deadCENTER Film

Cinematic Artists of Norman hosts “An Evening with Melissa Scaramucci”

Former deadCENTER Program Director, patron saint of Okie filmmaking, and all-around classy chick Melissa Scaramucci will be holding court in Norman next Tuesday, Nov. 30 in a workshop hosted by the Cinematic Artists of Norman.

Melissa will engage in a dialogue with attending filmmakers, drawing from her experience in filmmaking to foster new ideas and creativity.  The hour long event begins at 6:30pm; head over to the CAN website for more details.

deadCENTER fundraiser Thanksgiving Night!

Need to entertain the family on Thanksgiving night? Take them to the Carpenter Square Theatre preview performance of EVERY CHRISTMAS STORY EVER TOLD (AND THEN SOME!) on Thursday, November 25th and help raise money for deadCENTER! Tickets are $15 and half of the ticket sales from that evenings performance goes directly to deadCENTER film. It’s a total win!

Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!)
a comedy by Michael Carleton, James FitzGerald and John K Alvarez

Unable to muster up excitement for their umpteenth performance of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, three actors decide at the last minute to perform every Christmas story ever told – plus Christmas traditions from around the world, every carol ever sung and seasonal icons from ancient times to topical pop culture. It turns into an impromptu madcap romp through the holiday season! If you have enjoyed such shows as The Compleat Works of Wm Shakespeare (Abridged), then you will love this one!

EVERY CHRISTMAS STORY EVER TOLD (AND THEN SOME!) will be staged at the Bricktown Hotel and Convention Center, which is located at 2001 E. Reno at the intersection of Reno and Martin Luther King. The venue has easy highway access. Theatergoers may exit I-40 at Eastern/M.L. King and proceed north on M.L. King. The Bricktown Hotel and Convention Center is the first business on the east side of the street. Full bar services will be available for patrons to enjoy prior to the performance and at intermission.

For tickets, please call: (405) 232-6500 or visit carpentersquare.com.

deadCENTER Zombie Attack at Studio 222

deadCENTER Film spent the past week making a Zombie movie with students from Taft Middle School at Studio 222. deadCENTER’s Kim Haywood and Lance McDaniel taught a story telling class last month using student made short films. Then, based on student ideas, they created a script, taught acting and production classes and produced a movie using all 22 students from the Studio 222 program. Oklahoma City University students volunteered to teach the students how to set up and work with the camera, sound and lighting equipment. And, the OCU students helmed the camera and boom during the shoot, with special guest boom operator Brenda McDaniel on hand for the final day of filming. This project was one of several education initiatives created this fall by deadCENTER Film to help groom the next generation of Oklahoma filmmakers.

deadCENTER at BFI London Film Festival

From left to right, Smash His Camera Producer Adam Schlesinger, Director Leon Gast,
subject Ron Galella and Producer Linda Saffire.

The BFI London Film Festival wraps up this week after two weeks of films from all over the world. The BFI Festival is not necessarily a critical stop on the festival circuit like Cannes, Toronto or Sundance. But, the consistent brilliance of the British film industry and London’s role as a world capital ensure that the BFI festival is filled with important films from around the world. Many of the more popular films were bigger budget, English language selections featuring famous actors and directors. The American, Conviction, Black Swan, The King’s Speech, and Blue Valentine all featured Oscar nominees looking for another go this year. The opening night film, Never Let Me Go, starring Kiera Knightly, was directed by Mark Romanoff, who participated in a very candid Screen Talk my first night in town. He explained how he moved from a highly regarded music video career into the feature film world. Other stand outs included the controversial punk Muslim feature, The Taqwacores, based on the novel credited with creating a sub-culture throughout the Middle East; Heartbeats, by 21 year old French Canadian auteur Xavier Dolan; The Tillman Story, a shocking indictment of US war propaganda led by the family of the man being touted as a national hero; and, Revolucion, a collection of short films by famous Mexican directors and actors to commemorate the 100 anniversary of the Mexican Revolution. The range of stories was stunning and actors Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal from Y Tu Mama Tambien proved as effective behind the camera as in front. My wildest experience was at the screening of Smash His Camera which was attended by Oscar and Sundance winning director Leon Cast. As luck would have it, I was sat next to the subject of the film, renowned paparazzi photographer Ron Galella, who provided a running commentary throughout the film. As someone who was punched by Marlon Brando and sued by Jackie Onassis, he had plenty to say. It was like a live version of a DVD commentary track. Otherwise, I spent most of my time at industry screenings watching awesome documentaries and foreign films and meeting foreign distributors and sales people. As deadCENTER Film moves into our second decade, we are committed to seeking out the very best movies from around the globe and luring them back to Oklahoma: the deadCENTER of the universe.

