Tallgrass Film Festival heads into home stretch on Sunday
The Tallgrass Film Festival winds down on Sunday, but there is still plenty to see and do. Here are highlights for the day.
Films – You have to have actual films at a film festival, and screenings continue throughout Sunday, many with visiting filmmakers who will talk about the making of their films in Q&A sessions after the screenings. Check www.tallgrassfilmfest.com for a complete schedule of screenings and ticket prices.
Panels and workshops – There are two educational opportunities on Sunday for budding filmmakers, including a roundtable discussion titled “Women Making Movies” that focuses on, well, women making movies. Visiting filmmakers will participate. It will be held at 1 p.m. at the Lux, 120 E. First St. Admission is free.
Then at 2:30 p.m., also at the Lux, the festival will offer “No Money: Screenwriting on a Budget.” Visiting filmmaker Justina Walford will talk about storytelling techniques that make a compelling film with no money. Admission is free.
Short-film programs – It’s a big day for short films at Tallgrass. Several shorts programs are playing throughout the day, including the Joel Fein Spotlight on Emerging Filmmakers Program (noon at the Garvey Center, 250 W. Douglas) and the Timothy Gruver Spotlight on Kansas Filmmakers Program (2:45 p.m. at Roxy’s Downtown, 412 E. Douglas). I have a short film playing in that session.
Other short-film collections include “Levity: Lighter Shorts,” playing at 9:30 a.m. at the Garvey Center, and “Memoir: Documentary Shorts” at noon at the Wichita Art Museum, 1400 W. Museum Blvd.
Ad Astra Award presentation – The recipient of the festival’s Ad Astra Award this year is actor/filmmaker Heather Matarazzo, who stars in the closing night film “Girl Flu” and has starred in such other films as “The Princess Diaries,” “The Devil’s Advocate” and many more.
She is perhaps best known for her breakout role as Dawn Wiener in indie stalwart Todd Solondz’s Sundance breakout “Welcome to the Dollhouse.” A screening of that 1995 film will follow the presentation of the award to Matarazzo. The event will take place at 3:30 p.m. at the Orpheum Theatre, 200 N. Broadway.
Closing night gala – The closing night film will be “Girl Flu,” a comedy about a 12-year-old girl’s worst week of her life as she deals with the onset of puberty and her flighty mother. Director Dorie Barton will be in attendance. It starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Orpheum. An after-party follows at the Wichita Art Museum. Tickets to the film and party with open bar, food and live music are $25. Tickets for just the film are $15.
This story was originally published October 11, 2016 at 7:15 PM with the headline "Tallgrass Film Festival heads into home stretch on Sunday."