Ox-Film Board of Directors

President

A sought-after speaker and co-author of the best-selling Essential Principles for Fundraising Success, Kristina Joy Carlson doesn’t just help organizations raise money; she facilitates the transformation of people’s lives, organizations, and the world through a practice of outrageous kindness.

As Managing Director of Global Philanthropy at Carter and founder of Outrageous Kindness and the KIND(d) Method, Kristina guides transformational capital campaigns, advises on 8-figure gifts and grants, creates bespoke training programs, and develops innovative technologies for some of the world’s largest nonprofit organizations.

With a master’s degree in Community Economic Development from New Hampshire College, Kristina lives in Oxford, Mississippi and loves the way the Oxford Film Festival brings together people from all walks of life and backgrounds to share ideas, build new understandings, and create meaningful connections.

Vice President

Mike Mitchell has been fortunate to be part of the Oxford community since 1997. As the son of an artist and a fighter pilot, Mike has a strong passion for supporting and encouraging the creative community. Dad to three daughters, two sons, one cat and one bulldog named Buzz. Mike is comfortable with the occasional challenge and appreciative of consistent grace.

Mike currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of Hardy Reed and joined the OFF board in 2023.

Secretary

Alexander Langhart Is an accomplished healthcare administrator with a record of achievement in revenue cycle management, strategic operational planning, and leveraging results to create value for the institutions I serve. I have a thorough understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing health delivery systems in the current healthcare landscape. This perspective allows me to thoughtfully implement policy and change that improves patient experience and quality outcomes.

Treasurer

James Bolden is the System Laboratory Director for Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation. He has an administrative and clinical healthcare background that covers a period of over 30 years. His experience includes strategic planning and program development with innovative start-up programs as well as established and diverse service lines such as Palliative Care, Home Health, Hospice Care, Respiratory Therapy, and Hospital Laboratories.

James currently serves on the Medical Laboratory Science Advisory Committee for Baptist Health Sciences University as well as the Clinical Laboratory Sciences Advisory Board for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

Dr. Premalatha “Prema” Balachandran joined Ole Miss, 21 years ago in 2002 and serve as a Principal Scientist at the National Center for Natural Products Research (NCNPR), School of Pharmacy.

As a Principal Scientist, Dr. Prema’s research expertise include biological screening and the discovery and development of new active drugs from the plants that contribute to human health benefits. She works on several funded projects and her research team filed a patent on an anticancer formulation. She has authored 40+ publications that include research and review articles in high-impact journals and book chapters. As an Adjunct Instructor, her teaching interest include biomedical entrepreneurship combining her 30+ years of biomedical experience and entrepreneurship skills through product discovery and development.

She volunteers in several organizations. She is an executive board member for UM Staff Council and serves as a Staff Textbook Scholarship Manager. She is also a member of several Chancellor’s Standing committees and also a commissioner for Chancellor’s Commission for Women. She is very active in the community, serving on several boards and committees including United Way, Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Lafayette, School District PTOs, and Boy Scout committees to name a few. She also serves as a judge/chair for international and regional science fair competitions and a reviewer for many journals. Her active role in the university and the community earned her several awards including Outstanding Staff Member award, Allgernon Sydney Sullivan Award for Community Service and Engagement and Women of Distinction recognition. For Oxfilm, she served as a panelist and also a speaker for “Science on Screen” sessions and now joined in the board since December 2023.

Dr. Prema received a B.S in Chemistry from the University of Madras, Chennai, India. She also obtained M.S. and Ph.D. in Medical Biochemistry from the same university. In 2022, she graduated MBA from the University of Mississippi with an Outstanding Academic Achievement Award.

She is married to Karthikeyan Rathinavelu, Owner and President of Thik and Thin Constructions LLC., They have 2 boys, Keerthin, valedictorian from Oxford High, class of 2023 and joined Ole Miss Honor’s college and Sagan, 7th grader at Oxford Middle School.

Dr. Donald R. Cole was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi. The sixth of eight children, he was academically encouraged by his parents and siblings. His early attraction to mathematics grew out of the fact that the subject area was not subjective and completion of his homework attracted girls. Good high school teachers prepared him well for college. Growing up in the civil rights era of the south, he choose the recently integrated University of Mississippi (UM) to begin his college career. He was pleased that his high school preparation served him well as he accelerated in his mathematics classes, but the racial climate of the era soon resulted in his expulsion from UM for participation in racial protesting of the day. Tougaloo College extended an opportunity for him to be able to complete his bachelors with a dual major in Mathematics and Physics. Tougaloo also allowed him the opportunity to study statistics and mathematics at Berkeley for two summers where he met his first mathematics mentor, Dr. David Blackwell, who encouraged his interest in graduate school. He took a masters degree from the University of Michigan before moving on to the State University of New York at Buffalo to pursue his doctorate. There met his second mathematical mentor, Dr. Scott Williams (as well as his wife, Marcia!). Donald made a critical decision in life when he decided to return to the University of Mississippi to complete his doctorate. Any second-guessing of that decision was annihilated upon completion of the doctorate in Partial Differential Equations under the direction of William V. Smith.

Dr. Cole played an active leadership role in policy making, teaching, research, and diversification at the University. Believing that education is the “great equalizer” and the central feature in the prevailing endurance of mankind, Dr. Cole is a stern advocate for education, particularly for minority students. He devotes his time and energy to projects and causes that promote the schooling, teaching, training and guidance opportunities for our children – particularly towards advanced degrees. Dr. Cole is extremely proud of his efforts exhorted toward Black Ph.D.’s production at the University. With the help of his efforts, the American Mathematical Society recognized the department as “Mathematics Programs That Make A Difference” because of the record-breaking number of Black Ph.D.’s produced. Dr. Cole is married to Marcia, a minister of the Gospel, and they have three children. He enjoys yard work, church service, aquariums, and photography.

