The 20th annual Tallgrass Film Festival gets underway in late September and is now accepting submissions. This year’s five-day festival will be Sept. 28 to Oct. 2 in downtown Wichita. Filmmakers from around the world will be showcasing documentaries, films directed by women, animation, narratives, short films, and other independent cinemas.
“The addition of the animation, experimental, or virtual reality category (Vortex) and the Spanish cinema (Murmurations) category will broaden the range of our film program and further enrich the festival experience. I’m looking forward to the first edition of these new categories along with the longstanding submission categories,” said Andre Seward, Tallgrass programming director.
May 14 is the regular deadline, and entries will be accepted through FilmFreeway until July 2. Go to Tallgrass Film festival’s website for more details.
Wilma Moore-Black, scholarship co-chair for Wichita Professional Communicators, serves on the Tallgrass association’s Gordon Parks advisory committee. The Gordon Parks Award for Black Excellence in Filmmaking will be presented for the second time. Cargill will give a $5,000 cash award, and Panavision will award a $15,000-value camera rental. Panavision was the equipment used by Gordon Parks.
Moore-Black also serves as the publicist for David Parks, the son of the legendary filmmaker Gordon Parks. A native of Fort Scott, Kansas, Gordon Parks was the first Black photographer for Life magazine, an author, composer, and director. Parks and his son worked together on the making of the original “Shaft” and “The Learning Tree.”
“I think it’s just great that both Cargill and Panavision will be presenting such fantastic awards again to the filmmaker named in honor of my father, Gordon Parks,” said David Parks, who also serves on the advisory committee. “Gordon was a very dedicated director when working on any of his projects. He had unbelievable work ethic and passion for excellence in filmmaking.”