An audience watches house-made videos at Resonator Institute. (Doug Hill)
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his year marks the second year in a row for the Norman Film Festival to host screenings in downtown Norman, Oklahoma. In September, audiences saw feature-length films, shorts and documentaries across six locations. New venues this year included Shevaun Williams and Associates’ studio, Lazy Circles brewery tap room and The Old Lumber Yard (TOLY).
The festival’s board of directors said they aimed for younger and more family oriented audiences and participants in their second iteration. Children’s film workshops organized by the Pioneer Library System contributed to that plan.
Like the festival’s first installment, many films shown were produced outside the U.S., with even fewer Oklahoma-made submissions than in 2017. Several music videos, including Call Me by Norman musician Kyle Reid, debuted at the Opolis venue. A full-length American comedy, titled Freelancers Anonymous and directed by Sonia Sebastian, had also played at Sundance Film Festival and was included in the programming. Norman Film Festival’s board was delighted to present Studio 54: The Documentary, in no small part because OKC’s deadCenter Film Festival had intended to feature it this year but, for timing reasons, couldn’t pull it off.
NGP video production and equipment rental crew. (Doug Hill)
Festival volunteers Sierra and Melissa at the Mainsite headquarters’ check-in table. (Doug Hill)
Mainsite Gallery served as festival headquarters and site for educational activities. (Doug Hill)
Festival attendees discuss a movie they saw in the Sooner Theatre. (Doug Hill)
Music videos were screened at the Opolis micro venue on Crawford Avenue. (Doug Hill)
Norman Transcript journalist and cinema fan J. Dillon Hart, left, poses with “You People” director and writer Laron M. Chapman immediately after his satiric comedy screened. (Doug Hill)
OU printmaking instructor Curtis Jones and spouse Tammy Gordon Jones watch a screening at Resonator Institute. Jones is a founder of the alternative arts organization. (Doug Hill)
Resonator Institute displayed a shrine in their storefront space on East Main Street. (Doug Hill)
Still from a short animated comedy film. (Doug Hill)
Fashionable attendees gathered in the Sooner Theatre lobby between film screenings. (Doug Hill)
Doug Hill earned a double-major undergraduate degree in English and East Asian Studies from the University of Kansas and a master's in human relations from the University of Oklahoma. He's been a freelance journalist and photographer in central Oklahoma since 1997.
