The Bare Bones International Film and Music Festival was founded in 1999 by the Darkwood Film Arts Institute in the city of Muskogee, Oklahoma, United States to showcase independent motion picture projects with budgets of less than 1 million dollars (hence "bare bones"). The festival runs for eleven days each year in late April at several venues in downtown Muskogee.^[1]

MovieMaker Magazine called Bare Bones a "small-town festival that celebrates indie auteurs, directors, screenwriters, actors and cinematographers in a big way."^[2] In 2010, MovieMaker named Bare Bones to its list of 25 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.^[3]