Oak Cliff Film Festival

Oak Cliff Film Festival is a film festival held annually in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. It showcases films made by or featuring individuals from Texas and the surrounding region. Its programming spans every genre, focused on independent, non-mainstream films both narrative and documentary.

Oak Cliff Film Festival (OCFF) emphasizes programming experimental, nontraditional, and low-budget independent films otherwise overlooked by more mainstream festivals. Events at the festival include drive-in movies, live orchestrations of silent films, screenings of newly remastered older films, and Texas/Dallas premieres.

OCFF, partnered with the Austin Film Society, filmmaker David Lowery, and Tim Headington’s Ley Line Entertainment to offer grant funds for emerging North Texas filmmakers. This initiative included the North Texas Pioneer Film Grant of $30,000, specifically aimed at promoting filmmakers from the Dallas-Fort Worth area with underrepresented perspectives.

OCFF also hosts student workshops covering fundamentals of filmmaking including writing, producing, directing and post-production.

First occurring from June 14–17 in 2012, the Oak Cliff Film Festival (OCFF) was founded by four independent filmmakers, Barak Epstein, Eric Steele, Adam Donaghey, and Jason Reimer, interested in fostering the film community in Dallas and the surrounding region. The four initial founders had purchased the historic Texas Theatre cinema in 2010 and continue to use this venue as the primary venue for the festival.

Some years of the festival have included screenings held in different locations across Dallas, including Kessler Theater and Bishop Arts Theatre Center, Belmont Hotel, the Dallas Zoo, Oil and Cotton, Turner House, and El Sibil.

The 3–4-day festival continues to be organized by and receive financial support from the Oak Cliff Film Society.

The Oak Cliff Film Festival announces jury awards each year.

The narrative features jury included Bryan Poysner and Dennis Bishop. The documentary features jury included Bradley Beesley and David Hartstein. The shorts juries included Daniel Laabs, Steve Norwood, Eric Jewel, Cynthia Mulcahy, Mike Mazurek, Frank Mosley, and Ya’Ke Smith. The music video jury included Audra Schroeder and Pete Freedman.

The OCFF 2013 narrative features jury were Kim Yutani, A.A. Dowd, and Steve Dollar. The documentary features jury David Hartstein, Sam Douglas, and Peter Simek. The shorts juries included Clay Liford, Dennis Bishop, Cynthia Mulcahy, Bart Weiss, and Carolyn Macartney.

Jury members in 2014 were Chase Whale, Zach Clark, James M. Johnston, Matt Grady, Peter Simek, Melina McKinnon Cain, Tom Aberg, Mike Morris, Clay Liford, Tom Anderson, Barton Weiss, Eugene Martin.

2015 jury members were Augustine Frizzell, Christine Gaines, Norry Nivens, Liz Franke, Laure Neitzel, Joe Dishner, Casey Gooden, Cameron Bruce Nelson, Blair Rowan, and Barton Weiss.

Jurors in 2016 were Aaron Hillis, David Lowery, Michael Tully, Holly Herrick, Richard Matson, Matt Grady, James Johnston, Joe Dishner, Geoff Marslet, Bart Weiss, Derek Kompare, Chase Whale, Jerry White, and Kerry Navarro.

Jurors for the 2017 Oak Cliff Film Festival awards were Eric Allen Hatch, Michael Tully, Kyle Greenberg, Sai Selvarajan, Don Lewis, David Sedman, Zach Clark, Aaron Hillis, Joe Dishner, Joe Butler, Jeff Walker, Bart Weiss, and Glenys Quick.

Aaron Hillis, Dan Brawley, and Gabe Klinger juried the Narrative Feature nominees. Betsey Holt, Judd Myers, and Andrew Logan juried the Narrative Short nominees. Jennifer Samani, Joshua Butler, and Neil Creque Williams juried the Documentary Feature nominees. Linda Eddy, Andy Streitfeld, and Ardis Campbell juried the Documentary Shorts nominees. Bart Weiss, Lizette Barrera, and Eric Jewell juried the Student Short nominees.

Festival jurors in 2023 were Neal Creque Williams, Bradford Thomason, Merced Eliondo, Kelly Williams, Leigh Steglitz, Linda Eaddy, Amber Ekleberry, Bart Weiss, Claire Dejarnett, Gina Cuomo, Ardis Campbell, Rebekah Louisa Smith, Craig Miller, Marielena Resendiz, and Randall Kramen.