House Resolution 44

A RESOLUTION COMMENDING AND CONGRATULATING THE MISSISSIPPI FILM OFFICE WITHIN THE MISSISSIPPI DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY UPON ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION.

WHEREAS, the Mississippi Film Commission, created on January 17, 1973, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary commemoration on January 17, 2023; and

WHEREAS, the significance of the film industry resulted in the promotion of the commission's evolution to become the Mississippi Film Office as part of the Mississippi Department of Economic Development (now the Mississippi Development Authority) in 1980, allowing the work of the office to provide a public relations impact on global awareness of Mississippi as a tourism and professional destination; and

WHEREAS, the film industry extending back to 1916 has been a significant measure of Mississippi's global reputation, with the Mississippi Film Office expanding that impact beginning with Robert Altman's film Thieves Like Us in 1973, and today having supported the production of more than 200 feature films, 29 television movies, 65 documentaries, 25 television series, along with countless individual episodes of television programs, short films, commercial productions, and music videos in Mississippi under the leadership of directors Walterine Odom, Senator John Horhn, Ward Emling, and Nina Parikh; and

WHEREAS, the remarkable list of Mississippi authors and literary artists such as Larry Brown, William Faulkner, John Grisham, Beth Henley, Willie Morris, Thomas Hal Phillips, Kathryn Stockett, Eudora Welty, and Tennessee Williams have allowed film and television productions to highlight Mississippi's contributions to the arts, history, literature, medicine, and STEM, along with the legacy of noteworthy public figures such as David Sheffield, Fannie Lou Hamer, Cassandra Wilson, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Medgar Evers, Emmett Till, James Meredith, Beah Richards, Mamie Till-Mobley, Robert Johnson, Dr. James Hardy, and Elvis Presley; and

WHEREAS, with the support of the Mississippi Film Office, local communities, venues and the natural beauty of the Magnolia State have served as film locations from historic Natchez to the farmlands of the Delta, from the capital city of Jackson to the beaches and casinos of the Gulf Coast, from the town square of Oxford to Meridian, affectionately the railroad town Queen City; and

WHEREAS, the Mississippi Film Office is a key resource for film productions to take advantage of the Mississippi Motion Picture Incentive Program, a state initiative that provides a cash rebate for spending on completed projects that have invested a minimum of $50,000 on Mississippi-based vendors, companies and cast and crew payroll, inspiring future productions to bring their business to Mississippi; and

WHEREAS, film production in Mississippi has accounted for more than $575 million in direct expenditure since the creation of the Mississippi Film Office, along with associated payments to local vendors and professionals; and

WHEREAS, organizational leadership in the Association of Film Commissioners International from past director Ward Emling and current director Nina Parikh has greatly enhanced the international reputation of Mississippi as a professional setting for global film production; and

