Nonprofit film organization deadCENTER is accepting registrations for their 12th film festival until Feb. 14. The event has seen a large surge in attendance over the last two years, given the attendance of film and cultural icons like Spike Jonze, Mat Hoffman and Nick Cassavetes.
The deadCENTER film selection team is accepting entries in a multitude of categories. “There’s definitely a category for everyone. They even have college and high school categories to even the odds for us young folks,” Chance Finn, who entered a short film in 2010, said.
The festival accepts submissions for narrative feature length films, narrative short films, documentary feature films and animations. Oklahoma films, documentary shorts, any length of film by high school and college students, and short screenplays (under 15 pages) are accepted as well.
“My film played in the IAO Gallery downtown. It was a cool and nerve-wracking experience. I am just about finished with a feature, so hopefully I will be able to enter this year,” Finn said.
Finn previously submitted in the high school category. He is presently a sophomore at UCO and unsure of a major.
“I love film, but I’m afraid to go to school for it,” Finn mused. “As soon as I mention it, my dad starts going on and on about the economy and I have to resist my urge to chase after pipe dreams.”
Several members of the deadCENTER festival team arrived back home late Wednesday night from their stint at the Sundance Film Festival. The group used the opportunity to see some of 2012’s most anticipated films, as well as to network.
Last year was the first year the team traveled to the Sundance festival and it boosted attendance and submissions.
“Last year was the first year I went to deadCENTER. It was a really incredible and bizarre experience,” Cara Middleton, a junior psychology major, said.
“It was incredible because I got to go on opening night and be apart of the biggest open-air movie theatre in my life, but it was also bizarre because I went back down a couple days later and saw ‘Troll Hunter’ which was one of the most insane movies ever made.”
In 2011, over 4, 800 people gathered at the intersection of Fourth Street and Broadway in downtown Oklahoma City for the opening ceremony and film. The opening film was about rock ‘n roll band Kings of Leon. Several members of their family were in attendance.
The opening night for deadCENTER in 2011 drew a major crowd.
The Feb. 14 deadline is a late registration deadline. Prices are higher for submissions, but there are still discounts for students. Submissions can be done via mail or through online file uploads.
