OXFORD — It's only natural that James Francis Flynn would want to have his first film premiere in his hometown.

His experience growing up in Oxford, and especially his time studying in the Western College program at Miami University, is all over "Eastern College," which will have its world premiere this weekend at the Oxford International Film Festival.

"It really wasn't until I went to college that I became interested in film," Flynn said. "The year 1999 was a really good year for movies with 'Magnolia,' 'Being John Malkovich' and 'Fight Club' all coming out, so I started going to movies more."

So he switched a life-long interest in writing into screenwriting and helped establish an association of other film-minded students to form an association, first known as Miami Association of Filmmakers and Independent Actors, later changed to the Miami Film Association for a more "respectable" acronym.

And because there wasn't a film program at Miami University, where his father was a sociology professor, he enrolled in the Western College program, which allowed him to design his own major by picking classes from the English, theater and communications department.

After graduating from Miami in 2004, Flynn spent some time in Europe before settling in Chicago, and two years ago he learned that the Western College program was being dissolved, and so he wrote a screenplay from some of his memories, changing the name to "Eastern College."

The Oxford International Film Festival features more than 100 independent films, many of them regional premieres.

A question-and-answer session with Flynn and the cast will follow both screenings of "Eastern College."

How to go

What: "Eastern College" at the Oxford International Film Festival

When/Where: 9 p.m. Friday, April 11, Marcum Conference Center, Miami University; 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 12, Oxford Community Arts Center, 10 S. College, Oxford

Cost: $8 single screening; $70 festival pass

More info.: (800) 838-3006; oxfordfilms.com

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188 or rjones@coxohio.com.

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