Oklahoma City's annual deadCENTER film festival gives national exposure to local and student films.

The festival, which took place over five days last week, shows independent films at several locations in the Oklahoma City area near Bricktown.

The festival's creators, Justan and Jayson Floyd, named deadCENTER after Oklahoma's geographical position in the United States as a hub for films from both coasts, according to the Web site.

Several OU students entered films in the festival alongside other critically acclaimed independent films from as far away as California and Great Britain.

Lane Savage, film and video studies 2006 graduate, directed "Me & Ruby Sue" for a film and video studies class before he graduated.

"Me & Ruby Sue" is a short film that tells the inner thoughts of a man who is stood-up by his girlfriend and drives around town to confront her.

Chad Graham, fine arts senior, plays the dejected boyfriend who narrates all of his actions from the point that he arrives at the girl's house in a tuxedo.

"She won't be able to resist you. So cute in your little bow tie," said Graham as he walks up to his girlfriend's front door in the film.

Savage said the festival gives exposure to his film and will help the film get into other festivals.

"I think they've got it going on," Savage said. "They did a really good job with it."

The festival screened Savage's short on Friday with several others called "Okie Shorts."

Along with movie screenings, the festival included several social events where directors can meet and discuss with other directors from around the country.

"It gets you quite a bit of exposure," Savage said.

The festival has grown over the last six years from small audiences to sold-out crowds, Savage said.

"It's just going to get bigger," Savage said.

Kim Haywood, programming co-chairperson for deadCENTER, said the festival expanded to eight different venues this year and changed to five days.

"It just continues to grow, and we have to accommodate that in the future," Haywood said.

The deadCENTER organization is planning a monthly feature screening at Harkins Bricktown Cinemas of various independent films, Haywood said.

"We hope to continue to have a platform for films in Oklahoma City," Haywood said.

The box office revenue from the annual festival all goes into making the next year's festival bigger and better, Haywood said.

As the festival gets bigger, its following has grown as well, Haywood said.

"The coolest thing is we have people come back every year," Haywood said. "We had a gentleman fly from Houston to see one film."

Haywood said the student films this year were excellent.

"Showing Oklahoma films alongside national and international films brings it all together," Haywood said. "We love filmmakers, and we love Oklahoma."
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