This pillar of the DFW cinema scene was first founded in 2012 and has since helped to make Dallas a film destination that houses an amalgam of genres, ranging from classic films to buzzy new indie releases dominating the film festival circuit.
The 2025 iteration, which runs from June 26-29, will spread across various Oak Cliff exhibition centers for a deft showcase of cinema's endless versatility as an art form.
This year, the festival is taking aim at the threat of artificial intelligence (AI) plaguing the modern film industry. Specifically, the horrors of generative AI have loomed large over art as corporations threaten to remove the human element from movies, TV shows and other forms of artistic expression. Thus, the Oak Cliff Film Festival’s 2025 theme is “Real Movies for Real Human People.”
According to the festival's website, "The films themselves encourage a real, honest, self-excavation of the human experience." Of course, that statement is punctuated by images featuring stiff mannequins and a Twizzler-chomping skeleton watching movies and manning a concession stand.
The festival just released its 2025 lineup, so we've put together a primer on what to expect. Besides, wouldn't you rather spend your summer watching something off-kilter, albeit engaging, rather than succumbing to the disappointment of an algorithm's uninspired streaming suggestion?
The festival opens on June 26 with productions like Sesame Street-adjacent documentary Street Smart: Lessons from a TV Icon and the horror film OBEX, both of which will screen in the different Texas Theatre auditoriums.
Starting June 27, festival screenings will expand to other locations, such as the Bishop Arts Theater Center. Showings lined up for day 2 of the festival include a series of Texas Student Shorts, a special ode to 1940s experimental filmmaker Maya Deren and fresh indie films like Lockjaw.
As has been the case in years past, Saturday is the marquee of the festival, with events stretching from the morning to late into the night. Among the June 28 screenings are Marc Maron's documentary Are We Good? (which is making its Dallas premiere after a SXSW debut in March), Coroner to the Stars, and Natchez, which will first screen at the Tribeca Film Festival. Saturday's events also include a free workshop from Austin Film Society at the Oak Cliff Cultural Center, followed by a free Women in Filmmaking presentation.
On June 29, the festival closes with another day of eclectic, can't-miss movies. A standout among the schedule is Videoheaven, a three-hour ode to video rental stores from prolific filmmaker Alex Ross Perry. Other projects screening on the final day include the queer documentary A Body to Live In, a special director's cut of the 2001 cult classic Gypsy 83 and the Texas premiere of the indie film Messy, which John Waters named his fifth favorite movie of 2024.
This year's OCFF programming is certainly a varied combination of movies from all around the world, with an even more artsy tilt than last year’s selection. The 2024 Oak Cliff Film Festival featured major summer indies that had long secured major distribution deals, such as Between the Temples, Kneecap, and Janet Planet. Meanwhile, 2025’s roster emphasizes more obscure and experimental titles, many of which don’t have proper distribution or further release plans solidified yet.
Moreover, the shift between last year and this summer seems like a clever way to combat American culture’s artistic lethargy, especially as companies are now priding themselves on churning out AI material devoid of any humanity. Whether this was the intent of OCFF's programmers or not, it's true to theme, as this year’s festival slate seems to refute a culture that is normalizing hackneyed entities and other harmful technological phenomena.
Above all, the festival is beckoning viewers through film as we navigate an eerie and challenging time for artists.
You can see the full details of the 2025 Oak Cliff Film Festival programming lineup here.
