The Filmcake

Last night was a blast. What a great way to kick-off the festival. A great movie sandwiched between two parties attended by lots of great people. It doesn’t get much better. Well played, indeed.

Outdoor Screening on Film Row

Bradley Beesley’s The Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo screened outside on Film Row to an ample audience. The film looked really good. The deadCENTER people did a great job presenting the film. Even from the back, the projection looked great for an outside screening (and the sound was terrific too). But Beesley deserves a bunch of credit for delivering a nicely shot documentary. Like in his previous films, Beesley wasn’t interested in lifting these people (in this case, female inmates of the OK Penitentiary) up as heroes or degrading them as villains. Instead, he presents them as unique, often complicated, individuals that just about everybody should be able to relate to. At the same time, he subtly asks us to reexamine our justice system and the war on drugs. Nice work, Beesley.

If you missed the screening last night, it will screen once more on Friday at 5:30pm at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Or check it out later when it heads to HBO.

Kick-Off Party on Film Row

But, alas, let us not forget about the parties. Lots of Stella Artois. Delicious cupcakes courtesy of Cuppies & Joe. Lots of filmmakers and fellow film fans. A beautiful thing indeed. And that was just the first party.

Cuppies!

The second party at Maker’s Cigar was more of the same. Talked some more with an interesting brother & sister duo we ran into at the first party. Puffed on a cigar. Sipped on a beer. I could seriously get used to this.

Amidst a haze of cigar smoke, we firmed up our plans for Day 2. While The Triangle of Death starts at 5pm and the Don’t HateShorts program starts at 5:30, it looks like for me Day 2 of deadCENTER is going to start with the Opening Night Party at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

And while I would like to see both Ecstasy of Gold and The Twenty, it looks like I’m gonna have to go with the Comedy Shorts program followed by Yesterday over at Uptown United. I hear Canadian zombies and alcohol make a wonderful combination. Ian, the Supreme Allied Overlord of Internet Promotion, thoroughly sold me on this one. 

After that, it’s on to The Purple Bar at Nonna’s for the Opening Night After Party to celebrate the end of another wonderful evening of awesome.

Check out the deadCenter Live Blog at their site or on my sidebar. Check back here and at Two-Headed Blog for additional coverage. Follow The Filmcake on Twitter.

The deadCenter Film Festival kicks off on Film Row this evening with Bradley Beesley’s The Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo. Beesley has a knack for sympathetically capturing the freaks, the unhappy campers, and the flat-out strange. In his hands, oddity seems but a reflection of the human condition. Beesley allows us all to be unapologetic freaks. In his capable hands, the female inmates of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary get their chance to take the stage. I can’t wait.

But of course it wouldn’t be deadCENTER without the parties. The Kick-Off Party starts on Film Row at 7:30pm, followed by the screening of The Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo at 9:00pm. Then Day 1 concludes with a Kick-Off After Party over at Maker’s in Bricktown beginning at 11:00pm.

The weather WILL cooperate. It must be so.

Check out the deadCenter Live Blog at their site or on my sidebar. Check back here and at Two-Headed Blog for additional coverage. Follow The Filmcake on Twitter.