deadCENTER teaches at Westminster

Local filmmakers joined the staff of deadCENTER Film to teach film making to the amazingly adept 5th Graders at Westminster Elementary school in Oklahoma City. deadCENTER COO Kim Haywood and film producer Sarah McCombs taught film production classes, taking students from script to screen, discussing and assigning positions and analyzing and breaking down scripts. Oklahoma City Community College film professor and writer/producer Sean Lynch worked alongside Patricia McDaniel and Production Sound professional Sam Harris to demonstrate the Red Camera, lighting packages and various audio equipment used in film production. deadCENTER Executive Director Lance McDaniel led acting classes with help from OCU student actor Hassan Nazari-Robati. Now, the teachers at Westminster will lead the kids in producing their own scripts. Future filmmakers, arise and fulfill your destiny!

deadCENTER Film @ AIDS Walk 2010

The staff, board and volunteers of deadCENTER Film raised over $1300 dollars for local AIDS/HIV support organizations this past Sunday for the OKC AIDS Walk. 13 official team members and a horde of other supporters marched through downtown OKC to draw attention to those people living with HIV/AIDS in Oklahoma. This year was the largest AIDS Walk in Oklahoma history and was a fantastic celebration.

CALL FOR ENTRIES

deadCENTER Film Festival is now accepting entries for the 2011 festival, which will be held June 8-12, 2011. Submitting your film or short screenplay is easy and free. Clicky on the link above to check out categories, deadlines, and entry rules.

Happy submitting! Read More »

Announcing The deadCENTER Movie Club Podcast.

We here at the deadCENTER film festival are always trying to think of new ways to get in touch with you, our favorite independent film audience members. Usually, this involves a few of us sitting down with some beers and debating the merits of an idea. During one such session, I proposed that we start showing up at your houses, DVD in hand, drink your beer, and then argue with you about the movie we brought. After a few calls to their locksmiths, the other staff members said that idea was far too creepy, and we could probably use that newfangled internet device to accomplish the same thing.

So here we are a few weeks later to announce the deadCENTER Movie Club Podcast. Here’s how it works: Once a month, we’ll announce the movie selection via blog post. You’ll update your Netflix queues, and a week later we’ll post a podcast of Kevin Ely, myself, and a few guests discussing the film. You’ll listen, marvel at our genius, and keep the conversation going in the comments section. Hopefully they’ll be at least half as fun for you to listen to as they are for us to make.

We’re going to kick things off with Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call: New Orleans. The film is available through Netflix, though sadly not on instant viewing. If you really want to stream it, you can “rent” it through Amazon’s video on demand service.

Son of a %@#*%! “Winnebago Man” screening and FREE Stella Artois? #&%^ Yeah!!!

The Oklahoma City Museum of Art and deadCENTER Film present the hilarious and charming film “Winnebago Man” – Thursday, September 30th at 7:30PM. In “Winnebago Man”, director Ben Steinbauer sets out in search of the legendary RV salesman whose hilarious, foul-mouthed outbursts were caught on video and became an online phenomenon. “Winnebago Man” is a laugh-out-loud look at viral culture and an unexpectedly poignant tale of one man’s response to unintended fame.

That night, deadCENTER will also be honoring past and present staff members…and drinking lots of complimentary Stella Artois. Audience members are encouraged to stay after the film for a meet-n-greet with the staff…and drink delicious, complimentary Stella Artois with us.

For information on ticket pricing, directions and other fun happenings at the OKCMOA, please visit, www.okcmoa.com.

deadCENTER TEAMS UP IN SUPPORT OF OKC AIDS Walk

deadCENTER is pleased as punch to be creating a walking team for the AIDS Walk of Oklahoma City, Sunday, September 19th. Joining our team is easy and FREE. Just head over to our FirstGiving page and click “join this team” on the right side. We highly encourage you to create your own profile and help us spread the word, and/or share the page on the social media sites you kids are so crazy about.

Oh, and after you register, send a confirmation email to info@deadcenterfilm.org so you can keep you up to date on all the details for the day.

Thank you for supporting deadCENTER and AIDS Walk of Oklahoma City.