Kevin Cozart is the operations coordinator for the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies at The University of Mississippi. A native Mississippian, he has been a member of the University’s staff since 2004 and has served on the the University’s Staff Council, advisor for the UM Pride Network and OUTGrads, president of the Graduate Student Council, and co-director of the ALLIES program. A UM gradate, Kevin holds master’s degrees in Journalism with an Integrated Marketing Communications emphasis and Higher Education and Student Personnel with a minor in Gender Studies. He is the winner of the 2019 UM Lift Every Voice Award. He routinely uses film and other forms of visual media as bases for exploration of issues related to gender and/or sexuality.

Becca Finley is a seasoned director of television, digital, and film content with a focus on conscious community, democracy, and the arts. Her 30-year history in live event production, publishing, festival programming, nonprofits, and theatre have allowed for a career that spans across the globe in multiple genres. She consults frequently as an audience engagement specialist, and community builder. Recognitions include: 2011 Charleston SC Biz Journal 40 under 40, 2014 Lowcountry Local Biz StartUp Awardee, 2016 Charlie Magazine's 50 Most Progressive People, 2022 Emmy-nominated FEMA HAzard Series, 2022 NEA & MAC Mississippi Media Arts Fellow. Currently, you can find her at the This Is Noteworthy (tin) cultural and creative arts incubator center in Water Valley; roaming about the country in production for the Citizens Revival docu-series; promoting season 1 of PBS' Ear to the Common Ground, or holed up on her chaise in Nashville with her partner Curtis, and sweet pup Tupelo, working on her Reflections book series.

A Dallas-born Cherokee filmmaker, Sarah grew up on-set and backstage, and has been involved in the arts ever since. Her directorial work has been seen in festivals such as LA SkinsFest, Māoriland Film Festival, Phoenix Film Festival, and Green Bay Film Festival. She is also passionate about Native representation in popular culture, and telling Native stories on screen. Outside of writing and directing her own content, she focuses on documentary and narrative cinematography, with work shown at the Austin Film Festival, SXSW, BFI London, and seen on PBS. Sarah earned her B.A. from Vassar College and her Master of Fine Arts in Film Production at the University of Texas at Austin. She now works as a freelance filmmaker and Assistant Professor of Film Production at the University of Mississippi.

Laine Mitchell works with the tourism department as the Partnerships Manager for Visit Oxford. Prior to her time at Visit Oxford, Mitchell served as the Administrative Assistant for the NorthCentral MS Realtors Association for three years. Prior to that, she worked as a senior sales manager for The Inn at Ole Miss for seven years. As partnerships manager, Laine serves as the in-market strategist to coordinate brand awareness within the community, while also coordinating community events so as to not overlap with each other. Laine manages the partnerships grants that are given to organizations that are bringing tourism-related events and visitors to Oxford.

Donna Ruth Roberts is a retired businesswoman living in Oxford. A native of Yazoo City, she is a 1965 graduate of the University of Mississippi where she majored in English and Sociology. Her graduate work in Business was at the University of Memphis. She is a past member of the Ole Miss Business School Advisory Board and a past board member of the Mississippi Small Business Development Center, also at Ole Miss. She serves on the Republican State Executive Committee and is a member of local Republican organizations. Donna Ruth has served on the Millsaps College Board of Trustees since 2013. In the second year of the Oxford Film Festival, she joined as a volunteer and later became a sponsor and board member. A member of First Presbyterian Church, she has two daughters and three grandchildren.

Lucas Singh has been a Board Member for the last 10 years. A native of Malaysia who graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1993 in Banking and Finance. I also hold a degree in Accounting from the London School of Accountancy in England. During my time in Oxford I not only obtained my degree in Banking and Finance, but also made a name for myself by successfully managing local businesses and restaurants. Now with nearly 30+ years of business and entrepreneurship experience, I have return to Memphis to support the community and its surrounding areas as a business consultant. I am noted for my business acumen, financial honesty and dedication to my business partners and clients.

Originally, I founded Lucas Distribution & Consulting Inc. in September 2010. Through my experience and expertise, I have been able to successfully grow companies with optimal results and increased productivity.

Castel Sweet is a community builder and embedded sociologist who works at the intersections of community, culture, and race, particularly emphasizing relationship building through placemaking and place-based engagement practices. She serves as the director of the Center for Community Engagement and assistant professor of practice in Community Engagement in the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at the University of Mississippi, where she supports the development of mutually beneficial community-campus partnerships.

Born in Bruce MS, Antonio Tarrell has achieved recognition as a Producer, Director, and Director of Photography in feature films, commercials, music videos, and documentaries.

His accomplishments include contributions to (I'm Not) Your Negroni (2024), I Believe I'll Go Back Home (2024), Mississippi: Poems in Photography (2024), NHK (Japanese Broadcast: Mississippi Revealed (Mississippi Delta), 2022, Fox Business: Earth with John Holden (Arkansas), 2022, Mississippi Public Broadcast: Mississippi Roads (2022), David Sheffield: The Heartbreak Henry for Theater Oxford (2021), Discovery Channel: Earth hosted by John Holden (2021), PBS: Make America Black hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr (2021), CONDÉ NAST ENTERTAINMENT featuring Joseph Stinchcomb (2021), Black Privilege. White Power. (2020), Walk Against Fear: James Meredith for Smithsonian TV (2019), Restaurant Impossible: Revisited - Season 2 for Food Network (2019), Pilot Episode: Bluff City Law for NBC (2019), Wedding at Graceland for Hallmark (2019), Dateline Crime with Tamron Hall for Investigation Discovery (2018), Unspeakable Crime: The Killing of Jessica Chambers (2017/2018) for Oxygen TV, and much more.