dead Center Film

About Us

The deadCenter Film Festival was founded in 2001 by Justan and Jayson Floyd, with a one-night screening of short films from Oklahoma filmmakers at City Arts (now Oklahoma Contemporary) on the State Fairgrounds. Because the event was taking place in the middle of the country, the state, and the calendar year, they settled on “deadCenter” and we’ve been fans ever since!

While we’re notoriously Oklahoma’s largest and most celebrated film festival, we’re also home to award-winning education initiatives and the future of storytelling through technology. We started in downtown OKC as a two-day film festival back in 2001, and 22 years later we’ve grown into a year-round nonprofit with statewide, national, and international engagement. Locally, deadCenter generates an economic impact of more than $5.5 million through our Festival each year and our free education programs reach more than 3,000 students every autumn.