The Oklahoma City Museum of Art is proud to be a venue for the 24th Annual deadCenter Film Festival, June 6-9! As Oklahoma’s largest and only Oscar©-qualifying film festival, deadCenter is the best place to see exciting new shorts, insightful documentaries, hilarious comedies, hair-raising thrillers, and the very best independent films from around the world and all over Oklahoma.
See the list below for the lineup of deadCenter titles screening in OKCMOA’s Noble Theater. (Stay tuned for additional events and showtimes!)
To learn more about deadCenter, view the full festival schedule or purchase a pass, visit: https://dcff.eventive.org/welcome
Opening Night Party sponsored by Inasmuch — Thursday, June 6 at 5 pm | 21 & up; deadCenter Passholders Only
Join us on the OKCMOA rooftop for good times and a great view of Oklahoma City as we prepare for the Opening Night films!
La Singla — Thursday, June 6 at 7 pm | Opening Night Film
Dir. by Paloma Zapata | 2023 | 95 min. | Subtitled | Documentary Feature | Oklahoma Premiere
Antonia Singla was born in the suburbs of Barcelona and became deaf shortly after birth, so she learned to dance flamenco without listening to the music. At the age of 17, she revolutionized the world of flamenco, but before she turned 30 she disappeared forever from the stage. Fifty years later, a young woman finds some old archives and is fascinated by her. La Singla seems to hide something tragic behind her gaze and transmits a passion that goes beyond dance. Determined to find answers, the young woman immerses herself in an investigation that leads her to discover that La Singla was a great success in Germany, where she was considered the best flamenco dancer in the world. Finally, she will try to find her to learn firsthand her heartbreaking story.
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/802007180
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Citizen Sleuth — Friday, June 7 at 5:30 pm
Dir. by Chris Kasick | 2023 | 82 min. | In English | Documentary Feature | Oklahoma Premiere
Citizen Sleuth began five years ago, when I first listened to Emily Nestor’s “Mile Marker 181″ podcast. Emily was conducting an amateur murder investigation into the death of Jaleayah Davis, teasing a cover-up by the Sheriff’s Department. Having lived in Appalachia’s Mid-Ohio Valley, I was drawn back to the community to document and add clarity to a local conspiracy theory that gripped the region. Emily Nestor makes a compelling case for murder, lies, inconsistencies, nepotism, and mystery. When I began filming, I was convinced there was a miscarriage of justice. I had my own questions witnessing Emily’s investigation and media rise. I wasn’t the only one drawn in: Her true crime podcast became a hit, receiving national coverage from Oxygen, Discovery ID, and Fox Nation.
Having worked with acclaimed documentarian Errol Morris for 20 years, I’ve learned not to make assumptions and to always challenge the narrative. I fully immersed myself into the investigation and Emily’s journey. What I found was altogether unexpected. The truth was vastly different from what was being broadcasted to an audience of millions.
Citizen Sleuth evolved into a film about a narrator struggling to tell the truth. It’s an intimate story of conscience where fact and entertainment collide. Displayed in real time was the ethical tightrope journalists and filmmakers navigate in the modern media landscape. In pursuing the truth, the film is a showcase for how easily the pursuit can be compromised.
Moloka’i Bound — Friday, June 7 at 8 pm
Dir. by Alika Tengan | 2024 | 112 min. | In English | Narrative Feature | Oklahoma Premiere
Kainoa De Silva, a wayward Hawaiian man, is on parole and committed to reconnecting with his family. Most important to Kainoa is rebuilding his relationship with his adolescent son Jonathan after years of being incarcerated. But acclimating to a normal life in Hawai‘i is harder than it seems, and Kainoa tends to do all the wrong things for the right reasons. In trying to prove himself worthy of his family and his native heritage, Kainoa’s journey is a story of both reconciliation and redemption.
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dC Awards — Saturday, June 8 at 11 am | 21 & up; deadCenter Passholders Only
Join us at OKCMOA to announce the deadCenter Film Festival Awards!
Hey, Viktor! — Saturday, June 8 at 5 pm
Dir. by Cody Lightning | 2023 | 102 min. | In English | Narrative Feature
Twenty years removed from childhood fame as Little Viktor in 1998’s Smoke Signals, Cody Lightning has been forced to move home to his reserve in northern Alberta. He still believes himself to be famous – even though the only parts he gets these days are porn and fracking commercials.
But when Cody learns his wife and kids are leaving him for a younger, more successful actor, he decides it’s time to quit fucking around and make his masterpiece – writing, directing, and starring in Smoke Signals 2: Still Smoking.
A documentary crew follows Cody on his journey around the Indigenous world – reuniting the original cast, borrowing money from arms dealers, and realizing his vision… just in time to realize his vision was shit.
Trailer: https://youtu.be/0UoC1ka-r6U
Hands That Bind — Saturday, June 8 at 8 pm | deadCenter ICON Special Event!
Dir. by Kyle Armstrong | 2021 | 116 min. | In English | Narrative Feature
Having severed ties with his own father over an unspoken rift, Andy is working another man’s land as a hired hand. His dreams of farming his own land rest on the hopes that this farm may someday be his. In trying to establish new roots with his wife Susan and their two children, Andy serves as substitute son to both his boss and a neighboring farmer – another lone and tough man living in near neglect on adjacent acres, vulnerable but unflinching.
The dreary domestic scene becomes tense and filled with despair when Andy’s boss, Mac, gives Andy his notice. Mac’s prodigal son is returning to claim his birthright. Andy stays the course despite the sudden hopelessness of his situation. He refuses all avenues for possible salvation – his boss’s suggestion that he return to his own father’s farm and his wife’s wish to return to work. It’s a choice that plunges him into a period of dark consequence as we watch him teeter toward corruption and chaos. Tensions mount between him and Susan as Andy struggles to find his new identity in a world that is increasingly unfamiliar. And as a darkness settles over the community, mysterious occurrences begin: cattle mutilations, drought, a missing teenager, paranoia, and unexplained lights in the sky. With hope dwindling, Andy grasps for options, making risky and desperate moves to maintain his place in a world he had always assumed was his own.
Deeply entrenched in outdated cultural values, Andy is forced to choose between change or digging his heels into an archaic paradigm. His actions will have lasting consequences for both himself and those around him.
Hail to the Breadsticks! — Sunday, June 9 at 2 pm
Dir. by Donick Cary | 2024 | 87 min. | In English | Documentary Feature | Oklahoma Premiere
Hail to the Breadsticks! follows multiple perspectives throughout its story: the innocent questioning of a 9-year-old non-Native boy, the open-minded inquiries of a superfan of the team, and most importantly, a broad swath of Native America. While Donick and Otis’ journey provides the spine to the story, the stars of the film are the more than 75 Native Americans they talk to. From the nation’s Capitol (Deb Haaland) to Pulitzer Prize finalist Tommy Orange, from the creator of the show Reservation Dogs (Sterlin Harjo) to real-life reservation dogs (teens on the Pine Ridge rez), from Athabaskan Alaska to Acoma Sky City, the film brings to light the stories and perspectives of Native Americans from all walks of life in the United States.
Comedy interstitials and Simpsons-esque animation help tackle hard truths about the Native American experience and feature big names Graham Greene, Irene Bedard, and Jana Schmieding. While the film begins with what seems like the question of a simple sports mascot, it quickly moves onto bigger, thornier issues like erasure, invisibility, and representation, ultimately posing a unique solution: let Native Americans tell their own stories. Hail to the Breadsticks! takes an irreverent, yet respectful, look at modern Native American identity in its myriad complexity to make the plight of what is often called an “invisible minority” a little bit more visible.
