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Wichita\u2019s premier indie film celebration, the Tallgrass Film Festival, returns for its 23rd year. It started Thursday, Oct. 16, and continues through Sunday, Oct. 19, with more than 175 films, panels, parties, and events taking place at several venues throughout downtown Wichita. The festival\u2019s theme this year is \u201cCinema is in our DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n
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A major update for 2025 is the return of screenings to Old Town, at the newly renovated Boulevard Theatres (the original Warren Old Town Theatre was an early venue for Tallgrass). It will host regular festival programming and two of the festival\u2019s biggest gala screenings. The Century II Mary Jane Teall Theater will again serve as the grand stage for select feature events.<\/p>\n
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With so much going on this weekend, it\u2019s tough to see and do everything, but it\u2019s always fun to try. Here are my best bets for don\u2019t-miss films and events:<\/p>\n
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Friday Night Gala: \u201cCoroner to the Stars\u201d \u2013 This documentary spotlights Dr. Thomas Noguchi, whose autopsies of icons such as Marilyn Monroe and RFK rocked Hollywood. Showing at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17, at Mary Jane Teall Theater in Century II at 225 W. Douglas. Followed by the Weird Science Party at Farm Credit Bank, 245 N. Waco.<\/p>\n
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Saturday Night Gala: \u201cOur Hero, Balthazar\u201d \u2013 This darkly comic coming-of-age tale follows ultra-wealthy NYC teenager Balthy, who makes dramatic gun control videos to impress his activist crush. When an online troll targets his content, Balthy becomes convinced he\u2019s communicating with a potential school shooter and embarks on an ill-advised journey to Texas to confront him. 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, Mary Jane Teall Theater. Followed by the Blizzard of Oz Party at the Advanced Learning Library, 711 W. Second St.<\/p>\n
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Closing night gala: \u201cLesbian Space Princess\u201d \u2013 This vibrant animated queer adventure is set in outer space \u2013 a wild ride of heartbreak, heroism, and hilarity. At 8:15 and 8:30 p.m. (in two different theaters) Sunday, Oct. 19, at Boulevard Theatres, 353 N. Mead. Followed by the Closing Night Gene Pool Party at the Brickyard, 128 N. Mead. The party will also serve as a clothing drive for Humankind Ministries, so feel free to bring jeans to add to the Gene Pool (other clothing items welcome, too).<\/p>\n
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Each gala will be paired with a short film beforehand.<\/p>\n
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Most shorts are curated into themed blocks.<\/p>\n
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Kansas Shorts \u2013 An eclectic, lively collection of short films by Kansas filmmakers. Showing at 11:15 a.m. Friday, Oct. 17, and 11:45 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 19, at Boulevard Theatres.<\/p>\n
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Vortex Experimental shorts \u2013 A collection of offbeat and daring short films that aren\u2019t for the faint of heart. Noon Friday, Oct. 17, and 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, Boulevard Theatres.<\/p>\n
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Documentary Shorts 2: The \u201cMe\u201d in Me\u201d \u2013 This is a collection of enthralling, powerful real-life stories. 2:45 p.m. Friday, and 5:45 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19, Boulevard Theatres.<\/p>\n
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Many of these films are preceded by a short film.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAnything That Moves\u201d \u2013 A young man bikes through Chicago delivering snacks and satisfaction to his love-hungry clients while a serial killer leaves a trail of blood that leads to the innocent lover\u2019s own bed. 2:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17, and 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19, at Boulevard Theatres.<\/p>\n
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\u201cRemaining Native\u201d \u2013 This documentary follows Ku Stevens, the solo runner at his high school with no coach. Living on the Yerington Paiute reservation in Northwest Nevada, his dream is to run for the University of Oregon. As Ku trains, unreconciled emotions unearth the memory of his great-grandfather, Frank Quinn. At 8 years old, Frank ran 50 miles across the desert to escape an Indian boarding school. Frank\u2019s story becomes interwoven with Ku\u2019s journey to run a collegiate qualifying time. Will Ku outrun his history or will he learn to run in parallel with it to achieve his dreams? 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19, Boulevard Theatres.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIf You Should Leave Before Me\u201d \u2013 Mark and Joshua, a married couple, face a devastating loss that strains their relationship. To escape grief, they focus on their unconventional jobs as guides for the recently deceased, leading them to the afterlife. 2:45 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19, Boulevard Theatres.<\/p>\n
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\u201cRosemead\u201d \u2013 In a race against time, an ailing woman (Lucy Liu) discovers her teenage son\u2019s violent obsessions and must go to great lengths to protect him, and possibly others, in this portrait of a Chinese American family that\u2019s inspired by true events. 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17, Century II Mary Jane Teall Theater, and 2:15 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19, Boulevard Theatres.<\/p>\n
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\u201cLet\u2019s Talk Shop\u201d \u2013 This is the world premiere of a documentary by sisters and award-winning local filmmakers Sara and Charity Harmon, which tells the history of Wichita\u2019s two biggest department stores: Innes and Henry\u2019s. Though these stores no longer exist, the former buildings are being repurposed for higher education. 12:15 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, Tallgrass Film Center, 120 E. First St., Unit 113.<\/p>\n
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Ticket and pass information and a full schedule are online at www.tallgrassfilm.org. Please check the website for updates as times and titles are subject to change.<\/p>\n
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Reach Rod Pocowatchit at rodrick@rawdzilla.com.<\/i><\/p>\n
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\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.kansas.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wichita\u2019s premier indie film celebration, the Tallgrass Film Festival, returns for its 23rd year. It started Thursday, Oct. 16, and continues through Sunday, Oct. 19, with more than 175 films, panels, parties, and events taking place at several venues throughout downtown Wichita. The festival\u2019s theme this year is \u201cCinema is in our DNA.\u201d A major […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2097339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[396215,375839],"class_list":["post-2097338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-tallgrass-film-festival","tag-wichita"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Tallgrass-Film-Festival-best-bets-for-this-weekend.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2097338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2097338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2097338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2097340,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2097338\/revisions\/2097340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2097339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2097338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2097338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2097338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}