Tallgrass Film Festival announced the first wave of film and events for its 21st annual Film Festival to be held October 5-8, in downtown Wichita, Kansas. The Festival will host more than 184 films for this 21st edition.
The films include the World Premiere of the feature film Stay at Conder Beach set in Louisiana and directed by Aaron Khandros as well as regional premieres of several Tribeca Film Festival favorites including Playland, Lost Soulz and Your Fat Friend. The closing night film Three Birthdays also serves as a regional premiere, directed by Jane Weinstock and stars Josh Radnor (“How I Met Your Mother”) and Annie Parisse (“National Treasure”).
The USA premiere of Liberty, a short made in Kansas, will also include visiting Tallgrass with star Jim Beaver (“Supernatural”). Another Kansas feature will have its USA Premiere at the Festival with Just Like You – Anxiety + Depression focused on mental health in these troubling times. Kansas native Jennifer Greenstreet directs the film. A panel discussion on mental health will also be highlighted at the Festival.
“It was another year of incredible submissions and tough decisions,” Short Film Programmer and Operations Manager Hannah Bothner said. “It’s an exciting time for short films and somehow the short films get better and better each year. We’ve created a unique and entertaining program that I cannot wait to show the world.”
Continued partnerships with the Orpheum Theatre, Temple Live (Scottish Rite), Exploration Place, the Advanced Learning Library (all downtown on 1st Street), and Ulrich Museum (on WSU campus) as host venues will be joined by WSU TECH: Niche (124 S. Broadway) as a new venue with a welcome return to the Wichita Art Museum (1400 Museum Blvd.) this year. The Festival is also partnering with the Prairie Fire Race Marathon on Sunday to support runners and to make for a lively downtown weekend.
Nationally, the Festival has focused on the important issues that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are raising and supporting the filmmakers during this time.
“We’ve carefully worked with SAG-AFTRA to ensure that we are supporting our artists during this time and have worked with films to get clearances needed to be still showcased during the strikes. We stand in solidarity and look forward to celebrating stubborn independence this October,” Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “Any SAG-AFTRA card members in Kansas can also receive complimentary passes or tickets if they reach out to us this year.”
Additional panels on the issues will be announced at a later date.
The head programmers and screeners combed over submissions from across the world for the past seven months with a record number of films from 70 countries.
“I’m very proud of this year’s program. We have a near-record number of world-premiere feature films which is always a nice addition to what the Festival offers,” Program Director Andre Seward said. “Another positive aspect is the number of films we have from new directors and artists from underrepresented communities. The selection this year perfectly reflects the quality and reputation of the Festival.”
Jake Euker Stubbornly Independent
In the Jake Euker Stubbornly Independent presented by The Cotillion category, films are expected to be under a $750,000 production budget and must be a domestic narrative feature. The winner will receive $5,000 and a Stubbornly Independent Tap Handle.
FREE TIME
Director: Ryan Martin Brown
Producers: Mackenzie Jamieson, Justin Zuckerman, Paula Andrea González-Nasser, Nolan Kelly
Kansas Premiere. RT: 78m/USA
Drew quits his job and then quickly decides he wants it back.
Ray (short) plays with FREE TIME
Director: Joe Lycett
RT: 6m/USA
A daft short film.
I Care About Your Mailbox (short) plays with FREE TIME
Director: Andres Gimenez
RT: 12m/USA
Everybody cares about something, I care about your mailbox.
LOST SOULZ
Director: Katherine Propper
Producers: Andres Figueredo Thomson, Juan Carlos Figueredo Thomson
Regional Premiere. RT: 96m/USA
A young rapper leaves everything behind and embarks on an odyssey of self-discovery, music and friendship in the heart of Texas.
Stuck (short) plays with LOST SOULZ
Director: Brittany Reeber
Kansas Premiere. RT: 10m/USA
Wanda, an introverted stoner, is roped into her roommates’ music video shoot when she finds a kindred spirit in a mouse stuck to a sticky pad.
PLAYLAND
Director: Georden West
Producers: Russell Sheaffer, Hannah McSwiggen, Danielle Cooper
Regional Premiere. RT: 72m/USA
Artist-filmmaker Georden West’s debut feature is an expressionist and very queer bricolage, focusing on an atemporal night in the renowned Playland Café.
Dogfriend (short) plays with PLAYLAND
Director: Maissa Lihedheb
Kansas Premiere. RT: 19m/Germany
A date takes an unexpected turn in this meditation on race, politics, and history in Germany.
