What is your film festival’s mission?
The Oak Cliff Film Festival has two main missions: to showcase the best of independent and brave filmmaking of all stripes and to be a hyper-local neighborhood event that unites and brings together the community of Oak Cliff. Each year, the Oak Cliff Film Festival embraces the neighborhood of Oak Cliff to bring the community a unique opportunity to participate in filmmaking and the arts. In addition to programming 60+ films by independent filmmakers each year, the festival features partnerships with community businesses and arts programs, studio art installations, panels focused on all aspects of filmmaking, and more.
What role does your film festival play in supporting your film’s community?
The New York times called the Oak Cliff Film Festival, “the new heart of North Texas film culture…a burst of indie street credibility.” We strive to be that heart – to bring filmmakers and film lovers together to celebrate the art form and to spur the creation of film and an engagement with filmmaking.
What is something people look forward to every year at your film festival?
Audiences and filmmakers alike look forward to the programming they can’t see anywhere else and the laid-back get-to-know-you environment that OCFF fosters.
How long has your film festival been around?
2016 marks the 5-year anniversary of the Oak Cliff Film Festival!
How did your film festival come into being?
The Aviation Cinemas team, who took over operations of the Texas Theatre in 2011, founded the Oak Cliff Film Festival with the desire to support the revitalization of the Theatre and the Jefferson Boulevard area as well as the revitalization of film culture in Dallas. As the Theatre has grown, improved, and brought economic and artistic boon to the neighborhood, so has the Oak Cliff Film Festival.
What do you want audiences to take away from your film festival?
One of our 2015 Alumni filmmakers called OCFF a four-day “filmmakers’ retreat.” For anyone who makes film or loves film, we want them to take away that feeling of community and support. There is nothing better than appreciating, watching, and celebrating filmmaking with others doing the same thing. We want the Oak Cliff Film Festival to be an opportunity for audiences to remember that challenging, fierce, and revolutionary films are being created every day – even if they aren’t being played in mainstream theatres.
Anything else you’d like to tell the audience about your festival?
2016 is going to be our best festival yet!
Oak Cliff Film Festival runs June 16-19th 2016 in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas.
You can check out the schedule and lineup here!
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