Like other 20-year-olds, Tallgrass is thinking to its future with new space and ideas

Like a lot of other 20-year-olds, the Tallgrass Film Association is thinking to its future.

To that end, the organization is making a number of changes, and that includes a new home.

“We have taken over the space that Mama.film was in at the Lux,” said Melanie Addington, the Southern California transplant who became executive director seven months ago.

Mama.film is now more of nomadic experience.

The new Tallgrass Film Center, which will be at First and Market, will be a combination office, meeting space and creative space for workshops and films.

“It will be sort of headquarters,” Addington said. “We will also be doing some pop-up screenings.”

There are some films already planned for next year, but Addington said 2023 will see a lot more screenings.

There was a test run of the space during this year’s Tallgrass Film Festival. Addington said it worked well, and the association will move in this week.

The Tallgrass office had been in a building across the street before the pandemic, but staff members have been working from home since then.

“I looked at a lot of places, and there’s a lot of great locations downtown,” Addington said.

Part of the decision came down to Michael Ramsey and his Bokeh Development, which owns the Lux.

“We really love working with Mike Ramsey,” Addington said. “He’s so supportive of the arts.”

There will be 25 recliners for movies and flex spacing that can hold additional seating.

“It’s cozy, but it’s about the right size for us for year-round stuff,” Addington said.

She said she may add more chairs “after COVID calms down.”

Addington said center is purposefully spelled the traditional way instead of with an “re” at the end.

“We’re not fancy.”

Membership has its privileges

Tallgrass now offers a membership program that includes free events and discounted merchandise among other things.

“This is new,” Addington said. “A lot of people want to invest year round.”

There are three levels of memberships.

The first is for students, who can make a one-time payment of $100 or pay $8.50 a month. The membership includes one pass to the film festival.

The next level is $365, which also includes one Tallgrass pass.

A patron membership, which includes two passes, is $1,000.

Addington said the memberships are ways for people to donate at smaller levels.

This is the second time the association has offered memberships. The first was in 2010, but the program didn’t last.

In other fiscal news, Addington said Tallgrass is “starting an actual savings account.”

“We’re trying to be grownups now that we’re 20,” she said. “I know that sounds silly, but it’s really important for organizations.”

She said operating reserves are “just to secure our future and make sure that Tallgrass outlives all of us.”

Two new film categories

Entries for next year’s Tallgrass Film Festival, which is Sept. 28 to Oct. 2, open on Jan. 3 and run through July 2.

There are two new categories for next year for a total of 11.

One new category is called Vortex and will feature animation, experimental films and virtual reality films that are under 40 minutes long.

“It should be interesting,” said programming director Andre Seward. “I really like experimental animation. There’s lots of really cool things that come through.”

With the help of a headset, he said, virtual reality films will be “an immersive cinematic experience.”

“It will be exciting and enjoyable for audiences because I don’t think that many people have really watched a virtual reality film.”

The second new category is called Murmurations and will feature films made either partly in Spain or by Spanish-based writers, directors or producers. The films, either shorts or feature length, must be in either Spanish or one of the other official languages of Spain.

Seward named this category Murmurations after a flock of birds and the fluid movement they sometimes make together. He took inspiration from Joan Miro’s Personnages Oiseaux, or Bird People, mosaic mural on the facade of the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University.

“The category was created to kind of highlight the connection that Joan Miro and Spanish artists have in Kansas,” Seward said.

The films will be shown at the theater next to the Ulrich during the film festival.

Seward said both of the new categories “connect with people and art around the world.”

“We want to bring all of these forms of creation to Wichita,” said Hannah Bothner, who used to do contract work for the festival as the short film program director. She’s now the operations manager, which is a new full-time position.

Bothner credits Addington for a lot of the changes.

“She just brings all this new life and these great ideas, and she just totally cares about this industry . . . and Tallgrass as well.”

Bothner said the new Lux space will help Tallgrass “resolidify ourselves as a year-round organization.”

“We’re so much more than just the festival. We want people to be involved year round.”

Addington said she’s excited to have Bothner full time but is sad that marketing director Gray Rodriguez is leaving.

“She really has been a big part of this organization.”

However, Addington added, “She’ll be back volunteering.”

Bothner said the Tallgrass team wants to create an experience for Wichitans but also create an environment where filmmakers want to come year after year and recommend it to friends.

“Hopefully in a few years, we can become an Oscar-qualifying festival.”

She said the idea is to “really get Tallgrass on the map for even more people.”

Bothner said the goal is for, “Ya gotta go to Tallgrass,” to become an “industry thing.”

“That’s where we’re headed.”