deadCenter Rising

I just got off the phone with Lance McDaniel, executive director of the deadCenter Film Festival—which this week takes its twentieth turn as Oklahoma's premier film event—and he said something that is so deeply Oklahoma that I felt a tiny lump of emotion rise up after he was done speaking. I'd asked him what the moment was like for him, personally, when he and the deadCenter staff made the decision to cancel this year's in-person activities and take the festival entirely online in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. After all, this is McDaniel's final year as executive director—he passes the torch to Alyx Picard Davis in July—and being forced to make such a decision had to be tough. But he is possessed of a quintessential Okie optimism, an immediate pivot to hard-work-as-solution that always inspires me.

"Once we made the decision, it turned out to be the greatest thing ever for me, because part of the reason I'm leaving is to take on new challenges," he says. "For my own career, I want to learn more, so to be able to—three months before I leave a job—completely change our business model was fascinating. It's turned into a godsend, because it's allowed me to reconfigure my skill set."

Out-going deadCenter Film Festival executive director Lance McDaniel. Photo provided by deadCenter

Something about that strikes me as so deeply Oklahoman; it's such prairie thinking. Yes, this is a disappointment and a hardship, but let's get to work tackling it. No sense crying about spilled milk—or, in this case, canceled parties, screenings, and more—because we've got slack to pick up.

"What we realized was, it's not fair for the filmmakers to delay for a year," McDaniel says. "A hundred and forty films have gotten in, so the best thing we can do is to have a festival. But what does that mean?"

Step one, he says, was the technical aspect: how to get these nearly twelve dozen films online. Luckily, deadCenter has been using the independent-film-focused tech firm Eventive for years for its scheduling and ticketing. In 2020, the entire festival will be accessible to pass-holders through Eventive, which is available online and through streaming apps (my husband and I already have downloaded and played with it on the AppleTV, and it works quite well). But as it turns out, tricky technology issues were the easy part.

"Once we realized what we were doing technically, it forced us to go back and look at our mission and say, 'What does our business model say that we're going to fulfill to the community and the filmmakers?'" McDaniel says. "That was, make the coolest thing ever."

So the staff got to work. They've recorded question-and-answer sessions with filmmakers for nearly every single one of this year's films and have conducted twelve free film classes that will be broadcast through the Oklahoma Film & Music Office's website. In addition, McDaniel himself has conducted interviews with Amazon Studios CFO Elaine Paul and Famke Janssen—you know her as Jean Grey from the original X-Men films, and she directed her own shot-in-Oklahoma film, 2011's Bringing Up Bobby.

"What's the best thing about going to a film festival? It's hearing the filmmakers talk about why they made their movies," he says. "But not every filmmaker is able to fly in to do the in-person Q&As; this year, we have almost 100 percent participation."

Documentary "Billie," about the life of jazz great Billie Holiday, is featured at this year's deadCenter. Photo provided by deadCenter

As in years past, the Q&A sessions will occur seamlessly after each of the films, allowing festivalgoers a deeper insight to what they've just seen. And with an extra eight days tacked on to the schedule—the normally weekend-long festival now runs from June 11 to 21 online—there are none of the usually inescapable hard choice moments about which films to skip and which to see.

Still, it's disappointing to miss the crazy-awesome parties and bring-a-bottle-of-wine-and-a-chair free screenings at the Myriad Botanical Gardens, not to mention the impromptu after-movie conversations that pop up organically among attendees. And McDaniel says in a post-COVID-19 world, deadCenter and festivals like it always will maintain an in-person presence.

"We'll never replace the joy of showing a movie to a crowd in a theater," he says. "That'll be a part of our festival forever. But the ability to provide access to these films for eleven days has been wonderful for our filmmakers. Because this way, people have the ability to tell everyone they know to go see a film. I think all festivals are going to be keeping this virtual aspect, and it'll allow us to do better outreach."

In the meantime, I'm going to stock up on popcorn and plan to order some food from local restaurants who'll be missing revenue without a regular stream of festivalgoers. I can't wait to devour films like Billie—a documentary about the life of jazz great Billie Holiday—or Breaking Fast, which McDaniel describes as a "Muslim gay romantic comedy," and look forward to raising a twentieth-birthday toast to one of my favorite Oklahoma events. If you care to join me, deadCenter passes still are available.

Written By

Nathan Gunter

A sixth-generation Oklahoman, Weatherford native, and Westmoore High School graduate, Nathan Gunter is the magazine's editor-in-chief. When he's not editor-in-chiefing, Nate enjoys live music, running, working out, gaming, cooking, and random road trips with no particular destination in mind. He holds degrees from Wake Forest University and the University of Oklahoma. He learned how to perform poetry from Maya Angelou; how to appreciate Italian art from Terisio Pignatti; comedy writing from Doug Marlette; how to make coconut cream pie from his great-grandma; and how not to approach farm dogs from trial and error. A seminary dropout, he lives just off Route 66 in Oklahoma City.