Tulsa’s Circle Cinema Film Fest features Oklahoma films

Midweek update: Samantha Isler and Joe Sears to be added to Walk of Fame

Circle Cinema Film Fest will celebrate films by, in, and for Oklahomans from July 11-15. Many film screenings and events have sold out, but free events are available, and some individual screening tickets remain. 

Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone, who was nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for her role in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” is set to appear at the festival to discuss the documentary “Bring Them Home.” Gladstone served as executive producer and narrator of the film, which focuses on the efforts of the Blackfoot people to re-establish a buffalo herd on their ancestral home. The event and following Q&A is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday. 

According to Circle Cinema, Screen 1 initial tickets are currently sold out, but screen 2 with simulcast will go on sale soon at https://www.circlecinema.org/movies-events/bring-them-home. 

Free events taking place at the festival include: 

4 p.m. Thursday: Festival Kickoff and Walk of Fame Poster Unveiling in the lobby

Reception and unveiling of posters featuring Oklahomans who have impacted the film industry. 

5 p.m. Friday: Vagabond from This Land Press

Gaylord Oscar Herron is author of the 1975 photography book “Vagabond,”  This documentary, directed by Matt Leach and Sterlin Harjo, will introduce you to the man and his work. “Vagabond” is a  semi-autobiographical book that contains photographs, paintings, prose, and drawings from a Tulsa gone by. 

Noon Monday, July 15: Walk of Fame reception with Samantha Isler & Joe Sears + Circle's 96th Birthday

Samantha Isler and Joe Sears will have their concrete medallions added to the Walk of Fame on the east sidewalk of Circle Cinema. 

Sears, born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, is the co-star and co-creator of four wildly popular plays set in the fictional, third-smallest city in Texas – "Greater Tuna" and "A Tuna Christmas" among them. According to his bio at circlecinema.org, Sears toured extensively with the Tuna stories for 32 years.

The Tulsa-born Isler starred in “Captain Fantastic” and “Molly’s Game,” and appeared in the series “Supernatural.” 

Isler’s latest film, “Breakup Season,” follows a young man bringing his girlfriend to his rural Oregon hometown for Christmas to meet his family, only for things to go terribly wrong upon arrival.

The Oklahoma Premiere of the film will be next week at 7 p.m. July 15 at the Circle Cinema Film Festival in Tulsa.

Another film of interest debuting at Circle Cinema Film Fest is “Just the Janitor,” a 25-minute dramatic crime thriller created by an all-Oklahoma cast and crew and filmed exclusively in the Oklahoma City metro. It will debut at the Circle Cinema Film Festival on July 13.

“Just the Janitor” is a short film written and directed by Tulsa native Sterling Gates. Gates is an award-winning screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on “The Flash” television series and “Supergirl” comic books and graphic novels. I worked with Sterling when he co-wrote and produced “The Posthuman Project,” an independent film that won “Best Oklahoma Film” at the DeadCenter Film Festival in 2014.

“Just the Janitor” stars PJ Sosko, of Tulsa, from HBO’s “The Girls on the Bus.” In “Just the Janitor,” Sosko portrays Harold Miller, a former mob henchman attempting to leave behind his life of crime as an elementary school janitor. But tensions rise when a figure from his past seeks him out. 

“Just the Janitor” will be featured in the Long Form Short Films block of the festival beginning July 13. Tickets are $11 for members and $13 for non-members. Gates will be among the filmmakers introducing the films. The film also stars James Austin Kerr (“Reagan”), Jamie Perez (“We Can Be Heroes”), Bruce Davis (“Out of Exile”), Ethan Fletcher Daly and Mia Gonzalez.

According to Circle Cinema, tickets for sold-out programs may become available the day of the show. We will have wait list lines in the lobby, and if there are any open seats after pass holders have been admitted, Circle will sell tickets to the wait line in order.

For more information about the festival, visit https://www.circlecinema.org/ccff

Matthew Price, matthew@matthewlprice.com, has written about comics, film, and other entertainment topics for more than two decades. He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman, Oklahoma.