{"id":31154,"date":"2026-10-26T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T18:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/?p=31154"},"modified":"2026-10-26T13:45:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T18:45:00","slug":"tallgrass-film-festival-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/?p=31154","title":{"rendered":"Tallgrass Film Festival 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is our first time back at Tallgrass Film Festival in a few years and my first time embracing it fully. In the past, when we&#8217;ve gotten Tallpasses from either my work on through Jenni, we&#8217;ve always just attended the VIP parties. This year, since it was the final weekend before my hysterectomy, I decided to take Friday off work and really immerse myself in the festival by watching multiple movies and attending as many of the activations as I could.  <\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ching\/55592516109\/in\/datetaken\/\"  title=\"Untitled\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55592516109_2b0e8b280b.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" alt=\"Untitled\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/yTyZX54wTlY?si=dDhgJz1AkxxNhGiK\"  rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">On the first day of the film fest<\/a>, we attended the festival opening reception and open house at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wichita.edu\/academics\/fine_arts\/digital_arts\/shocker_studios.php\"  rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wichita State University Shocker Studios<\/a>. Shocker Studios didn&#8217;t exist when I attended Wichita State. The 50,000 square foot facility is located at the old Wichita Mall on East Harry. I guess the facility opened in 2017 but I never knew of its existence until recently. Here&#8217;s a video tour of the facility.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"255\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/C822RTF15R4?si=Fb9ldrhTrckBl1mc\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>We watched our first festival movie, <strong>YO Love is a Rebellious Bird<\/strong>, in their large conference rooms. It&#8217;s a really interesting story about a friendship between two women who are decades apart in age. Here&#8217;s preview trailer.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"255\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZhIrshfiYl8?si=rO535toHlCKonJrs\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> <\/p>\n<p>Since opening night was on Thursday, we opted to skip the kickoff party at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hawksnestict\/\"  rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hawk&#8217;s Nest<\/a>. I was off the next day but Brian still had work. <\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ching\/55593888148\/in\/datetaken\/\"  title=\"Untitled\"><img src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55593888148_666ac57e1e_c.jpg\" width=\"500\" alt=\"Untitled\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>On Friday I met Jenni at Reverie and <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/kKkcyA5F0LA?si=uqdYunPECy6X2qxo\"  rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">filmed her first kouign-amann experience<\/a> before the <strong>Crystal Cross<\/strong> screening at Boulevard Theatres. Boulevard at Old Town Square was the main hub for all the movies with a few exceptions&#8211;the opening night screening at WSU Shocker Studios and screenings at the Orpheum Theater on Saturday. Here&#8217;s the <strong>Crystal Cross<\/strong> movie trailer:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1166403046?badge=0&amp;autopause=0&amp;player_id=0&amp;app_id=58479\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" title=\"Crystal Cross teaser\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>After the movie I went to check out the VIP lounge with Jenni where they had really cool themed rooms for people to take photos. We had to keep our lounge stop brief in order to make our next movie screening: <strong>Wood Street<\/strong>. Here&#8217;s a preview of the documentary:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"vimeo-player\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1069033498?h=ecc9e009df\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\"   allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I really wanted to watch another movie and hit popcorn happy hour in the Cargill Community Tent but Brian was getting off work and I was getting hungry. I decided to go home and pick up Brian for some <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/NkH5pjoL374?si=am8wq5c2Nd475OH8\"  rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">dinner<\/a> before our final movie of the day: <strong>Loves Company<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"vimeo-player\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1180306825?h=5f31a84c12\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\"   allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This movie was so weird. I&#8217;m not sure I would have watched it had it not been part of the film festival so I do appreciate Tallgrass Film Festival for the opportunity to watch something unique and different. There was a theme party