The feature length movie “Reverence” was film in Chandler in late 2023 and is the first feature to be screened at the 2025 deadCenter Film Festival in Oklahoma City.
An Oklahoma movie is getting its big screen debut. Officially.
“Reverence,” a thriller filmed in Chandler from November to December 2023, will be featured at the deadCenterFilmFestivalin Oklahoma City, where it is having its world premiere as well as getting a premier spot on opening night.
“deadCenter is a real, major league festival,” said Jacob Snovel, a Chandler grad and producer with SafeHouse Films who helped bring “Reverence” to the area and to life. “They gave us a primetime slot, something they’ve never done before… they’re playing our feature film by itself, as far as there’s no other competing event… And so it’s a true opening of the festival.”
The film will be in the biggest theater, which is exciting.
“I think it speaks to what we were able to accomplish with the film,” he said, hoping thismeans“Reverence” will walk away with some awards. deadCenter is the state’s largest and only Oscarqualifying fest, according to its website. This year, the festival started by filmmakers is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
One of the stars of “Reverence” will be receiving an accolade at the festival. Adam Hampton, who played haunted and determined father Shannon Sadler, was selected to receive an Oklahoma Film Icon Award. The awards are given to Oklahomans whose entertainment success has elevated the global perception of Oklahoma in films and TV. Hampton, a Dale graduate, was selected as the first winner of the Kinolime.com’s screenwriting contest in September 2024 and will see his screenplay “The Waif” get a full budget and made into a film.
Other winners for this year are filmmaker and Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, actor Hayley McFarland and documentarian Amy Scott. OKC Mayor David Holt will receive the Oklahoma Community Icon Award. Past winners include Hollywood stars like James Marsden, Emmy-winner AlfreWoodardandEmmynominated filmmaker and showrunner Sterlin Harjo.
This is the first festival run for “Reverence,” Snovel said, and hopefully the last. The plan is to get a theatrical run. And it’s certainly what he was imagining Photo/SafeHouse Films when filming wrapped up at the end of 2023.
“Another part of what I loved about making the film is I was able to really do everything that I have wanted to do. I could design this entire project to hit all the objectives that I needed it to hit,” he said.
He said it brought the community together, while director and writer Kyle Kauwika Harris was able to tell another crime thriller with local actors so they didn’t have to wait around forHollywoodtogivethem money.
“We could just go do it, get it done, and then we want to own deadCenter and we want to show it in our hometown and we want to then let it go off into the world in a major way,” Snovel said.
The festival is a “nice little half-time break” from making movies, he added. The producer said it’s a great networking festival, so they’ll see what connections they make and who else is ready to make a movie in Oklahoma. Snovel and Harris both have projects in the works - together and separately.
“Our main focus is going to be getting those projects off the ground, but this time with some real power behind it. So we’ll walk in with some bigger names now with, you know, with the strides we’ve made with these movies,” Snovel said. “I think it’s just a great way to kind of give it a good send-off and then refocus and try and get the bigger movies and then do it all again.”
“Reverence” tells the story of the chaotic aftermath of a teen girl going missing, as her father, a traumatized vet, and an earnest detective set out on their own, separate missions to find her.
It will play on June 11 at 9 p.m. at the Harkins 16 Theatre in Bricktown. deadCenter Festival runs from June 11 to 15 in venues around Oklahoma City. Festival passes can be purchased on its website at deadcenterfilm.org. Individual tickets are available onsite starting 20 minutes before the screening, once VIP and deadCenter passholders are seated.