10th Annual deadCENTER Film Festival downtown

The pictures are worth a thousand words, even though I still have to preface these with mentioning the limitations of a crappy camera when the sun goes down. It was difficult to convey an en entire block full of people shoulder to shoulder.

And after tonight and running into so many old friends and seeing so many trendy people pack Broadway and revel in the story of Mat Hoffman..it was truly a celebration of Okies who honor Oklahoma by dreaming big and defying normative standards and stereotypes. I can't say it enough. There is just something cool and special that you can only get from being a part of the beginning of something. It's just that "well-kept secret" that makes Oklahoma's massive hip scene so unique. A lot of outsiders have commented on it, how here in this "new city" that nobody really hears or thinks about we've got all these quirky people and great bands and people that just hit it big.

Those of us who are a part of OKC's urban renaissance and the massive growth in local culture are part of something that is brand new and has the sense that we have already stumbled across something very big. And it will continue to get bigger. Is OKC the next "Austin"? No of course not, OKC is just the next..OKC. That will mean something soon, and it already does in a very real way to us.

Facts:
-10th year for the festival
-Will run 5 days, from June 9th to June 13th
-7 locations include the OKCMOA, IAO Gallery, Untitled Artspace, Kerr Auditorium, Norick Library, and outdoor locations.
-Attendance is expected to exceed 10,000 (after "The Birth of Big Air" tonight on Broadway, they're already well on their way.
-There will be over 100 movie screenings
-There will be 12 official deadCENTER party events as well]
-All-access pass is $125, all-screenings pass is $75, and individual screenings are $10
-Supporting this goes a LONG ways toward support the emergency of local culture and identity as well as a great event.

Before the Mat Hoffman and Spike Jonze took the stage to introduce the film at the beginning of the screening, there was actually a short-lived, albeit sweet, chant of "OKC! OKC! OKC!" OKC? Yeah. Like I said..I really feel like being here in OKC right now, we are on the verge of something big.