For Pride Month, 7 LGBTQ highlights coming to OKC’s deadCenter Film Fest
Over the past two and a half decades, the deadCenter Film Festival has become a summer staple in Oklahoma City.
A celebration of independent film, the 24th Annual deadCenter Film Festival is June 6-9 in downtown Oklahoma City, with screenings at Harkins Bricktown 16, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Rodeo Cinema Film Row, Scissortail Park, First Americans Museum and the new dC Hub at the Fordson Hotel (formerly 21c Museum Hotel).
With its June dates, the Oscar-qualifying festival happens every year during Pride Month, and the programming team for the state’s largest film fest makes selecting a strong slate of documentaries, short films and features with LGBTQ+ perspectives a priority.
“We are living in a time where queer art and artistic expression is being censored, attacked, and ridiculed,” said Laron Chapman, an OKC filmmaker and deadCenter’s head of Pride programming, in an email.
“It is my honor to showcase the brilliant, creative work coming from my community. These are stories, perspectives, and voices that deserve to be seen because art is healing.”
Here are seven Pride highlights planned for the 2024 deadCenter Film Fest:
Pride Happy Hour
When and where: 4 to 6 p.m. June 8,
Fordson Hotel.
Exclusively for deadCenter passholders 21 and older, the event will include entertainment and a cash bar.
Living Out Loud Shorts block
When and where: 3:30 p.m. June 7 and 3 p.m. June 8, Harkins Bricktown.
This block of eight LGBTQ shorts that “demonstrate the liberation that comes from having the courage to lead an authentic existence.”
The collection includes the world premiere of PJ Magerko-Liquorice’s animated tale “Brim Broome Boulevard,” described as a “‘Coraline’ meets ‘The Devil Wears Prada’” story of self-discovery seen through the eyes of child who stumbles upon a mythical, labyrinthine world of fashion and style, and of Martin Luna’s “Tomorrow Is,” billed as an experimental visual poem exploring the emotional aftermath of the Pulse nightclub shooting.
Made-in-OKC feature film ‘Hailey’s Game’
When and where: 5 p.m. June 6, Harkins Bricktown, and 3:30 p.m. June 9, Rodeo Cinema Film Row.
The first film on this year’s deadCenter Film Fest schedule is the world premiere of “Hailey’s Game,” a supernatural LGBTQIA romance filmed entirely with OKC locations, cast and crew.
A local queer female filmmaker, Katie Hightower makes her feature film directorial debut with the drama, based on her popular web series of the same name.
“Hailey’s Game” follows Carter McDowell as she searches for a way to overcome her grief over the death of her best friend, Hailey. With the help of Hailey’s ex-boyfriend Tanner, a zany bookstore clerk named Billy and some supernatural intervention by Hailey herself, Carter embarks on a journey of love, loss and healing.
‘The Eighth Day’ Pride short film
When and where: 3:30 p.m. June 7, Rodeo Cinema Film Row, and 4:30 p.m. June 8, Harkins Bricktown, in the Love, Sex & Death Shorts.
Writer-director Jonah Weinstein’s irreverent 11-minute tale “The Eighth Day” follows a gay Jewish couple celebrating the arrival of their newborn son. When the baby’s grandparents arrive expecting a traditional bris, the new parents reveal that they’ve decided not to have their son circumcised.
Bodies, Bodies, Bodies Shorts block
When and where: 8 p.m. June 7, Rodeo Cinema Film Row, and 4:15 p.m. June 8, Harkins Bricktown.
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Billed as “dark, twisted, funny, absurd and stomach-churning,” this collection of seven shorts focused on the human form is aimed at the “late-night, gore-seeking crowd,” Chapman said. More than half of the titles in the block are designated Pride shorts.
Coming-of-age short film ‘Scraps’
When and where: 4 p.m. June 8 and 4:15 p.m. June 9, Harkins Bricktown, in the Coming of Age Shorts block.
Shot on film, Ryan Nordin’s “Scraps” follows two closeted teenage skateboarders exploring their burgeoning identities in rural Montana in summer 2003. The short film is making its Oklahoma premiere.
Short comedy ‘ILY, BYE’
When and where: 4:15 p.m. June 7, Harkins Bricktown, 12:30 p.m. June 8, Rodeo Cinema Film Row in the Comedy Shorts block.
Writer-director Taylor James’ relatable yarn stars Meg Stalter (HBO’s “Hacks”) as a free-spirited millennial with arrested development who solidifies an entire generation’s fear of talking on the phone to comedic effect. Stalter’s Siobhanis a quirky, socially anxious mess who can’t seem to keep a job. Thanks to the help of her best friend Gary (Kanoa Goo), she scores an interview with his boss, Mr. Litchfield (Rainn Wilson). When her call to schedule the interview goes to voicemail, Siobhan panics and leaves a series of unhinged messages. Not wanting to lose the interview, she embarks on a chaotic mission to delete the voicemails herself.