Emmy-winning producer hired to helm Starkville-based Magnolia Independent Film Festival
Sep. 22—Emmy Award-winning producer Chris Misun has been named the director of the Starkville-based Magnolia Independent Film Festival for its 25th year.
The film festival's board of directors announced Misun's hiring via press release on Wednesday.
Misun is an Emmy Award-winning creative producer from Northern Wisconsin. After studying Film and Entertainment Business at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, he moved back to Wisconsin and was a part of two start-up broadcast television stations.
As the commercial producer at WAST-LP in Ashland, Wisconsin, Misun won a Northwest Regional Emmy award from directing and editing a series of PSAs. The crew from that station moved over to Duluth, Minnesota, and started a FOX affiliate station, KQDS, and Misun was nominated for three more Emmy's as a photographer, reporter, and weather anchor.
After moving to Mississippi, Misun worked in the private sector as a video producer, marketing and creative director, and as Senior Producer of Creative Services at Mississippi State University. He now is a Broadcast Instructor at MSU and camera operator for the SEC Network.
In his free time, Misun produces music videos for Mississippi artists and works with students on their short films as an advisor for the Scene Filmmaking Club, also at MSU.
"I am humbled by this opportunity to be a part of the Magnolia Independent Film Festival and guide this amazing team towards our 25th annual festival," Misun said in an official statement. "The legacy of this event is important to not only the film enthusiasts of the Golden Triangle, but beyond the borders of Mississippi. The talented people behind the scenes of the Mag have built this incredible vessel for filmmakers to showcase their work and this season will only be bigger and better thanks to the hard work of the people in this community."
Michael Williams, President of the Magnolia Independent Film Festival Board of Directors, said the festival — affectionately known as "The Mag" — is in skilled hands with Misun in the director's chair.
"I'm beyond thrilled for what he and our festival team will accomplish for the 25th anniversary," Williams said. "The Mag will undoubtedly continue its impactful legacy with Chris at the helm."
The Magnolia Independent Film Festival is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization whose mission is to bring quality independent cinema to the Golden Triangle Area and to support the growing film industry within the state of Mississippi.
As Mississippi's first and longest running film festival, The Mag is known for being an intimate, filmmaker-friendly festival that consistently brings unique, edgy, diverse, and inspiring cinema to small-town Mississippi while also supporting home-grown filmmakers and storytellers.
Founded in 1997 by Ron Tibbett, The Mag filled a void within the state. At the time, there were no film festivals in Mississippi and no outlets to showcase, inspire and encourage independent filmmakers. From its humble beginnings in a cold auditorium in West Point, The Mag quickly grew and paved the way for the rich film festival culture currently thriving throughout the state.
Since The Mag's founding, several other popular film festivals have emerged in Northeast Mississippi, including the Oxford Film Festival, Crossroads Film Festival, and most notably Tupelo Film Festival.
For the 25th edition, The Mag will continue the tradition of showcasing independent films and filmmakers from around the world through a carefully curated lineup of films that are uniquely moving, hilarious, thought-provoking, and inspiring.
