Tallgrass Press Releases

“Incident in New Baghdad” filmmaker James Spione to speak and teach at Tallgrass events on Feb. 10 and 11 in Wichita

WICHITA, KAN — Documentary film director James Spione will be in Wichita Feb. 10 and 11 to  present his Oscar-nominated documentary film INCIDENT IN NEW BAGHDAD and teach a Tallgrass Filmmakers Lab. The documentary received the Academy Award nomination Jan. 24 for Best Documentary Short Subject film, and features Wichita resident Ethan McCord, a former U.S. Army Specialist and subject of a 2007 WikiLeaks controversy, who witnessed one of the most notorious incidents of the Iraq War — the slayings of two Reuters journalists and a number of other unnamed civilians by U.S. attack helicopters in Iraq.

Tallgrass Film Association announces the call for submissions for the 10th annual Tallgrass International Film Festival. The anniversary celebration will take place all year long and culminate at the 10th annual festival, Oct. 18-21 in and around downtown Wichita, Kansas. As the premier film association in America's Heartland region, TFA is dedicated to fostering and enhancing the cinematic arts through year-round programming and the flagship Tallgrass Film Festival, the largest independent film festival in the state of Kansas.

Tallgrass & Ulrich Museum present February’s Tallgrass Third Thursday at the Murdock: COMPLAINTS CHOIR

WICHITA, KAN — Tallgrass Film Association, the Ulrich Museum of Art and the Murdock Theatre have partnered to present February’s Tallgrass Third Thursday at the Murdock screening of COMPLAINTS CHOIR, followed by the debut performance of Wichita’s own Complaints Choir.

The event takes place at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16 at the Murdock Theatre, 536 N. Broadway. Tickets are $10 GA, $8 students, seniors, military, TFA members and WSU faculty/staff; free for Ulrich Museum members.

What are you complaining about? Cell phones and bosses? Bad drivers and crummy weather? Director Ada Bligaard Søby’s docu-musical tells the story of two Finnish artists traveling the world, setting gripes to music. They aim not to pour salt in the wounds of the world’s grumps, but to let everyone vent dissatisfaction in a liberating chorus. Søby takes us from the artists’ home in Finland to Chicago and Signapore where community choruses confront issues as serious as free speech and as mundane as loud neighbors, with compelling frankness and humor.

“I arrived at 5:30 am on Saturday and drove around the empty streets of Wichita waiting for the city to come to life. One can't form an opinion of a place until you meet it's people. Yesterday I discovered the openness and generosity of the locals and the Tallgrass Film Festival. I got invited to dinner with some locals, and had a great new lesson in music appreciation. Thank you for letting us share our film and story here and teaching me that warm people make warm cities.” – Grant Baldwin (Filmmaker, THE CLEAN BIN PROJECT)

Tallgrass Film Festival sponsor KMUW employees Denise Irwin, Mark McCain and Natalie Olmsted at the Tallgrass Film Festival's Celebrity Music Tasting with Elliott Gould, October 21, 2011.

Dear Friends:

We hope everyone is enjoying a happy and healthy holiday season. At TFA, we’re busily preparing for our 10^th anniversary year, which includes more than 30 events — including Third Thursday screening series, Special Screenings, Cinema Alfresco, Tallgrass Filmmaker Labs, Tallgrass Road Show — and the 10^th annual Tallgrass Film Festival in October.

Like many 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organizations, ticket sales cover only a small portion of our operating costs throughout the year. In addition to our generous sponsors, grantors, and more than 150 volunteers, we also rely on our individual donors to help the Tallgrass grow.

WICHITA, KAN, Dec. 16, 2011 — Wichita’s Tallgrass Film Association will kick off its 10th year with a screening of the Tallgrass Film Festival Road Show, 7 p.m., Jan. 12, at the McPherson Opera House, 221 S. Main, McPherson. Tickets are $3 at the door.

Presented by TFA and the Kansas Historic Theater Association, the Tallgrass Film Festival Road Show brings a program of the festival’s best short films to historical theaters throughout the state of Kansas.

Dec. 1, 2011, Wichita, KAN — The Tallgrass Film Association presents a Pop-Up Cinema screening of the classic Hitchcock film THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956), starring James Stewart and Doris Day, 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 15, in the Boeing Dome Theater and Planetarium at Exploration Place. Admission is free, but we are accepting a suggested donation of small, individually packaged items including tooth paste, bus cards, socks, snack foods, hand sanitizers, tissues, etc. that will be used as holiday gifts for the 25 women currently being hosted by the Mosaic Church Homeless Outreach.

The Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has awarded $455,000 to 25 U.S. film festivals for the 2012 calendar year and Wichita’s Tallgrass Film Festival, a program of the 501(c)3 Tallgrass Film Association, is among the recipients.

“This one blew me away.” — Robert Butler, Kansas City Star

Don’t miss the Wichita premiere of LESSON PLAN this Thursday night at 7 p.m. at the Forum Events Center. Tickets are $10 GA and $8 for students, teachers, seniors, military and TFA Members.

The film’s producer, co-director and subject Philip Carr Neel — an educator in USC’s Cinematic Arts Department and accomplished television editor and producer with multiple Emmy nominations — took the time to answer a few of our questions. This is his first feature film.

TFA: You have done a lot of work as an editor and producer for television. How did that prepare you for your first time directing a feature film?

PN: I think what prepared me the most was the fact that I was in the original classroom experiment. Throughout the years I've had to describe what happened to many high schools, and I've learned that the best tactic is to simply retell the experiment, day to day, moment by moment, so the audience can experience first hand why we did what we did.

Wichita, KAN — The Tallgrass Film Association presents the Wichita premiere of LESSON PLAN at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 17, at the Forum Events Center, 147 S. Hillside.

Screened at more than a dozen festivals across the country, LESSON PLAN tells the story of the Third Wave classroom experiment as told by the original students and teacher Ron Jones. In spring 1967, Palo Alto, CA history teacher Ron Jones conducted an experiment with his class of 15-year-olds to sample the experience and attraction and rise of the Nazis in Germany before World War II. In a matter of days, the experiment began to spiral out of control, as those attracted to the movement became aggressive. This story serves as a teaching tool, to facilitate discussion of those uncomfortable topics of history, psychology, group behavior, intolerance and hate.

“This film encompasses what independent film is all about and we’re really proud to be showcasing the work of emerging directors like Philip Carr Neel who makes his directorial debut with this film,” said TFA Director of Acquisitions Shan Jabara. Carr Neel was a student in the experiment who decided to tell the first-hand account of this world-renowned story some 40 years later. “The film tells the story of a radical, real-life experience — it’s not only a time piece but also a fascinating example of the timeless difficulties of being a young adult faced with peer pressures and the stresses of conformity.”

Tickets are $10 General Admission and $8 for students/teachers, seniors, military and TFA Members. Tickets may be purchased by going to http://tallgrasslessonplan.eventbrite.com/ or by clicking on the ticket box below.

The Arts Council has announced that it will give the Tallgrass Film Festival the Arts Advocate Group Award for 2011. The award goes to an organization dedicated to furthering the cause of an art form or the arts in general through promotional, volunteer, administrative, legislative or professional efforts.