deadCenter 2016 has an admirable line-up of feature films this year, but the real fun and experimentation is happening in the shorts. The festival has no less than 10 different Short Film categories which means if you’re in attendance and you have caught at least one shorts program, you’re doing it wrong. We caught up with a few of the short filmmakers and talked to them a bit about their films.
One of the biggest categories this year was the Okie Shorts which included 8 short films from across the genre spectrum. Character drama, sci-i, documentary, it was all covered. Each of these shorts have close Oklahoma ties or were produced locally in Oklahoma. Caleb caught up with Lance McDaniel and Kyle Roberts following their debut screening.
One of the more unique of the shorts was Swirl by Lance McDaniel which was essentially a 8 or so minute interpretive dance about the growing bond of two teen boys who fall in love and fight against persecution.
More in our wheelhouse here at GoodTrash was Heroes of the Realm directed by Kyle Roberts. The film features a pizza delivery girl who masters and arcade game and acquires a magical bracelet that brings the game’s characters to life. It’s a really fun mesh of 80s nostalgia, comic books, and even a few hints of Scott Pilgrim vs The World. It was produced as part of last year’s OKC 48 Film project, meaning the entire shrot was completed in less than two days. This short recently broke the news that they will be attending San Diego Comic-Con next which makes it particularly notable.
The Okie Shorts will doing an Encore Sunday, June 12 at 5:30pm in the Harkins Theater.
Alexandra ran into the minds behind the ENOS, a film about a 50 year old crashed space capsule. The short was produced in Colorado and both the film’s writer/director Ryan Scott and star Jesse Sikora were on hand to talk more about their the film’s story and process.
ENOS will be playing as part of the Strange Encounters Shorts Saturday June 11 at 5:15pm and Sunday June 12 at 2:45.
Check out the full conversations with the filmmakers below by clicking play!
Tune in!
Caleb Masters is a lifelong film and pop culture enthusiast with more than 10 years of experience in writing, podcasting, and content creation. When he’s not running The Cinematropolis or hosting The Cinematic Schematic podcast, Masters hosts The Cast Beyond the Wall, a House of the Dragon podcast, and serves as an active member of the Oklahoma Film Critic’s Circle where he currently serves as Vice President. He also loves video games. Follow him @CMastersTalk on Letterboxd, Instagram, or X.
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