These Movies Stole the Show at the 2025 Oak Cliff Film Festival

The 2025 Oak Cliff Film Festival (OCFF) once again delivered an eclectic slate of boundary-pushing films, maintaining its singular place in North Texas' cultural landscape.

One of the great pleasures of OCFF is getting to immerse yourself in an environment where film lovers and filmmakers can rub shoulders with one another as the festival takes on a role of the great equalizer. The annual event allows artists to engage directly with audiences through Q&As, while at the Texas Theatre bar, or in the Wellness Lounge at Oak Cliff Cultural Center. The VIP lounge, located on the Texas Theatre’s second floor, was almost always packed with guests, dissecting or rhapsodizing whatever they had just seen, and figuring out which screening to catch next.

On opening night, OCFF delivered two disparate cinematic experiences at the Texas Theatre to set this year's tone. First, Street Smart: Lessons from a TV Icon told the story of Sonia Manzano, the first Latina in a regular role on American television. Street Smart was followed by OBEX, a black and white film drawing visual inspiration from video games, a dog and cicadas (yes, really), that played to a packed house.

“We got a dog, and I just had this…urge to do something with her, you know, like film her, and kind of create a story around her,” says OBEX director and star, Albert Birney. “I think a big thing that just kind of led the way on this one was just the joy of making things with your friends and not knowing where you’re going to end up, but just knowing that the journey there was going to be a good time.”

Birney is an alumnus, having previously featured Strawberry Mansion, a film he co-directed in 2021. For him, the chance to see his work on the big screens of the Texas Theatre is what makes the weekend so special.

“The Texas Theatre is so beautiful, and it just feels good to be there to show your film,” he says. “There’s just…something so nice about a theater that feels so historic, and you can tell that it really cares about…cinema and movies… It’s just a holy place, and I feel like those are more and more rare to find.”

The rest of the weekend was a whirlwind of movie premieres and ancillary events for the festival, as attendees bounced between the various neighborhood venues.

The buzziest film of OCFF 2025 was Fucktoys, a feature billed as “a campy romp that explores the intersection of intimacy, exploitation and a class in a pre-millenium alternate universe.” Its Saturday night screening was completely sold out — a sea of people had lined up for a chance to catch the 16mm-shot feature, but only a lucky few made it through. It was easy to figure out who the chosen were later, as nearly any conversation about the festival’s best features quickly turned to Fucktoys whenever anyone who saw it was on hand.

Coroner to the Stars, another Saturday screening, was also well-received by its audience. The documentary follows Dr. Thomas Noguchi, Los Angeles County’s former chief medical examiner-coroner, who conducted the autopsies of several high-profile individuals, including Marilyn Monroe, Robert F. Kennedy, Sharon Tate and Natalie Wood. It tells the story of a Japanese American man who courted controversy in a highly public position, fighting the establishment’s desire for him to soft-pedal “scandalous” results from his autopsies of the rich and famous.

Co-director Ben Hethcoat says Coroner to the Stars appealed to him because his father was a coroner. He spoke of the “great sacrifice” these public servants make, and his goal to present Noguchi’s story fairly. Hethcoat says the project took around a decade to complete, and the first few years were mostly spent convincing Noguchi that they wanted to help him tell his story, not embroil him in controversy.

The film’s OCFF screening was its first outside of California, and Hethcoat was excited to bring it to Dallas, in part because of Noguchi’s ties to the Kennedy family.

“There’s a real significance in screening this film here in Dallas,” Hethcoat says. “Dr. Noguchi performed the autopsy of Robert Kennedy, and in so doing, he was adamant…that there wouldn’t be the same mistakes that were done with [the] JFK autopsy, where they had spirited the body away from Dallas to D.C. to perform the autopsy, and in so doing, they really compromised the integrity of that investigation.”

At this year's festival, big things also came in smaller packages, as short films were a major fixation among attendees.

Filmmaker Lindsay Nyman, whose debut short They Call Me the Tattoo Witch played Sunday, says OCFF is undisputably a “filmmaker’s festival,” which gives it a unique feel.


Nyman’s short tells the story of a Vietnamese tattoo artist named Tran Ngoc who specializes in tattooing over scars. Ngoc turns pain into art, pushing back against a Vietnamese stigma toward tattoos, and Nyman crafted a beautiful 15-minute ode to that art, incorporating interviews with Ngoc’s clients.

“It’s not just…tattooing, it’s therapy, and it’s about healing,” says Nyman of her subject’s work.

There was also a lot to love in the Narrative Shorts division this year. Local filmmakers Kyle Montgomery and Judd Myers brought an off-kilter menace to bear in Reunion, a short about two former high school classmates who run into each other on a hike. Nuke, directed by Kelsea Bauman-Murphy and written by and starring Alli Brown, follows a struggling comedian who uses “the fallout of a nuclear missile alert to her advantage.” It received a special mention from the festival jury for writing and acting.

The final screening of the weekend came late Sunday, when director Todd Stephens unleashed the new 4K Director’s Cut of his 2001 cult classic, Gypsy 83, on audiences — running roughly 40 minutes longer than the theatrical cut, the new version allowed the film to breathe. Members of the cast and crew were in attendance for the premiere, adding to the celebratory atmosphere and closing OCFF out on a high note.

“Back in the day, an indie film had to be 90 minutes. There were pressures to keep it short, so a lot of [Gypsy 83] got cut out,” Stephens said of returning to the project after more than two decades. “I’m excited to finally show my original vision for what I wanted the film to be.”

Stephens previously screened his 2021 feature Swan Song at OCFF, so he was excited to give the premiere of his new cut of Gypsy 83 to familiar faces.

“I think the Oak Cliff Film Festival feels like a family,” he says. “You know, like you’re coming into a family of filmmakers. I’ve been to a lot of film festivals in my life, and it’s the one where filmmakers are most appreciated and looked after and taken care of and…made to feel good.”

A party followed the Gypsy 83 screening, with several attendees decked out in their finest goth attire. People filled the lobby of the Texas Theatre and the VIP lounge and even posted up on the sidewalk outside to trade notes on their highlights from the weekend.

As the lights of the 2025 Oak Cliff Film Festival weekend came on, one thing was clear: cinema has found a lasting, robust community in Dallas. One that embraced the oddities and sweetnesses of life, showing films that defied convention and could move you to tears. Even 14 years in, as the festival expands its influence, it remains true to itself as the people’s film festival.

If you missed the festival, you can check out some of the weekend's standouts below.

2025 OCFF Awards

Best Narrative Feature - No Sleep Till
Special Jury Mention - Fucktoys

Best Documentary Feature - Body to Live In
Jury Mention for Cinematography - Natchez

Best Narrative Short - She Raised Me
Just Mention for Acting and Writing - Nuke

Best Documentary Short - El Casco de Carlos
Special Jury Tie - Meet the Noisemakers & The Shift

Best Student Short - Taking It To the Streets

Special Jury Mention (Cinematography) - Madawa
Special Jury Mention (Creative Animation) - See You At Home