2008 Tallgrass Film Festival Announces Call For Submissions

Also Announces New Venues, Returning Sponsors, Greengrass Initiative, Increased Cash Prizes, All New National Advisory Board, and Kansas &Amp; High School Filmmakers Submit For Free!

WICHITA, KAN, March 5, 2008 - The Wichita Association for the Motion Picture Arts (WAMPA) and the Tallgrass Film Festival announced the call for submissions for the 2008 Tallgrass Film Festival to be held October 23-26 in Wichita, Kansas at the Warren Old Town Theatres and other downtown venues. Over the last five years, more than 18,000 local and regional attendees and over 150 filmmakers from Kansas and all over the world have enjoyed the Tallgrass Film Festival.

Now entering its sixth year, the Tallgrass Film Festival is dedicated to entertaining, educating and enlightening audiences in America’s Heartland by showcasing the very best of independent cinema - including domestic and foreign, documentary and narrative, short and feature length, animation, GLBT and immigrant voices, environmental, and High School cinema.

In addition to screening the best independent films from around the country, the 2008 Tallgrass Film Festival will feature a number parties and events - including a gala party at the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame, and a “Welcome to Wichita” party for all of the filmmakers, featuring Mayor Carl Brewer on the BBQ.

Other confirmed venues for October’s event include the 20th Century Center, City Arts, and The Orpheum. Confirmed Sponsors include Warren Theaters, Integrated Media Group, Clear Channel Radio/Wichita, Stella Artois, Spangenberg Phillips Architecture, Greater Wichita Convention and Visitors Bureau, Wichita Downtown Development Corporation, WichitaTIX.com, KPTS, Cricket Communications, Specs, Classic Real Estate, and 360wichita.com.

New to this year’s festival is the environmentally conscious GREENGRASS category, which will screen films pertaining to environmental issues. In an effort to reduce its carbon footprint, the festival will partner with environmentally friendly companies and organizations, to promote their messages.

WAMPA also announced that they have increased their cash awards: $1,000 will be given to the Audience Award Winning Feature Film, and $500 will be awarded to the Audience Award Winning Short Film.

Additionally, the Festival announced its recently revamped National Advisory Board, a group of entertainment industry influentials who are committed to supporting the Tallgrass Film Festival and the growth of independent film in Wichita. The new Board members are: Laura Lee Bahr (independent filmmaker & 2006 Ad Astra recipient), Ed Begley, Jr. (Actor/Environmental Activist & Entrepreneur), Gloria Campbell (Operations Director, FilmIndependent), Rick Dallago (Producer, Blue Crush, Turistas), Henry Deas (Director of Markets and Festivals, Variety), Les Eisner (Executive Vice President, The Lippin Group, KU Alumni), Vanessa Gilbert (Partner, TGMD Agency), Rachel Janowicz (Indepedent Producer, Into the Air), Nancy Kennedy (Director of Development, Seattle International Film Festival), Don LaFontaine (Voiceover Actor, 2007 Ad Astra recipient), Holden Payne (Director of Operations, Seattle International Film Festival, Palm Springs Film Festival; Telluride Film Festival), Charles Prince (Entertainment Lawyer, Grubman, Indursky & Shire, PC), Rosylyn Rhee (Documentary Coordinator, Music Center of Los Angeles), Arnold Robinson (Publicist, Rogers & Cowan), David Schneiderman (Co-owner, Seismic Productions), and Kevin Willmott (Filmmaker and KU Film Professor).

Highlights from the 2007 festival included the ever-popular Timothy Gruver Spotlight on Kansas Filmmakers, presented by the Kansas Film Commission; the Joel Fein High School Shorts Program; the Audience Award winning feature film Girls Rock!; , the Audience Award winning short film The Date, and the 2008 Oscar nominated short film I met the Walrus. Official festival selections are made by the local Tallgrass Film Festival Programming Committee, made up of Wichitans from all walks of life. Programmers work diligently throughout the year to tailor the film festival to the Wichita audiences who delight in the festival’s diverse independent film programming.

Founded in 2003 by the late Timothy Gruver, the Tallgrass Film Festival is a program of the Wichita Association for the Motion Picture Arts (WAMPA), a non-profit 501©3 arts organization dedicated to entertaining and enlightening audiences from America’s Heartland. Through the festival, the summertime Cinema Al Fresco Series, WAMPA Filmmaker Academy and Special Screenings, WAMPA spotlights the city’s venues, cultural attractions and artistic communities. WAMPA strives to foster the ever-growing, local filmmaking community, sparking a dialogue among filmmakers and enhancing artistic expression.

Filmmakers!

Submit your films here!!

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Attention Kansas Filmmakers! If you are interested in having your film shown on Wichita's PBS station, please click here for information on how to submit to KPTS' Reel Kansas Program.