In its 24th year, the deadCENTER film festival is Oklahoma's largest and most celebrated film festival. The festival has been named one of the "20 Coolest Film Festivals" and “Top 50 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” by MovieMaker Magazine. In 2020, deadCENTER was celebrated by Smithsonian Magazine as “One of Eight Festivals Worth Attending (Virtually).”

Designated as an Academy Award®-Qualifying Festival for animated and live action shorts, the deadCenter Film Festival boasts an impressive slate of over 150 films during the 4-day event in June. Founded by independent filmmakers, the festival focuses on providing engaging experiences for filmmakers, distributors, industry professionals, and film audiences.

Pre-pandemic, we hosted sold-out screenings and were notorious for legendary special events. In 2020, we pivoted from creating the biggest and rowdiest film festival to planning an 11-day, completely virtual festival that was experienced in 42 states, 24 countries, and home to over 140 films securely protected on our platform. In 2021, we took that experience further to create a hybrid festival that focused on bringing audiences back to the theater by highlighting our Oklahoma films.

In 2022, we returned in full force to theaters and expanded our footprint into neighboring communities to highlight a more inclusive and diverse slate of films. We brought filmmakers and audiences together with vibrant special events, connected filmmakers to industry professionals at our Annual Distribution Forum, and highlighted visiting filmmakers in the Oklahoma Film + Music Office Panel Series.

As we move toward the 24th Annual deadCenter Film Festival, we are excited to plan our best fest to date and serve our mission of inspiring, promoting, and celebrating creativity and community through film.

Best Narrative Feature
Awarded to a single narrative fiction film from the eligible submissions of the Narrative Feature, Oklahoma Feature and Indigenous Feature categories

Best Documentary Feature
Awarded to a single documentary film from the eligible submissions of the Narrative Feature, Oklahoma Feature and Indigenous Feature categories

Best Live Action Short
Within this Academy Award®-qualified category*, the award recognizes the best live action short film with a running time of 40 minutes or less.

Best Animated Short
Within this Academy Award®-qualified category*, the award recognizes the best animated short film with a running time of 40 minutes or less and have a significant number of the major characters animated. Documentary short films that are animated may be submitted in either the Animated Short or Documentary Short category, but not both.

Best Documentary Short
The award recognizes the best live documentary short film with a running time of 40 minutes or less.

Best Episodic or Series
Awarded to a single episode from the eligible Episodic or Series submissions.

Best Music Video
Awarded to a single music video from the eligible submissions

Best Indigenous Feature
Awarded to a single film from the eligible submissions of the Indigenous Feature category

Best Indigenous Short
Awarded to a single film from the eligible submissions of the Indigenous Short category

Best Oklahoma Feature
Awarded to a single film from the eligible submissions of the Oklahoma Feature category

Best Oklahoma Short
Awarded to a single film from the eligible submissions of the Oklahoma Short category

Pride Awards
The Pride Jury selects the following awards that recognize a distinction in LGBTQ+ filmmaking. These awards are chosen by their respective jury members as they deem appropriate.

Best Pride Feature
Awarded to a single LGBTQ+ film from the eligible submissions of the Narrative Feature, Oklahoma Feature and Indigenous Feature categories

Best Pride Short
Awarded to a single LGBTQ+ short film from the eligible submissions of the Live Action Short, Animated Short, Documentary Short, Indigenous Short and High School Short categories

Best High School Short
Selected by the deadCenter Teen Board, this award is given to a single film from the eligible submissions of the High School Short category

Special Jury Awards
The Jury selects the following awards that recognize a distinction and excellence in filmmaking. These awards are chosen by their respective jury members as they deem appropriate.

