Wichita, KS: Tallgrass Film Association (TFA) announces the call for submissions on Film Freeway for the 23rd annual Tallgrass Film Festival. Held in and around downtown Wichita from October 16-19, 2025, and virtually from October 19-26. Named a Top 25 Coolest Film Festival by MovieMaker Magazine in 2024 and a Top 5 in USA Today, the festival has made its mark on the independent film scene for over two decades. 

“Furthermore, we have updated existing categories, such as expanding the Gordon Parks Category for Black Excellence in Filmmaking to include short films and separating our Vortex category into animation and experimental. We have also added a category for Music Videos, which should attract exciting new submissions and add variety to the overall program,” Program Director Andre Seward said. “For the 2025 edition, we have focused on striving for gender equality across all of the festival’s categories instead of maintaining the Woman Filmmaker Spotlight category. This will ensure that Women filmmakers are represented across the entire program.

The largest independent film festival in Kansas, the 2024 Tallgrass Film Festival received over 1700 submissions and screened 133 films from 20+ countries. In 2024, Tallgrass issued 7,000+ tickets and hosted 109 visiting filmmakers from across the globe. 

In addition to showcasing independent cinema from around the globe, including documentary, narrative, world cinema, animation, LGBTIA+, retrospective, and world premiering films, the 23rd annual Tallgrass Film Festival is specifically seeking films to feature in the following special programs and spotlights:

• Gordon Parks Award for Black Excellence in Filmmaking – Feature Film: Feature-length film with no traditional USA distribution deal at the time of the festival and may be submitted for free until late deadline. Open to films of any production budget from any country or genre with a director who self-identifies as Black, African-American, or part of the African Diaspora.
• Gordon Parks Award for Black Excellence in Filmmaking—Short Film: Short films with no traditional USA distribution deal at the time of the festival may be submitted for free until the late deadline. The award is open to films of any production budget from any country or genre with a director who self-identifies as Black, African-American, or part of the African Diaspora.
• Stubbornly Independent Films: domestic, narrative features made for under USD 750,000 with no traditional distribution.
• Vortex- Animation:  This is for shorts primarily featuring animated content or stop-motion animation.  
• Vortex-Experimental: Our Experimental programming highlights avant-garde short films beyond form and function. These films often reject traditional narrative structure and filmmaking tools and seek to convey a meaning or story through an unconventional and usually abstract application of the film medium. Experimental films (with few exceptions) do not have the linear, conventional story structure you would find in narrative or documentary shorts. Murmurations – Feature Film: Murmurations is named in honor of the mural PERSONNAGES OISEAUX by Catalan artist Joan Miró, which hangs at the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University. This category aims to explore and highlight the connection of Ibero-American art to Kansas. Films in this category must be produced in a country part of Ibero-America OR whose writer, director, or producer is based in one of those countries so long as the film is in a language spoken in said country (excluding English). 
• Murmurations – Short Film: Murmurations is named in honor of the mural PERSONNAGES OISEAUX by Catalan artist Joan Miró, which hangs at the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University. This category aims to explore and highlight the connection of Ibero-American art to Kansas. Films in this category must be produced in a country part of Ibero-America OR whose writer, director, or producer is based in one of those countries so long as the film is in a language spoken in said country (excluding English). 
• Timothy Gruver Spotlight on Kansas Filmmakers  –  Feature Film: Kansas filmmaker films may be documentaries, narrative, animation, or experimental films. Kansas filmmakers may submit their films and have any entry fees waived. Filmmakers MUST submit a valid Kansas address, connection, and identification to qualify for this category. For each significant cast/crew Kansas connection, please include the name, title, and city in the Kansas connection. Include this eligibility information in your cover letter when you submit it.
• Timothy Gruver Spotlight on Kansas Filmmakers  –  Short Film 

Kansas filmmaker films may be documentaries, narrative, animation, or experimental films. Kansas filmmakers may submit their films and have any entry fees waived. Filmmakers MUST submit a valid Kansas address, connection, and identification to qualify for this category. For each major cast/crew Kansas connection, please include the name, title, and city in the Kansas connection. Could you include this eligibility information in your cover letter when you submit it? 

• Thane Chastain Emerging Filmmakers Showcase – Films submitted in the Emerging Filmmaker Films category MUST be works written, directed, and shot by students – 18-YEARS-OLD AND YOUNGER. This category is not for university or college filmmakers. Emerging Filmmaker Short Films may be documentaries, narrative, animation, experimental, domestic, or foreign films. Adult supervision is limited to advisory capacity. 
• MUSIC VIDEO: The Music Video category is for original music videos (a visual accompaniment tied to a piece of music. Songs must be the ORIGINAL composition of the band or musician featured in the video. Covers will not be considered. 

Other awards and categories include:

• Best Kansas Filmmaker Documentary Short Film
• Best Kansas Filmmaker Narrative Short Film
• Best Emerging Documentary and Narrative Short
• Best Narrative and Documentary Short
• Best Narrative and Documentary Feature
• Best Vortex Short
• Best Murmurations Film
• Audience Award-Winning Documentary & Narrative Feature
• Audience Award-Winning Narrative and Documentary Short
• Tallgrass Programmer Awards

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

The extended deadline is July 15th. Full submission details are available on the same page. Fees vary based on deadlines. To submit a film or learn more, please visit our FilmFreeway page and follow the official submission instructions.