deadCenter Film Festival Opening Rides High With “Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo”

The impact of hundreds of film enthusiasts gathered Wednesday night in a blocked-off section of Sheridan Avenue to see “Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo” was not lost on director Bradley Beesley. As the 9th Annual deadCenter Film Festival kicked off with a party and an outdoor screening of Beesley’s latest documentary, Beesley said he could see just how far the festival had come.

“I think my first deadCenter was back in 2000 with “Hill Stomp Hollar,” and there was probably 20 people in the cinema,” Beesley said. “Here tonight there’s a couple of hundred, and over the course of the next week there will be thousands and thousands. I think it speaks volumes to what the festival and the city has done in the past decade to bring people in.”

“Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo,” Beesley’s documentary about the lives of female inmates participating in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary’s annual rodeo in McAlester, kicked off a festival featuring over 90 films screening in several locations throughout downtown Oklahoma City.
Festival program director Melissa Scaramucci said the quality of the films has continued to improve each year, and this festival has made some technological leaps, including outdoor screenings in high-definition. She said the festival’s growing stature in independent film circle, along with its increasing attendance, still surprises her.

“Last year, at the Wednesday night screening, we were blown away when 600 people came out for that thing,” she said. “To see a movie in the street on a Wednesday night at 9:30 is ridiculous. And we have the same level of anticipation for this film.”

Because of the exclusivity of major film gatherings such as the Sundance Film Festival, truly independent filmmakers often take their latest creations to several regional fests to gain exposure and seek distribution. Director Blayne Weaver, whose film “Weather Girl” screens at 9 tonight at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, said the contrast between deadCenter and other festivals can be striking.

“This thing runs like a well-oiled machine, and that’s amazing,” Weaver said. “When you show up in a city you don’t know, and you don’t know where you’re supposed to go and nobody really cares that you’re there, that’s no good. But here, everybody is so cool, friendly and informative about where you need to be and what you need to do. It’s the little details that make a film festival successful, and you can see that’s really working here.”

“We were here in 2006 with our last film, ‘Ten ‘til Noon,’ so it’s nice to see the festival’s grown but stayed the same in a lot of ways,” said Paul Osborne, whose documentary about film festivals, “Official Rejection,” will screen at 2 p.m. today at the museum, followed by a panel discussion.

“This is one of my favorite festivals — the people who run it know how to put on a good party, and filmmakers really appreciate that, but they also put on a good show,” he said. “This is really one of the best ones.”