Tulsa Overground Creates Unique and Diverse Experience

Film buffs, musicians, fans, movie makers will all gather in Tulsa this weekend for the city’s one of a kind Tulsa Overground Film and Music Festival. Since its inception in 1998, Tulsa Overground has expanded and added unique content. In previous years, the non-profit festival has brought in the likes of Crispin Glover, Johnny Polygon, and the works of Spike Jonze, Bill Hader, and many others. This year’s festival features members of the film industry, local and national bands, workshops, virtual reality, and short and feature length film screenings.

Director and actor Clu Gulager will show short films and fragments from his career, including never-seen selections. Filmmaker Mark Borchardtt will host the Midwest Premiere of his short film The Dundee Project. The feature documentary Tony Conrad: Completely in the Present looks a the life of artist and musician Tony Conrad.

Several feature films will make debuts at the festival. The World Premiere of Jon Schnitzer’s Haunters will take place on Saturday. This will include a Q&A with the director. Psychological horror mystery Sequence Break will also make its Midwest Premiere.

The music portion of the festival will happen across three venues: The Vanguard, Soundpony, and Chimera. Friday kicks off with a show featuring The Capital Why’s, Planet What, Beau Jennings & The Tigers, and The Koreatown Oddity from Los Angeles. National acts ADULT., Terminal A, and LCG & The X will play with Norman’s Broncho, and others, on Saturday at The Vanguard. Chimera will host a number of local artists, as well.

Free concerts at Soundpony feature diverse lineups for both days. On Friday, doom metalheads Senior Fellows and powerviolence band Queenager share the stage with rapper Mr. Burns, rockers The Fabulous Minx, and the rootsy Hey Judy. Saturday’s lineup includes psych rockers Dead Shakes, dream pop from Cucumber and the Suntans, and heavy psych group Reigns. 

Since the festival came back from hiatus in 2014, the mixture of music and film has grown to multiple venues and featured a great variety of genres. The festival’s slogan is “unconventional, uncensored, uncompromising”. This approach has created one of Tulsa’s more unique and diverse events.

A full schedule of events is available on the festival website. Passes are available for film events, music events, or the entire festival. Patrons can also buy tickets to single film sessions and concerts.