Special Jury Narrative Feature
Awarded to a single film from the eligible submissions of the Narrative Feature, Oklahoma Feature and Indigenous Feature categories

Special Jury Documentary
Awarded to a single documentary film from the eligible submissions of the Documentary Feature, Indigenous Feature, Documentary Short, Oklahoma Short, Indigenous Short categories

Special Jury Short
Awarded to a single short film from the eligible submissions of the Live Action Short, Animated Short, Documentary Short, Indigenous Short and Music Video categories

Audience Awards
The following Audience Awards are chosen by festival attendees through ballots cast during the festival.

Audience Award Best Feature
Awarded to a single film from the eligible submissions of the Narrative Feature, Oklahoma Feature and Indigenous Feature categories

Audience Award Best Short
Awarded to a single film from the eligible submissions of the Narrative Short, Documentary Short, Oklahoma Short, Indigenous Short and Music Video categories.

Virtual Reality
VR works are currently selected and are not currently available for open submission.

Please read the following carefully. By submitting your project, you are agreeing that you have read and acknowledged the following rules and terms. All films that adhere to the following terms and are submitted by the final deadline will be considered for the 2024 deadCenter Film Festival.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Each film must be submitted with a working screener and be paid in full to be considered. Once a film is received with a screener the status will be changed to “In Consideration.” If your film’s status has not changed to “In Consideration” within 7 days of submission please contact us at programming@deadCenterfilm.org to inquire as to why. Each film must also be submitted by either the director or producer.

FEE WAIVERS
deadCenter Film Festival is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit and therefore we are unable to offer fee waivers under any circumstance.

SCREENING PROCESS
All deadCenter submissions will be reviewed by at least three members of our screening committee before making their way to our programmers. No decisions will be made until the end of our screening cycle in April 2024.

SUBMISSION CATEGORIES
Please read the submission categories carefully to determine where your submission belongs. If you feel you’ve entered incorrectly, please contact us at programming@deadcenterfilm.org. Films will be considered for awards based on categories entered. dCFF reserves the right to determine the eligibility of submissions in each category.

OKLAHOMA SUBMISSIONS
Oklahoma Features and Oklahoma Shorts exists as their own categories at dCFF. To enter as either and Oklahoma Feature or Oklahoma Short, you must meet BOTH of the following criteria:

-Project was partially shot in Oklahoma.
-Director or Producer currently resides in Oklahoma.

INDIGENOUS SUBMISSIONS
Films submitted in the Indigenous categories will not be considered for awards in the Oklahoma categories. Indigenous filmmakers that wish to have their film considered in the Oklahoma categories, are required to also submit in the appropriate Oklahoma categories. Upon an acceptance of a film, acceptance will indicate the category and associated awards.

PREMIERE STATUS
While deadCenter does not require specific premiere status, we do prioritize World, U.S. and Oklahoma premieres in all categories EXCEPT, Music Videos, Episodes, High School Short, and selected Virtual Reality.

For Award consideration, films must not have screened publicly in the Oklahoma City area before the 2024 deadCenter Film Festival, and we strongly prefer films that have not yet screened in the state of Oklahoma. Cast and crew screenings are acceptable as long as they are not open to or advertised to the public.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS
Films that have been previously screened publicly in theaters in the U.S., aired on U.S. television, or are publicly available online for viewing (VOD, Video On Demand) in their entirety as part of a distribution plan, including AVOD (ad-supported), SVOD (subscription) or PVOD (Premium) prior to or during the festival dates of June 6-9, 2024 are NOT eligible to screen.

Exceptions to this rule are Music Videos, Episodics, Series, High School Films, and Virtual Reality. THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE SCREENINGS AT FILM FESTIVALS (virtual or physical) PRIOR TO deadCenter.

COMPLETION DATE
Any project that was completed on or after January 1, 2023 will be eligible for consideration at the 2024 deadCenter Film Festival.

* Academy Award® qualification has its own specifications for completion dates; see their rules of eligibility for more: https://www.oscars.org/oscars/rules-eligibility

SCREENING FEES
deadCenter Film Festival does not pay screening fees for submitted films. By submitting your project, you acknowledge that dCFF will not pay to present your work.

