkner world premiered "Intruder in the Dust" in 1949 and has since been the home of many a movie before transitioning to an office building and then to a large-scale music venue and occasional movie house. The Lyric Theatre is located at 1006 Van Buren Ave. The film is a fundraiser for the Oxford Film Festival which is set for Feb. 6-9, 2014.

Tickets are on sale now and cost $20. The film screens at 7 p.m. with a Q&A following each screening. From 6-7 p.m. will be a cocktail hour to meet the producers and Yalobusha Brewing Company will provide a tasting of their new beer for free with a full cash bar also available.

To buy tickets, visit www.oxfordfilmfest.com or purchase at the door of the Lyric. Seating begins at 6 p.m. and the film begins promptly at 7 p.m. Donations for the festival will be accepted at the door and will be tax-deductible.

The official trailer is available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO68Kd2yQsE