Tallgrass Film Festival returns for 19th year with in-person events, virtual screenings

In the midst of the ongoing pandemic, Wichita’s beloved Tallgrass Film Festival returns for its 19th year in two waves.

The first part of the festival will be in-person, with screenings, parties, workshops and more being held Wednesday, Oct. 20, through Oct. 24 at various venues throughout downtown Wichita.

After that, the festival will move online for virtual screenings Oct. 24 through 29.

It’s all an effort to keep things as safe as possible, says Melanie Addington, Tallgrass Film Association’s new executive director.

“We’re doing masks required regardless of vaccine status,” she said. “We’re social distancing. We’re doing lots of extra things, we’re even hiring a COVID compliance officer.”

Other changes have been put in place, as well. Of particular note is for TALLpass holders, who get admittance to all screenings and parties.

“We’re going to ask them to claim free tickets to movies in advance,” Addington said. “Because the more we know going in, we know how to social distance people, what we need to do to spread out more.”

This year’s program includes 44 feature-length films and 128 short films, with 26 films made by Kansans. The full line-up for the festival can be found at https://tallgrassfilm.org/2021-lineup/.

There will again be Q&As after screenings with about 70 visiting filmmakers. The virtual part of the festival will include Q&As, as well.

Addington promises “a lot of good engagement with the filmmakers.”

Along with the festival’s flagship Stubbornly Independent competition (for films created with a budget under $500,000) and DOXX (documentary features directed by female-identifying filmmakers), Tallgrass has this year added the Gordon Parks Award for Black Excellence in Filmmaking.

A big part of this year’s program is more diversity, Addington says.

“That’s my number one priority, inclusion of all kinds. I’m very big about accessibility, very big about representation, all that stuff matters so much.”

There will also be a bigger focus on local filmmakers, including the Timothy Gruver Spotlight on Kansas Filmmakers program to be held at 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 23 at the Orpheum Theatre, 200 N. Broadway.

This year’s festival has two opening nights, of sorts. On Wednesday, Oct. 20, Tallgrass is presenting a free, family friendly outdoor screening of “Shrek” to celebrate its 20th anniversary at 7 p.m. at Naftzger Park, 601 E. Douglas.

At 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21, the festival officially kicks off with its opening night film “The Humans,” which follows a family that gathers at an apartment in lower Manhattan to celebrate Thanksgiving. But as darkness falls outside and eerie things start to go bump in the night, the group’s deepest fears are laid bare. The film will be shown at the Orpheum Theatre. A gala afterparty follows at Botanica Japanese Garden, 701 Amidon.

Individual tickets for films can be purchased at https://www.goelevent.com/Tallgrass/e/Search.

TALLPasses and FILMPasses can be purchased at https://www.goelevent.com/Tallgrass/Pass/Sale.

For more information, go to https://tallgrassfilm.org/.

This story was originally published October 17, 2021 at 6:07 AM with the headline "Tallgrass Film Festival returns for 19th year with in-person events, virtual screenings."