EXHIBITION FORMATS
All films must be available for the festival exhibition on DCP. VR films will be asked to upload files to our secure site.

LANGUAGE
Films produced in languages other than English must have English subtitles. Films with no subtitles will not be considered for dCFF. No refunds will be given to films submitted and not considered due to lack of subtitling.

CLOSED CAPTIONING
deadCenter requires all films to be screened with closed captioning at the festival. If accepted, please have the appropriate closed captioning files available to accompany your film.

HIGH SCHOOL SHORTS
Students MUST provide proof of student status (copy of student ID) at the time of production. A photo of the ID is to be uploaded with production stills to FilmFreeway. Films submitted within the High School category without ID will not be considered.

WORKS IN PROGRESS
Works-in-progress are accepted and should be noted as such. All incomplete materials or changes should be clearly marked in a cover letter and preferably in the film cut. The submitter may update until the final submission deadline as long as the link and password remain the same.

* dCFF is only responsible for considering the project as it exists at the time of review. We are under no obligation to revisit updated cuts once a screener has been seen. Therefore, you should not submit your project if it is not complete enough to adequately represent the final product. The festival reserves the right to reject films that do not meet completion by the Late Deadline.

MARKETING
Upon acceptance, your entry authorizes deadCenter Film Festival to use video and audio clips of your film for marketing and promotional purposes on television, online, in advertising, news and/or other media. Short films may be included on a compilation program screened as part of our statewide education and promotion program around Oklahoma.

ADDITIONAL TERMS OF ENTRY
Entry confirms and warrants required legal authority to submit the entry into the festival and to use ALL music, images, and content in the entry. This means that when you submit your film, you are guaranteeing that you have the permission to submit. And, by submitting, you guarantee that all of the music and image rights have been secured.

LOSS AND DAMAGES
The deadCenter Film Festival will take all possible care in the handling of entries. The Festival cannot be responsible for damage or loss to films or files while in our possession or in transit.

THE FINE PRINT
By submitting this film, the filmmaker understands that they are agreeing to the following:

The filmmaker owns or controls the copyright in and to, and am duly authorized to submit the film to the deadCenter Film Festival and to the best of the filmmaker's knowledge, all statements of this document are true.

The submitted film contains no material which could result in tort claims, royalty claims, claims for breach of contract, or claims of any sort whatsoever.

The filmmaker fully indemnifies and holds deadCenter Film Festival and its partners harmless from: a) damage to or loss of the film elements, materials, print and/or videotapes en route to or from deadCenter Film Festival or during the course of festival possession of the entry elements and/or materials; and b) from any claims which may arise in connection with the submitted film.

If a claim arises in connection with the submitted film, the filmmaker will bear all the costs of defense incurred by deadCenter Film Festival and pay any award of damages that may ensue.

The filmmaker also agree to reimburse deadCenter Film Festival for any attorney fees incurred in connection with the defense of such a claim.

The filmmaker understands that deadCenter Film Festival reserves the right to place the submitted film in the appropriate competition category.

By submitting said film, the filmmaker is indicating that they understand, comply with and agree to these Terms of Entry and the eligibility requirements.

Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • We are so honored to have Code Switch apart of this year's festival! The team was kind and super supportive throughout the process! 10/10 recommendation for other Queer Filmmakers!

    October 2023
  • This was definitely one of my favorite festivals! The staff was so personable and helpful.

    September 2023
  • FIRST SCREEN AGENCY

    As an Iranian distributor, it was a great honor to have four short films in this year's line up. Thanks to the festival 🤌

    June 2023
  • Ralph Hutchins

    Great festival and great people, thrilled my short film ‘bonfires’ was selected .

    June 2023
  • Aikane Film

    This is a wonderful festival, located in the very middle of the USA, but showing films from all over the map both thematically and artistically. Thank you for sharing Aikāne, a queer love story from Hawai’i.

    June 2023