deadCenter University Educator Workshop at Oklahoma City University
The 2025 deadCenter University Educator Workshop at Oklahoma City University was a free, two-day professional development event held June 6–7 for Oklahoma K–12 teachers interested in media arts education. Led by OCU Film Chair Bryan Cardinale-Powell and Billy Palumbo, the workshop provided hands-on training aligned with Oklahoma’s new media arts standards. Participants explored practical classroom strategies, networked with peers, and earned a state-approved media arts micro-credential to support film and media curriculum in their schools.
EDUCATORS WORKSHOP @ OCU
Bryan Cardinale-Powell is a teacher, filmmaker, and photographer. His professional experience includes working at Panavision-Chicago and as a freelance producer, writer, editor, and cameraperson based out of Atlanta, where he won a Southeast Region Emmy Award. He is currently Associate Professor and Chair of Film at Oklahoma City University. His film interests include American independent cinema and personal documentary, and his writing is included in Devised and Directed by Mike Leigh, a collection of essays on the British director’s work that Bryan co-edited with Marc DiPaolo.
Billy Palumbo is an experimental filmmaker and the director of the Oklahoma City University film department’s Wide Open Experimental Film Festival. Through unpredictable camera movement and abstracted imagery, his work explores the dizzying impermanence of moving images. His films, including “All Clear,” “Curley: A Historiophoty by Billy Palumbo,” and “Bound,” have screened and won awards at festivals internationally. Billy holds a BA and MFA from Emerson College. To learn more about Billy's work, visit billypalumbo.com.
Victor Caballero is an award-winning producer and director of independent films. His latest film, “Seeker,” has won Best Thriller and Best Directing awards at regional film festivals.
One of Victor’s passions is teaching students the art of cinema. Since 2017, he has provided hands-on filmmaking experience through the OKCine Latino Film Institute, where each student has the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and tools needed to become filmmakers. Since taking the lead in deadCenter’s education programming in August 2023, Victor has brought dC’s Statewide Education Tour to more than 14,000 students, giving them an introduction to filmmaking and a workforce development experience tol help them gauge their interest in a film career.
Jóvenes Latinos Emprendedores Profesionales recently named Victor to its list of 20 Under 40 young Latino Entrepreneurs and Professionals, and he will receive the Bare Bones International Film Festival’s Trailblazer Award in early May.
