Although plans for The Black Keys to launch their North American tour in Tulsa have been upended, music fans now can make plans to see the new documentary about the six-time Grammy-winning rock duo for free in Oklahoma City.
The rock documentary "This Is a Film About the Black Keys" will have its Oklahoma premiere in June as part of OKC's deadCenter Film Festival, after making its world premiere in March at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas.
"(Director) Jeff Dupre is an alumni of our festival ... and he's also a great documentarian," deadCenter Film Director of Programming Sunrise Tippeconnie told The Oklahoman.
"It was very exciting to see the premiere at South by Southwest. ... And Jeff's very excited to have an Oklahoma premiere for it at deadCenter."
A celebration of independent film, the 24th Annual deadCenter Film Festival is set for June 6-9 in downtown OKC, with screenings at Harkins Bricktown 16, Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Rodeo Cinema Film Row, Scissortail Park and the new dC Hub at the Fordson Hotel (formerly 21c Museum Hotel). Passes for the fest are on sale for $200 at deadcenterfilm.org.
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"This Is a Film About the Black Keys" will screen for free at 8:30 p.m. June 8 in Scissortail Park as part of the state's largest film festival's popular "On the Lawn" offering.
Just before The Black Keys documentary, deadCenter Film Fest will show at Scissortail Park a special sneak-peek of the upcoming made-in-Oklahoma movie "Twisters," a big-budget tentpole release due in theaters July 19.
"It'll be great to see Oklahoma (in that) and support the large studio films have been shot here," Tippeconnie said.
What can film and music fans expect from the new Black Keys documentary coming to OKC?
"This Is a Film About The Black Keys" traces the journey of the duo — singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney — from a jam session in a basem*nt in Akron, Ohio, to rock ’n’ roll stardom. The pair barely knew each other when they made their first recordings, yet quickly realized they shared a powerful musical connection and a drive to succeed.
Touring relentlessly for 10 years, the duo navigated the highs and lows of life on the road, finally reaching escape velocity with their hit records "Brothers" and "El Camino." As so many forces have threatened to pull them apart, the band has managed to stick together for 24 years.
"With The Black Keys film, we do spend time with the two musicians, Pat and Dan, and it really feels like you're in the room with them," Tippeconnie said.
The Black Keys released their 12th studio album, "Ohio Players," April 5 via Nonesuch Records.
The duo was set to launch in September at Tulsa's BOK Center a 31-city North American arena tour in support of the new album. But The Black Keys canceled the tour and revealed over Memorial Day weekend plans to change their tour plans to a more intimate experience and announce a revised set of dates shortly.
Outdoor film screenings in one of OKC's parks have long been a beloved tradition at the deadCenter Film Festival, and rock docs like "It’s Only Life After All," about the Indigo Girls, "Getting It Back: The Cymande Story" and "Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)," which went on to a win the best documentary feature Oscar, have been especially popular programming picks for the "On the Lawn" screenings.
"It's been a staple of deadCenter. ... With the music, you can hear it from afar. You don't necessarily need to see the picture. And it gets people moving, and obviously out in the grass, it's easier to do that than in a theater," Tippeconnie said.
Dupre, the director of "This Is a Film About The Black Keys," previously showed his short documentary "Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace," about the trailblazing African American painter, at the 2014 deadCenter Film Festival.
Where in Oklahoma did the upcoming movie 'Twisters' film?
Before the highly anticipated made-in-Oklahoma movie “Twisters” is unleashed in theaters this summer, an exclusive sneak peek will be shown at deadCenter Film Fest's June 8 "On the Lawn" screening.
A "new chapter" for, rather than a true sequel to, the 1996 blockbuster "Twister," which also filmed in Oklahoma, "Twisters" will be distributed by Universal Pictures domestically and by Warner Bros. Pictures internationally.
Directed by Lee Isaac Chung, who filmed his Academy Award-winning semi-autobiographical immigrant drama "Minari" in the Tulsa area in 2019, "Twisters" stars Golden Globe nominees Daisy Edgar-Jones ("Where the Crawdads Sing," "Normal People") and Glen Powell ("Anyone But You," "Top Gun: Maverick") as opposing forces who come together to try to predict — and possibly tame — the immense power of tornadoes.
Edgar-Jones stars as Kate Cooper, a former storm chaser haunted by a devastating encounter with a tornado during her college years who now studies storm patterns on screens safely in New York City. She is lured back to the open plains by her friend, Javi (Golden Globe nominee Anthony Ramos, "In the Heights") to test a groundbreaking new tracking system.
There, she crosses paths with Tyler Owens (Powell, leaning into his Texas roots), a charming and reckless social media superstar who thrives on posting his storm-chasing adventures with his raucous crew — the more dangerous the better.
As storm season intensifies, terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed, and Kate, Tyler and their competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives.
With an estimated budget of $200 million, principal photography on "Twisters" got underway in Oklahoma City on May 8, 2023.
Throughout 60 days of principal photography, "Twisters" engaged with multiple communities statewide, including El Reno, Chickasha, Midwest City, Spencer, Kingfisher, Calumet, Hinton, Fairview, Okarche, Kremlin, Burbank and Pawhuska.
"That'll be showcasing a very significant portion of Oklahoma," said Dylan Brodie, a Tulsa-based producer and production manager who worked on "Minari" and has been named a 2024 deadCenter Oklahoma Film Icon.
"Eyes all over the world are going to be able to see Oklahoma, because that'll be rolling out everywhere."
2024 DEADCENTER FILM FESTIVAL
- When: June 6-9.
- Where: Multiple venues in downtown Oklahoma City.
- Schedule: https://dcff.eventive.org/schedule.
- Tickets and information: https://deadcenterfilm.org.
