DeadCenter Film Festival

Beginning Thursday June 8^th, the deadCenter Film Festival returns to Oklahoma City for its 17^th consecutive year. The event will run through Sunday, June 11^th and will feature film screenings as well as workshops, Q&As and speaker panels led by industry professionals at various locations in downtown Oklahoma City.

Currently run by three full-time staff members and hundreds of community members who volunteer throughout the year, this event is Oklahoma’s largest film festival. It was recently named by MovieMaker Magazine as one of the “Top 50 Film Festivals Worth the Money” and one of the “20 Coolest Film Festivals in the World”. DeadCenter has grown massively since its inception in 2001 when 50 attendees showed up to a one night event that featured short films from Oklahoma based filmmakers. Over 30,000 people attended deadCenter last year and much of the same is expected for the popular OKC event in 2017.

The festival was created with the intent of promoting, encouraging and celebrating independent films from all over the world. This is done through the annual festival, which has screened more than 1,600 independent films over the years, and a year-round educational outreach program – the deadCenter Institute. Launched in 2011, the deadCenter Institute is an award winning, statewide education program that visits high schools, colleges and trade schools throughout Oklahoma each year to lead free film seminars. Their goal with this program is to teach Oklahoma’s youth to be creative, work collaboratively and grow in confidence.

The festival kicks off with an opening night party Thursday, June 8^th at 5pm at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art Rooftop. Four feature films will screen that night in addition to a slew of comedy and darker toned short films. Friday’s events begin at 11am with the possible future of filmmaking – 8 immersive 360 virtual reality films created by Kim Voyner, the Chief Imaginator and CEO of Wonder Tek Labs. Voyner will also be hosting a panel on this new form of filmmaking Sunday afternoon.

At 6pm on Friday, 8 short films from Oklahoma artists will screen at the Midfirst Bank Theater at Harkins. Friday night closes with several horror shorts beginning at 9:30pm at the StellaNova Theater at Harkins. While Saturday naturally features numerous films, it’s also heavy on the panels. These include topics such as scriptwriting, directing, casting, animation, music, acting and women in film. Saturday night concludes with an awards party at 11pm at the Water Stage Plaza at the Myriad Gardens. If you can’t make it to the viewing of certain films you’re interested in, there’s no need to worry. Sunday is dedicated to a re-screening of films shown earlier in the event.

Click here to visit deadCenter’s official website and here to see a full list of scheduled events.