This Is Concrete (short) plays with PLAYLAND
Director: Alice Gosti and June Zandona
Regional Premiere. RT: 3m/USA
The body becomes architecture in the iconic abandoned military bunkers of Fort Worden National Park (WA, USA) as personal and geographical histories are interwoven in this genre-bending dance.
STAY AT CONDER BEACH
Director: Aaron Khandros
Producers: Mike S. Ryan, Mike Bowes
World Premiere. RT: 87m/USA
Conder Beach is a crumbling tourist town on the Gulf Coast, reliant on seasonal commerce and oil rigging. The film draws you into a world that vacillates between reality and metaphor, examining the intangible evils that threaten our society and have crystallized so many into a pattern of self-destruction.
Followers (short) plays with STAY AT CONDER BEACH
Director: Julia Bales
Regional Premiere. RT: 15m/USA
Wendy invites her new neighbors over for dinner, but it doesn’t go as planned.
Gordon Parks Award for Black Excellence in Filmmaking Competition
The third annual Gordon Parks Award for Black Excellence in Filmmaking presented by Cargill Competition which will provide a $5,000 cash prize and a $10,000 camera rental package from Panavision:
BLACK BARBIE: A DOCUMENTARY
Director Lagueria Davis
Producer: Aaliyah Williams, Lagueria Davis
Kansas Premiere. RT: 100m/USA
Through intimate access to a charismatic Mattel insider, Beulah Mae Mitchell, BLACK BARBIE delves into the cross-section of merchandise and representation as Black women strive to elevate their voices and stories, refusing to be invisible.
Jelly (short) plays with BLACK BARBIE: A DOCUMENTARY
Director: Anndi Jinelle Liggett
Regional Premiere. RT: 10m/USA
A young, Black girl with a peculiar fascination with death tries to solve the mysterious case of a missing neighbor while coming to terms with a more personal disappearance.
CHOCOLATE MILK
Director/Producer: Elizabeth Gray Bayne
Kansas Premiere. RT: 92m/USA
Chocolate Milk explores racial inequities in birth and breastfeeding in the US by following the stories of three Black mothers in South Los Angeles over multiple years.
Choices (short) plays with CHOCOLATE MILK
Director: Kameishia Wooten
Regional Premiere. RT 13m/USA
Three very different friends find renewed connection as they await pregnancy results at their Los Angeles High School.
NAME OF THE GAME
Directors: William Forbes & Douglas Skinner
Producers: William Forbes & Douglas Skinner, Shondrella Avery, Lynette Baker, Mike Strong
Regional Premiere. RT: 113m/USA
The untold story of black male exotic dancing in south Los Angeles and how it intersects with the origins of hip hop, gang culture, and kung fu assassins.
SUMMER OF VIOLENCE
Director: Nicki Micheaux
Producers: Efuru Flowers, Maureen P. Mottley, Sean Riggs, Nicki Micheaux
Regional Premiere RT: 110m/USA
Refusing law school to pursue poetry, a sheltered college grad, cut off from her father’s money, struggles to survive while living in Denver during the Summer of Violence in 1993.
THE UNSEEN
Director: J.S. Hampton
Producers: J.S. Hampton, Dean Albright, Brianna Woods
RT: 89m/United States
A witch from the 1850s is transported into the head of her descendant in modern Kansas City, who is tasked with helping get her ancestor’s body back.
Split (short) plays with THE UNSEEN
Director: Vincent Essid
Regional Premiere. RT 15m/USA
When a hopeless romantic teenager discovers that the jukebox in his family’s bowling alley, sends him back to the glory days of it in the 1980s, he must choose between a shot at love in the past or healing the relationship with his father in the present.
Woman Filmmaker Spotlight
With a slight name change to celebrate our woman-representing filmmakers this year the Woman Filmmaker Spotlight presented by Fidelity Bank competition will provide a $5,000 cash prize to the winner.
THE FACE OF THE JELLYFISH
Director: Melisa Liebenthal
Producers: Eugenia Campos Guevara, Vanesa Ragonne
Regional Premiere. RT: 75m/Argentina
Marina’s face suddenly changed. One day around her thirties her face ceased to be what it was. Who is she now? Can we be somebody beyond our face, beyond our image?
Alegrias Riojanas (short) plays with THE FACE OF THE JELLYFISH
Director: Velasco Broca
RT: 29m/Spain
An ophthalmologist’s confession gets interrupted when the priest who was attending him leaves in an emergency.