Photography by Jessica Turner
Clockwise: Lauren Alberque, submissions coordinator; Andrea Jameson, volunteer coordinator; Brianna Brasher, box office manager; Rebekah Webb, assistant volunteer coordinator.
“The Oak Cliff Film Festival has grown substantially over the past few years, but we have maintained our mission of celebrating and championing brave and independent filmmaking, while cultivating a film community in our unique neighborhood of Oak Cliff,” festival co-director Ashton Campbell says.
The Oak Cliff Film Festival, which took place in late June this year, is a program of the nonprofit Oak Cliff Film Society, and the event draws in theaters, venues and businesses. Behind the scenes, there are many creative women who help make the festival possible, including submissions coordinator Lauren Alberque, who has a special affection for Oak Cliff.
“The Oak Cliff neighborhood has a rich, authentic and unapologetic culture — a distinct voice in the DFW metroplex,” Alberque says. “OCFF aims to celebrate that unabashed commitment to community, the arts and the underdog. Keep Oak Cliff weird!”
Festival coordinator Emily Edwards has a bachelor’s degree in radio, TV and film from the University of North Texas and has worked as a producer with major networks like Netflix, TLC and A&E. Edwards takes inspiration from fun female leads like Elvira, Mistress of the Dark as well as Lucille Ball and Julia Child.
Edwards points out that back in 2011, there was a need to create a space where local storytellers could connect with their audiences. Oak Cliff had that creative and community-grown space to offer.
“Fourteen years later and this community is alive and vibrant,” she says.
Edwards wants to expand on the festival’s educational programs and push for year-long programming. She acknowledges that managing a festival can be exhausting because of all the moving parts.
“As stressful as it can be, there’s nothing better than making it to closing night and hearing filmmakers and festival goers tell us how much they enjoyed themselves and thanking us for our hard work while we celebrate another successful year in the books,” she says before pausing. “Scratch that. The only thing better than that is seeing repeat volunteers that keep coming back year after year to help us put on this amazing festival.”
Edwards loves hearing feedback about how accessible the festival is, making it a more personal experience for filmmakers and audiences. The festival also gives back locally. OCFF embraces local businesses and sponsors, tying together the entire community. Through the OCFF, the organization brings in local musicians and artists, highlights the area’s history and offers free student filmmaking workshops that open the doors to youth learning about filmmaking. Some of them even get to screen their films at the festival.
Submissions embrace all cultures, genres and stories making special memories while opening minds. Edwards lights up to reveal, “One of my favorite memories was back in 2023, we had a high school Mariachi band come perform ahead of our opening night documentary Going Varsity in Mariachi. You could feel the excitement in the room as they paraded up the aisles to the front of the stage.”
With filmmakers from all over the world and submissions increasing every year, Alberque has her work cut out for her. She just joined the team last year after co-hosting Dallas Home Movie Day when she met festival co-director and co-founder Barak Epstein at The Texas Theatre and decided that getting involved was how she could contribute to the film community in Dallas.
Alberque, who holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in cinematography from Columbia College and a master’s degree in library science from UNT, is passionate about film production and preservation. She has played a part in preservation projects in museums from Dallas to Chicago. She also co-hosts the yearly Dallas Home Movie Day.
With such a love for film and so many delicious treats in the festival submissions, it can be brutal to slim down the list of films that will be shown.
“There is a delicate balance between knowing your own taste and what plays well to your audience. I also consider the storytellers — are these stories that we don’t often hear or have exposure to? New voices from different parts of our community?” Alberque says. “Do these films further the diverse and multifaceted universe of cinema? Of course, on a more literal and deliberate level — polished, clear and often vulnerable visions. This doesn’t mean a big budget and a recognizable name, but work that is intentional and genuine in its storytelling.”
As submission trends change, so has the gallery of films. Some fads fade fast, but one welcome evolution seen at the festival is the booming number of submissions by female filmmakers. The festival is seeing more and more female filmmakers and youth filmmakers as obstacles and access have changed throughout the years. That sentiment was repeated by Chelsie Pennello, a Washington, D.C. filmmaker who enjoys unexpected characters and a theme of grace. Her work has been featured at Tribeca and other festivals. Pennello is also a recipient of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities 2024 and 2025 Fellowship.
“My short film, Mandarins, played at OCFF 2023. It was a truly magical experience that I would not shut up about to all my filmmaker friends afterwards,” Pennello says. “The warmth of the community at Oak Cliff and their top notch programming (shoutout to Going Varsity in Mariachi) made me want to come back year after year.” Not only that, but Pennello was equally as enthusiastic about the punk show held behind the theater screen between films.
She is excited to have her dark comedy short, Cherry-Colored Funk, playing at the OCFF this year. Pennello is currently working on her first feature film. And so many of the submissions recently are from local talent.
“It’s awesome to see such high-caliber work coming out of DFW,” Alberque says. “This was a record-breaking year for submissions; it’s great to see such an active community of filmmakers, but it definitely makes it that much harder to only select a handful of films.”
OCFF is about the films, but it’s also about the people. Campbell is most satisfied seeing the festival bringing people together in a way that is appreciative and inspiring, a mood that makes you want to go on to create.
“Most importantly, we have always been about bringing people together, and that continues to be the heartbeat of the festival,” Campbell says.
That is the intent of the festival to support, inspire and bring together filmmakers, audiences and art. Campbell says that when the festival is in full swing, “the love, excitement and camaraderie is palpable.”
As it should be.
