Tallgrass Film Festival unveils lineup with 188 films and 14 world premieres

The 23rd annual Tallgrass Film Festival is set to dazzle film lovers with an expansive lineup of 188 films screening over four packed days, Oct. 16 to 19. This year’s edition marks a significant milestone, boasting 14 World Premieres, along with 1 International premiere, 10 North American premieres, 7 U.S. premieres, 60 regional premieres and 87 Kansas premieres.

Three Venues, Endless Stories

Over the course of the festival, film programs will be presented across three venues in downtown Wichita:

• Boulevard Theatres at Old Town (main venue)
• Mary Jane Teall Theatre at Century II (Friday and Saturday evenings)
• Emily Bonavia Tallgrass Film Center (additional screenings)

Tickets for all in-person screenings are on sale now at tff25.eventive.org. A complete lineup is available a tallgrassfilm.org.

FEATURE COMPETITION:

STUBBORNLY INDEPENDENT

“Abigail Before Beatrice” – An isolated woman is confronted by her past when a fellow former cult member reaches out with news that their leader has been released from prison early.

“Anything That Moves” – Liam bikes through Chicago delivering snacks and pure satisfaction to his love-hungry clients while a serial killer leaves a trail of blood that leads to the innocent lover’s own bed.

“If You Should Leave Before Me” – Mark and Joshua, a married couple, face a devastating loss that strains their relationship. To escape grief, they focus on their unconventional jobs as guides for the recently deceased, leading them to the afterlife.

NARRATIVE FEATURE

“Fu**toys” – A bubblegum grindhouse adventure through sunny and romantic Trashtown, USA.

“Lijepa večer, lijep dan” (“Beautiful Day, Beautiful Evening”) – The pursuit of freedom becomes a fight for survival.

“Our Hero, Balthazar” – Ultra-wealthy NYC teenager Balthy makes dramatic gun control videos to impress his activist crush. When an online troll targets his content, Balthy becomes convinced he’s communicating with a potential school shooter and embarks on an ill-advised journey to Texas to confront him.

“Under The Lights” – Sam, a boy with epilepsy, is so desperate to feel normal that he wants to go to prom knowing the lights will cause a seizure.

“What Comes Next” – In the summer before she heads off to college, 17-year-old Tanya starts a relationship with an older family friend who, unbeknownst to her, had an affair with her mother a decade earlier.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

“A Brief History of Chasing Storms” – A roving, episodic road film chasing the mythologies of the American tornado.

“Coroner to the Stars” – Dr. Thomas Noguchi’s high-profile autopsies of icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Robert Kennedy and Natalie Wood thrust him into the spotlight, earning him the nickname “Coroner to the Stars” – while sparking backlash from Hollywood elites and political adversaries in a city obsessed with fame and celebrity.

“Diamond Diplomacy” – This explores the long and complex relationship between the U.S. and Japan through the shared love of baseball, revealing a moving diplomatic history that spans generations. The film features a cross-cultural lineup of baseball legends, including Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Ichiro Suzuki (newly inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame this summer), and Shohei Ohtani, and makes a powerful case for sports as a conduit for international healing, connection and resilience.

“Dorothy!” – Since her first adventure in L. Frank Baum’s classic “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy Gale has been on countless journeys, reintroduced and reimagined, and become a cultural touchpoint for many. This joyous documentary explores an iconic American heroine’s legacy and our universal quest for identity and belonging.

“Remaining Native” – This coming-of-age documentary is told from the perspective of Kutoven (Ku) Stevens, a 17-year-old Native American runner, struggling to navigate his dream of becoming a collegiate athlete as the memory of his great-grandfather’s escape from an Indian boarding school begins to connect past, present and future.

“A State of Passion” – After bearing witness to the unprecedented horrors of an ongoing genocide, a war surgeon emerges from Gaza calling for justice and accountability.

GORDON PARKS AWARD FOR BLACK EXCELLENCE IN FILMMAKING

“A Mess of Memories” – When siblings return home to save their mother from losing the family home to hoarding, they unearth long-buried wounds, and unexpected healing, for themselves and each other.

“It Comes In Waves” – After tragedy strikes, a 17-year-old Rwandan-Canadian teen must protect his younger sister from being taken by child services – until a violent act forces him to choose between holding on and letting go.

“Meta Take One” – An obsessive young director and his crew plunge into a frantic night-long odyssey of desperation to finish his film no matter the cost.

“Seeds” – A look into the lives of Black generational farmers, unveiling the challenges of maintaining legacy and the value of land ownership.

KANSAS FILMMAKER FEATURE

“$POSITIONS” – A Kansas man tries to lift his family out of poverty by investing in cryptocurrency, but it leads to a gambling addition.

“An Autumn Summer” – In a magical lake town, one couple and four best friends spend the final month before college chasing an endless summer.

“Flood” – Filmmaker Katy Scoggin journeys home to the Inland Empire, revisiting her evangelical roots and finding humanity and common ground with her estranged father.

“Let’s Talk Shop” – A documentary about Innes and Henrys, two of Wichita’s biggest department stores, that provided a fashionable downtown shopping experience in the 20th century.

“Taffy: A Divine Instrument Against the Demonic Forces of Evil” – If you thought teen-parent relationships were hard, try adding Satan.

MURMURATIONS FEATURE

“Difference & Repetition” – A manic audiovisual fantasia in which a woman reconstructs the destruction of her marriage during lockdown in 2020.

“La Libertad de Fierro” (“The Freedom of Fierro”) – César Fierro has just become a free man, and he needs to rebuild his life after being wrongly sentenced to death in Texas. He spent most of his life in solitary confinement deprived of any physical contact with other human beings. Despite the challenges, César remains determined to find true freedom.

“Niñxs” – While Karla navigates her transition, Kani shapes eight years of footage into a joyful film, as they handle the vagaries of a rural trans adolescence together.

“Un mundo para mí” (“Newborn”) – When their first baby is born with both female and male features, a young couple faces a huge dilemma: While he thinks they should assign a sex surgically to their child as doctors advise, she gets to know other intersex people and listens to their experiences, starting to believe that they should let their baby’s body be as it is. Their differences go stronger and a decision has to be made.

OUT OF COMPETITION FEATURE

“Rennie” – A hilarious voyeuristic look into a found family of eccentrics working to save their small town’s Renaissance Festival.

Reach Rod Pocowatchit at rodrick@rawdzilla.com.