Each fall, the Tallgrass Film Festival attracts thousands of filmmakers and film enthusiasts from all over the country to Wichita, Kansas. As the largest independent film festival in Kansas, Tallgrass aims to showcase some of the best films in the world while also championing locally-produced work. This year, the 22nd Annual Tallgrass Film Festival boldly connected the local, regional and international while inviting audiences to explore the impact of artistic expression on their communities and cultures.
Most of the films were screened in the Century II Performing Art and Convention Center, the largest entertainment complex in the city. Constructed in 1969 and sitting near the banks of the Arkansas River, its distinctive blue roof visible from afar, the building is considered a Wichita landmark. When Century II was threatened with demolition in 2019, the grassroots “Save Century II” campaign fought for its preservation, and now the building acts as a public space for the arts and humanities, including special events such as the Tallgrass Film Festival.
It was a fitting space for this year’s festival, as the Tallgrass Film Association’s mission is to foster the community’s appreciation for the art of film through shared experiences. This was brilliantly illustrated by one the first films showed, I Needed Paris. The documentary captures the journey taken by students from Gordon Parks Academy in Wichita as they traveled to France to follow in the footsteps of photographer and native Kansan Gordon Parks and photograph Paris. The students featured in the film were in attendance, and, before the screening, director D. Michael Cheers encouraged the students to continue pushing their boundaries both creatively and professionally. Cheers shared an anecdote about meeting Gordon Parks for the first time when he was a student: “Sometimes, when you’re quiet, you can hear the spirit. And the spirit told me, ‘Ask him for his number.’ So I did. And he gave it to me!” It became the start of both a friendship and a mentorship, eventually culminating in Cheers’ film celebrating Parks’ work with the next generation of artists.
The festival also highlighted the practical, economic impact of the arts. Hope in the Heartland: Wichita’s Quest to End Homelessness, a venture by Project HOPE (Homeless Outreach Proactive Engagement) and the City of Wichita, is a creative local documentary that shares the stories of both housed and unhoused individuals. In revealing the widespread collaboration needed to support housing initiatives in Wichita, the film asks audiences to commit themselves to helping end chronic homelessness in their community.
Wichita’s Hispanic Chamber of Commerce sponsored a screening of Por el Amor a la Cultura, a film that showcases the vibrancy of the Wichita Latine community and traces the growing success of two local artists, Elisa Santana-Rosales and Miguel Santana-Morales. Santana-Rosales is an entrepreneur and founder of Baila Wichita, a Latin dance program that offers salsa and bachata classes, while Santana-Morales leads Tumbáo, a band that fills a niche in the Wichita music scene with salsa music. Por el Amor a la Cultura places an emphasis on local art, culture and economy, much like the Tallgrass Film Festival itself. The back of the festival’s program booklet reads, “The Arts Mean Business — Wichita’s nonprofit arts and culture sector generates more than $185M in local economic activity annually.” But more than simply pointing out the economic benefits of the arts, the festival seeks to promote and encourage local and independent artists through a special category for Kansas features and several Kansas short film programs, all alongside some of the best new, independent films from around the world.
Even as I attempted to watch as many films as possible during the four-day event, I also explored downtown Wichita and checked out local businesses. While I was out, I took notice of all the flyers for different films that were hanging in windows and appeared inside stores. Local coffee shop Las Adelitas Café proudly displayed several flyers for different Spanish-language films, including Por el Amor a la Cultura.
There was a strong sense of community at the film festival, not just among locals, but with traveling visitors as well. Everyone was warmly welcomed by the festival’s volunteer staff; audiences were invited to participate in panels and post-screening discussions and filmmakers and fans alike easily struck up conversations over their shared interests. One particularly memorable moment of connection occurred during the gala screening of the Luther Vandross documentary Luther: Never Too Much, when audience members who were intimately familiar with Vandross’ music sang along to favorite songs throughout the film, harmonizing as if they were sharing in the performance. Even after the festival proper ended, attendees were updated via email and social media about award winners and the virtual component of the festival, which ran the following week.
By the end of the four days, I was exhausted but gratified from my experience. It had lived up to, if not exceeded, my expectations. The 22nd Annual Tallgrass Film Festival was more streamlined and organized than ever, and the quality and variety of the programming was impressive. Most importantly, it truly felt like the festival offered a unique experience that you can only find in Wichita, Kansas. It may be small compared to other film festivals in the country, but it is perhaps the most worthy of the tagline “stubbornly independent.”