WHEREAS, on location film production has brought to Mississippi such luminaries as Elijah Wood (Adventures of Huck Finn); Claude Jarman, Jr., (Intruder in the Dust); Carroll Baker (Baby Doll); Tom East (Huckleberry Finn '74); George Hamilton (Home from the Hill); Robert Redford (This Property Is Condemned); Mitch Vogel (The Reivers); Diane Ladd (The Reivers and Wild at Heart); Robert Duvall (Tomorrow); Keith Carradine (Thieves Like Us); Shelley Duvall (Thieves Like Us); Tom Skerritt (Thieves Like Us); Robby Benson (Ode to Billy Joe); Glynnis O'Connor (Ode to Billy Joe and The Historian); Morgan Freeman (Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Vanquish, Paradise Highway, Jakob's Wife and The Minute You Wake Up Dead); Gerald McRaney (The Brain Machine, Blind Vengeance); Kris Kristofferson (Freedom Road); Tommy Lee Jones (Barn Burning, The Client and Double Jeopardy); Ralph Macchio (Crossroads); Gene Hackman (Mississippi Burning and The Chamber); Willem Dafoe (Mississippi Burning, The Card Counter and Wild at Heart); Frances McDormand (Mississippi Burning); Holly Hunter (Miss Firecracker, Strange Weather and O Brother Where Art Thou?); Mary Steenburgen (Miss Firecracker and The Help); Tim Robbins (Miss Firecracker); Alfre Woodward (Miss Firecracker, Freedom Road, The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag and Mississippi Grind); Ally Sheedy (Heart of Dixie); Virginia Madsen (Heart of Dixie and Ghosts of Mississippi); Denzel Washington (Mississippi Masala); Sarita Choudhury (Mississippi Masala); Charles S. Dutton (Mississippi Masala, A Time to Kill and Cookie's Fortune); William Forsythe (Stone Cold, The Hollow and The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag); Courtney B. Vance (Adventures of Huck Finn and Cookie's Fortune); Ron Perlman (Adventures of Huck Finn and Joe Baby); Penelope Ann Miller (The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag and Murder at Hollow Creek); Julianne Moore (The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag and Cookie's Fortune); Matthew McConaughey (A Time to Kill); Sandra Bullock (A Time to Kill); Samuel L. Jackson (A Time to Kill and Black Snake Moan); Ashley Judd (A Time to Kill, Double Jeopardy); Tonea Stewart (A Time to Kill, Mississippi Burning, Same Kind of Different As Me, Nightmare in Badham County, Minstrel Man and Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry); Whoopi Goldberg (Ghosts of Mississippi); Chris O'Donnell (The Chamber and Cookie's Fortune); Faye Dunaway (The Chamber); Frankie Muniz (My Dog Skip); Kevin Bacon (My Dog Skip); Diane Lane (My Dog Skip); Harvey Keitel (Finding Graceland, Hard Matter and Joe Baby); Glenn Close (Cookie's Fortune); Beth Grant (The Rising Place, As I Lay Dying and A Time to Kill); George Clooney (O Brother Where Art Thou?); John Turturro (O Brother Where Art Thou?); Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother Where Art Thou?, As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury); John Goodman (O Brother Where Art Thou?); Viola Davis (The Help and Get On Up); Octavia Spencer (The Help, Ma, A Time to Kill and Get On Up); Jessica Chastain (The Help); Allison Janney (The Help, Breaking News in Yuba County and Ma); Anna Camp (The Help and From Black); Aunjanue Ellis (The Help, Get On Up and John John in the Sky); James Franco (As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury); Margo Martindale (The Hollars and Ghosts of Mississippi); John Schneider (A Gift Horse and Mysterious Circumstance); Dan Aykroyd (Get On Up); Craig Robinson (Get On Up); William Sadler (The Duel, The Hollow and The Historian); Woody Harrelson (The Duel); Liam Hemsworth (The Duel); Kim Coates (Strange Weather and Sweating Bullets); Dolph Lundgren (Shark Lake and Don't Kill It); Wes Brown (Nanny Seduction and Every Time a Bell Rings); Nicolas Cage (Wild at Heart and Arsenal); John Cusack (Arsenal); Adrian Grenier (Arsenal); Jason Patric (MK Ultra and Murder at Hollow Creek); Peter Stormare (Muti, Kill 'Em All and Hard Matter) Ben and Erin Napier (Home Town); Barbara Crampton (Jakob's Wife and A Suitable Flesh); Jeremy Pope (The Inspection); Gabrielle Union (The Inspection); Emile Hirsch (Son and Devil's Workshop); Cole Hauser (Muti and TMYWUD); Oscar Isaac (The Card Counter); Adrienne Warren (Women of the Movement); Tyrese Gibson (The System and Hard Matter); Frank Grillo (Paradise Highway and A Day to Die); Juliette Binoche (Paradise Highway); Jeremy London, Jason London and Mickey Rourke (Hunt Club); Ryan Kwanten (Glorious); and

WHEREAS, Mississippi productions continue to attract the talent and investment of recognized filmmakers such as Paul Schrader, Joel and Ethan Coen, Elegance Bratton, Mira Nair, Rob Reiner, Wim Wenders, Charles Burnett, Effie Brown, Gina Price-Bythewood, Tina Mabry, Julie Dash, Kasi Lemmons, Joel Shumacher, John Krasinski, Patrik-Ian Polk, James Franco, Tate Taylor, Alan Parker, Michael Mann, Jay Russell, Robert Altman, Walter Hill, Sydney Pollack, Arliss Howard, Vincente Minelli, John Ford, Albert Maysles, Martha Coolidge, Louis Malle, Sydney Pollack, Mark Rydell, George Sidney and James Mangold; and

WHEREAS, it is the policy of the House of Representatives to acknowledge excellence in action and superior ambassadorship when exemplified in the service and compelling global attraction the Mississippi Film Office produces through its unwavering efforts to enhance Mississippi's draw as a leading film market:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we do hereby commend and congratulate the Mississippi Film Office upon the celebration of its 50th year anniversary.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to Nina Parikh on behalf of the Mississippi Film Office as its director and to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.