#NDHRFF19 Welcomes Oscar De Leon as Co-Chair

The North Dakota Human Rights Film Festival welcomes filmmaker Oscar De Leon as the Co-Chair of the 2019 festival. An advocate for social justice and an experienced narrative and documentary filmmaker, De Leon will work to bring the most diverse and impactful human rights programming to the festival’s screenings in Bismarck, Grand Forks, and Fargo.

De Leon was raised in Fargo, ND and fell in love with film at a young age. A completely independent filmmaker, he has been working to fulfill his dream of directing a major motion picture for over ten years. Oscar has previously produced the documentary short film “The New Direction,“ which captures the story of a DIY Music Venue in Fargo, North Dakota that shut down ultimately due to gentrification. The film is the story of the people who made it home. His most recent work, “Eviction,” an experimental narrative short described as a meditative piece on atmosphere and mood, premiered on Twitch in July of 2018 and won the opening night Festival Director Favorite Intertoto Award at the 2018 Videodrunk Film Festival. De Leon is also co-owner of the Fargo-based Chamber Six Media, a multi-disciplined media group producing personal and industrial works on digital formats.

De Leon also works as a freelance writer and has crafted a collection of stories for the High Plains Reader and the online forum the Skrive. As with his films, De Leon’s written works engage the idological questions about humanity and history in the face of change and challenge.

“Oscar represents the best of this festival,” said Sean Coffman, Executive Director of the Human Family and Co-Chair for #NDHRFF19. “His approach to storytelling, his passion for human rights and social justice, and his commitment to engaging his community and crafting positive change make him a perfect organizer for the festival. We’re thrilled to have him join us.”

The mission of the North Dakota Human Rights Film Festival is to educate, engage and facilitate discussion around local and worldwide human-rights topics through the work of filmmakers and artists. The official dates for the 2019 festival are: Oct. 29 in Bismarck at the Heritage Center; Nov. 5 in Grand Forks at the Empire Arts Center; and Nov. 7-8 at the Fargo Theatre.

The festival encourages filmmakers and artist who have work that engage human rights related topics or themes to participate in the festival. Films from both new and established filmmakers and artist will be presented. Works for both the film and art festivals will be selected via Jury, with equal concentration on human rights content and artistic merit. Filmmakers may submit their work via FilmFreeway through August 31, 2019.

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