at the Cargill Community Tent that night which we  also skipped because Brian had an early drive down to Oklahoma to see his parents the next day. <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/kwpYRuWYlx0?si=kit4CvnGIXYgN1iu\"  rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Here&#8217;s a highlight reel of my day at TFF on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I had extremely high hopes for watching a bunch of movies on Saturday but ended up sleeping in and getting a later start than I wanted. Despite this though, I&#8217;d still watched more movies this festival year than any other year I&#8217;ve attended. After a quick lunch at Kim&#8217;s Noodle down the street from our house, I met Jenni and Adam at EggCetera downtown and the three of us piled into my car to go to the Orpheum for the screening of <strong>Seized<\/strong>. It&#8217;s a documentary film about the police raid of the Marion County Record. <\/p>\n<p>After that I went to get Brian at home and we met Adam and Jenni at Piatto for dinner before returning to the Orpheum for <strong>Copeland<\/strong>, which was mine and Brian&#8217;s favorite film of the festival. <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"255\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0FFNHrM3t1M?si=Y4xEXvreequmB6ss\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/CxwMJxwHz8I?si=0EK0MRCQfODZztoY\"  rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Here are highlights from day 3 of the film festival<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ching\/55599799588\/in\/datetaken\/\"  title=\"Untitled\"><img src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55599799588_1d26fc2c82_c.jpg\" width=\"500\" alt=\"Untitled\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/dpFocg_bQkI?si=jnBtFDZ4KJtsCWqq\"  rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The last day of the film festival<\/a> kicked off with community breakfast and dance party in the middle of Old Town Square. It was kind of hard to decide what to watch after breakfast. We opted to go see Kansas Shorts, a collection of short films made by Kansas filmmakers.<\/p>\n<p>These are the short films that were included in that block:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Flooding Kaw Nation: Submerged Cities, Desecrated Graves, and Kaw Lake<\/li>\n<li>Safer Waters: Artist Stephen Towns on Paradise Park<\/li>\n<li>Rainbow Rider<\/li>\n<li>Hit-Woman<\/li>\n<li>It&#8217;s Nice to Finally Meet You<\/li>\n<li>We&#8217;re All Sorry Souls<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I wanted to watch more films but it had been a long weekend already. Brian and I decided to take a midday nap break before meeting back up with Adam and Jenni for the awards ceremony and then dinner. We originally wanted to have dinner at Public but forgot that they&#8217;re closed on Sundays so we ended up having dinner at River City Brewering Co. instead.  <\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ching\/55614055514\/in\/datetaken\/\"  title=\"Untitled\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/55614055514_e3b564929d.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" alt=\"Untitled\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While we&#8217;ve skipped most of the parties this year, we did attend the festival wrap party at Velvet Tiger&#8211;mostly curiosity. I&#8217;d never heard of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kansas.com\/news\/business\/biz-columns-blogs\/carrie-rengers\/article315633289.html\"  rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Velvet Tiger<\/a> before. I guess it&#8217;s because they haven&#8217;t officially opened yet. It&#8217;s going to be a pretty hip hot spot (think &#8220;upscale dive bar&#8221;) on S. Hydraulic, which isn&#8217;t really the best part of town but, with the new Goldfinch coffee shop down the street, I&#8217;m hopeful that the area will begin to flourish. <\/p>\n<p>Anyway, I&#8217;m really glad that TFF weekend happened before my surgery because I don&#8217;t know if I would have felt up to sitting through all these movies after my hysterectomy. The only thing that would have been better is if it was actually even earlier because I couldn&#8217;t drink alcohol three days before surgery and Brian, who is so strict about following instructions, cut me off on Saturday. They had all that free booze at the events and all I could drink was Pepsi. <\/p>\n<p>Oh, well. Hopefully Jenni will hook us up with passes again next year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is our first time back at Tallgrass Film Festival in a few years and my first time embracing it fully. In the past, when we&#8217;ve gotten Tallpasses from either my work on through Jenni, we&#8217;ve always just attended the VIP parties. This year, since it was the final weekend before my hysterectomy, I decided [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2385,262],"tags":[3905,3904,3903,3902,3123,2766],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31154"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31154"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31185,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31154\/revisions\/31185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brubakers.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}