Tallgrass Film Association (TFA) announces the call for submissions on Film Freeway for the 22nd annual Tallgrass Film Festival, held in and around downtown Wichita from October 24-27, 2024.
New this year is a pushback to later in October as well as renaming the Emerging Filmmaker Program in honor of Thane Chastain, long-time Tallgrass employee, and Emerging Filmmaker Program leader that we lost in 2023.
“While we would much rather have Thane with us, we will be honoring his memory by renaming the program in his honor. We have been discussing this with his family all this year and are happy to make it official for the 2024 festival,” Executive Director Melanie Addington said. “Thank you to anyone who donated in his memory in 2023.”
Now in its fourth year, the Transgender Film Center was founded by Kansan Sav Rodgers to provide fee waivers for all transgender directors. Reach out to Melanie Addington at info@tallgrassfilm.org for a waiver.
The largest independent film festival in Kansas, the 2023 Tallgrass Film Festival received over 1,600 submissions and screened 186 films from 72 countries. In 2023, Tallgrass presented films to an audience of 9,000+ and hosted 162 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 21st 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 Presented by Cargill – Feature-length film with no traditional distribution deal at the time of the festival and may be submitted for free. 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.
- Woman Filmmaker Spotlight – Domestic feature films directed by women.
- Stubbornly Independent Films: domestic, narrative features made for under $750,000 USD with no traditional distribution.
- Vortex Animation, Experimental, and VR short films – This is for all animation, experimental, hybrid, or virtual reality projects.
- Murmurations – The Murmurations category, in collaboration with Ulrich Museum of Art, is open to short and feature films that meet the following requirements: fifty percent of production is based in Spain OR the writer, director, or producer is based in Spain; the original voice is in Spanish or one of the co-official languages of Spain (Basque, Catalan, Aranese, and Valencian); and subtitled in the English language.
- Timothy Gruver Spotlight on Kansas Filmmakers – Kansas filmmakers submit for free – see below for official rules)
- NEW NAME: Thane Chastain Emerging Filmmakers Showcase – short films from filmmakers (19 and younger) may be submitted for free.
“Tallgrass Film Festival is excited to welcome another round of submissions for to 2024 edition of the Festival. Every year is a new mosaic of independent films from across the world. I look forward to seeing the array of high quality movies as well as the challenge of crafting a program from so many wonderful stories,”
Head Programmer Andre Seward said.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
The final deadline is July 15. Full submission details are available on the same page—fees range based on deadlines. To submit a film or learn more, please visit our FilmFreeway page and follow the official submission instructions.
About the Tallgrass Film Association
The Tallgrass Film Association is a 501(c)3 arts organization that fosters an appreciation of the cinematic arts by creating shared experiences around the international medium of film. Archer Hotels, Selig Polyscope Company, Panavision, Iheartmedia, Groover Labs, Howerton & White and many more sponsor the association as well as the city of Wichita, National Endowment for the Arts, Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission, and Fidelity Bank.
