Kudos
The Oklahoma Film Critics Circle, of which I used to be a member, has awarded its annual Tilghman award this year to two Oklahomans: Brian Hearn, Oklahoma City Museum of Art film program curator, and Clark Wiens, president of the nonprofit foundation that operates the Circle Cinema in Tulsa. I don’t know Clark Wiens, but I do know Brian Hearn; I was thrilled to hear the OFCC had given him this award, and I had to give him a few props here.
Brian, both in his capacity as the film program curator for the museum and in his work for the deadCenter Film Festival, has done more to bring independent film to Oklahoma City in the past 14 years than just about anyone I know. It is largely because of him that people in my hometown have access every year now to hundreds of screenings, and in large part due to his contribution that deadCenter Film Festival is growing each year. When Brian and I were growing up in Oklahoma City, our access to independent and foreign films was practically non-existent. Today, because of him, young people interested in film have a place to explore it.
While I write about and critique the work that other people do, Brian is out there finding ways to showcase that work, to bring great films to our hometown. And if you believe, as I do, that art in general and film in particular can help shape a culture, then the work he’s doing is incalculably important to the culture of Oklahoma City and the people who live there. I’m humbled by his contribution, and thank him for doing what he does. Congrats to both Brian and Clark, and to OFCC for recognizing the hard work of the folks who help bring the films to the people.
(Full press release after the jump …)
Oklahoma Film Critics Circle presents award
to two promoting independent, art films in state
Oklahoma City — The Oklahoma Film Critics Circle has honored two Oklahomans with its 2009 Tilghman Award celebrating achievement in cinema in the state. The recipients are Brian Hearn, Oklahoma City Museum of Art film program curator; and Clark Wiens, president of the nonprofit foundation that operates the Circle Cinema in Tulsa.
OFCC’s 18 member critics choose as recipients of the award those individuals who have made significant contributions to film, advanced awareness of film in Oklahoma or highlighted Oklahoma as the home of talented and productive filmmakers, actors and others in the industry. This is the second Tilghman Award OFCC has bestowed; the first went to documentary filmmaker Bradley Beesley, whose credits include “Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo,” “Okie Noodling” and “The Fearless Freaks: The Wildly Improbable Story of The Flaming Lips.”
OFCC president Phil Bacharach said both Hearn and Wiens have been instrumental in bringing certain movies to Oklahoma that otherwise likely would not be shown.
“Oklahoma movie fans owe a great debt to these two individuals behind Circle Cinema and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s film program for their commitment to showing documentary, art-house, independent and foreign motion pictures that otherwise might well bypass the state altogether,” he said. “Oklahoma’s thriving and vibrant film community is deeply enriched as a result of the drive, energy and talents of Brian Hearn and Clark Wiens.”
Hearn, an Oklahoma City native, has been film curator of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art since 1995. Under his stewardship, the museum’s film program has grown to exhibit more than 300 screenings annually. In 2006, it was recognized as one of the founding members of the Sundance Institute Art House Project, a network of mission-driven, community-based cinemas.
Screenings at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art have included such illustrious guest speakers as Robert Redford, Janet Leigh, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Horton Foote and Flaming Lips lead singer Wayne Coyne.
Hearn said he is humbled by the honor.
“It’s an honor to share the Tilghman Award with our sister cinema in Tulsa, which is equally committed to building audiences and cultivating community for cinema lovers in Oklahoma,” he said. “I would like to thank philanthropist Jeanne Hoffman Smith, and former museum director Carolyn Hill, for their continuous support of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art film program.”
In addition to booking films, Hearn has developed curricula and taught film courses at the University of Oklahoma, University of Central Oklahoma and the Museum School. He is also a programmer and board member for the deadCENTER Film Festival and an advisory board member of the Circle Cinema.
Wiens is president of the Circle Cinema Foundation, which operates Tulsa’s last remaining neighborhood theater, the Circle Cinema. In 2003, the foundation purchased the theater and began extensive renovations on the facility, which is located in Tulsa’s historic Whittier Square.
The new Circle Cinema opened its first phase in 2004 and provides Tulsa moviegoers the latest independent, documentary and educational film, as well as film-related special events. It is celebrating its 81th anniversary this summer.
Wiens, who owns and operates Cedar Creek Wholesale Lumber Inc., said movies have always been a huge part of his life. During World War II, his family lived in California. There, he said, his father would gather farmers to show them wartime films, inspiring them to work harder to grow more crops for the soldiers.
“My father said films are so powerful that the farmers would go out with their flashlights and start plowing after the showings,” Wiens said. “He would pound that into our heads, the power of films.”
Wiens, who lives in Tulsa, said he was flattered to receive the Tilghman Award.
“There are certainly people who know more about film than me,” he said. “I don’t want to take personal credit, but I do want to accept it on behalf of all those who have worked so hard to make the Circle Cinema such a special place.”
The Tilghman Award is named for William Matthew “Bill” Tilghman (1854-1924), the subject of the 1999 film “You Know My Name,” starring Sam Elliott. Tilghman was the first individual to make a movie in what is now Oklahoma. He served as a deputy U.S. marshal and police chief in Oklahoma City, among other law-related positions. Tilghman also served as a state senator. In 1908, he made “A Bank Robbery,” which starred real-life bank robber Al Jennings recreating one of his crimes.
It was the first of several movies Tilghman set in the state. In 1915, the lawman-turned-filmmaker made “Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws,” again starring actual bad guys and the good guys who chased them. He is known for his attempts to deglamorize the outlaw villain and for striving to prove there are no outlaw heroes.
