As things stand right no I'm not sure how much coverage will give- it is happening at the end of the New York Film Festival so my priorities are there. However, as has happened with other festivals I may sneak some stuff in-
I also recommend
APRIL AND THE EXTRAORDINARY WORLD
ENLIGHTEN US
MAD TIGER
THE TOWER
For more information on the films and tickets go the webpage here.
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS: FEATURES
Narrative Features
APRIL AND THE EXTRAORDINARY WORLD
DIRECTORS: Christian Desmares, Franck Ekinci
France, Belgium, Canada | 2016 | 1h 45m
After her scientist parents are mysteriously abducted, a teenage girl secretly continues her family’s research in this animated thriller.
THE ARBALEST
DIRECTOR: Adam Pinney
USA | 2015 | 1h 13m
The inventor of the world’s greatest toy reflects on a decade long obsession with his muse - a woman who hates him.
BENDER
DIRECTOR: John Alexander USA | 2015 | 1h 20m
The year is 1873, and travelers are mysteriously vanishing on the Kansas frontier. A troubled doctor goes searching for answers and stumbles upon the Bloody Benders
THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT
DIRECTOR: Jaco Van Dormael
Belgium, France, Luxembourg | 2015 | 1h 53m French and German with English subtitles
God is a malevolent writer living in present-day Brussels with his opinionated daughter who is righting his wrongs.
CLOSET MONSTER
DIRECTOR: Stephen Dunn
Canada | 2016 | 1h 30m
A creative and driven teenage boy is desperate to escape his dysfunctional parents, the haunting memories of his turbulent childhood, and the town he feels is suffocating him.
CREEDMORIA (SI NOMINEE)
DIRECTOR: Alicia Slimmer
USA | 2016 | 1h 30m
Set against the backdrop of New York’s largest mental hospital in the 80s, 17-year-old Candy injects fun into her dysfunctional life.
CUT TO THE CHASE (SI NOMINEE)
DIRECTOR: Blayne Weaver
USA | 2015 | 1h 30m
A hustling ex-con sets out in search of his kidnapped sister through the criminal underbelly of Shreveport, Louisiana.
DELINQUENT
DIRECTOR: Kieran Valla USA | 2015 | 1h 37m
A troubled teenager struggles to manage the fall-out of a family robbery gone wrong.
DIVERGE (SI NOMINEE)
DIRECTOR: James Morrison
USA | 2016 | 1h 20m
The survivor of a deadly virus is given the chance to regain his past life by stopping those who are responsible.
DRIFTWOOD (SI NOMINEE)
DIRECTOR: Paul Taylor
USA | 2015 | 1h 15m
A dialogue-free exploration of control, familial roles, and isolation.
EMPTY SPACE
DIRECTOR: James Choi
USA | 2016 | 1h 16m
An overweight, bullied young man befriends a precocious blind girl who shows him how to be accepted and loved in this tender coming of age film.
ERASING EDEN (SI NOMINEE)
DIRECTOR: Beth Dewey
USA | 2016 | 1h 10m
A young woman sabotages her own wedding then embarks on a harrowing journey to salvage it and reclaim her identity.
FREE IN DEED
DIRECTOR: Jake Mahaffy
USA, New Zealand | 2015 | 1h 40m
When a single mother brings her young boy to church for healing, a lonely Pentecostal minister is forced to confront the child’s seemingly incurable illness as well as his own demons.
FOLK HERO & FUNNY GUY
DIRECTOR: Jeff Grace USA | 2016 | 1h 28m
A successful singer-songwriter hatches a plan to help his friend’s struggling comedy career and broken love life by hiring him as the opening act on his tour.
GIRL FLU
DIRECTOR: Dorie Barton USA | 2016 | 1h 32m
12-year-old Bird experiences the worst week of her life while having to deal with the onset of puberty and the adolescence of her free-spirited mother
HERE ALONE
DIRECTOR: Rod Blackhurst USA | 2016 | 1h 36m
A woman struggles to survive in the wake of a mysterious epidemic that has decimated society and forced her deep into the unforgiving wild with her child.
THE INNOCENTS
DIRECTOR: Anne Fontaine
France, Poland | 2016 | 1h 55m
At the close of WWII, while French Red Cross doctor Mathilde is working in Poland, she is summoned to a Benedictine convent. What she finds there is shocking: A holy sister about to give birth and several more in advanced stages of pregnancy.
KING KUNG FU
DIRECTOR: Lance D. Hayes USA | 1976 | 1h 35m
40th Anniversary screening
When a kung fu trained talking gorilla from China makes a publicity stop in Kansas, a pair of bumbling reporters plan to set the gorilla free then capture him in order to get jobs. Shot entirely in Wichita using local cast and crew.
A MAN CALLED OVE
DIRECTOR: Hannes Holm
Sweden | 2015 | 1h 56m
Based on Fredrik Backman’s international best selling novel. A cantankerous man with steadfast beliefs, strict routines, and the feeling that everyone around him is an idiot seems to have given up on life until a boisterous young family moves in next door.
MOTHER (EMA)
DIRECTOR: Kadri Kõusaar Estonia | 2016 | 1h 29m Estonian with English subtitles
A mother cares for her comatose son after he is shot. As the small, tight-knit Estonian town tries to solve the mystery of who shot him and why, the world’s clumsiest crime may go unsolved.
OLD STONE (LAO SHI)
DIRECTOR: Johnny Ma
China, Canada | 2016 | 1h 20m
A Chinese taxi driver finds himself plunged into a Kafkaesque nightmare where no good deed goes unpunished.
PUSHING DEAD
DIRECTOR: Tom E. Brown USA | 2016 | 1h 48m
A struggling writer’s world is shaken when his health insurance is canceled and his HIV meds are almost gone. He tackles the system and his personal life with humor.
THE SALESMAN (FORUSHANDE)
DIRECTOR: Asghar Farhadi France, Iran | 2016 | 2h 05m
Revered Iranian director, Ashgar Farhadi, presents a drama about the choice to ruin a deplorable man’s life to teach him a lesson and gain revenge or to show compassion - all against the backdrop of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman.
SERVICE TO MAN
DIRECTORS: Aaron Greer, Seth Panitch USA | 2016 | 1h 32m
The first white student admitted to a historically black medical school forges unlikely friendships during racially turbulent 1968.
WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE
DIRECTOR: Todd Solondz USA | 1995 | 1h 28m
An unattractive seventh grader struggles to cope with inattentive parents, snobbish classmates, a smart older brother, an attractive younger sister, and her own insecurities in suburban New Jersey.
Documentary Features
EAT THAT QUESTION: FRANK ZAPPA IN HIS OWN WORDS
DIRECTOR: Thorsten Schütte
France, Germany | 2016 | 1h 33m
The life and career of independent, outspoken thinker and avant-garde musician, Frank Zappa. Told entirely through archival footage of interviews and concert performances.
ENLIGHTEN US: THE RISE AND FALL OF JAMES ARTHUR RAY
DIRECTORS: Jenny Carchman
USA | 2016 | 1h 33m
Motivational super star, James Arthur Ray, returns to the self-help industry after being convicted of negligent homicide in the death of three clients.
GROWING UP COY
DIRECTOR: Eric Juhola
USA | 2016 | 1h 23m
A Colorado family is thrust into the international media spotlight when they fight for the rights of their 6-year-old transgender daughter in a landmark civil rights case.
HARRY BENSON: SHOOT FIRST
DIRECTORS: Matthew Miele, Justin Bare
USA | 2016 | 1h 20m
Renowned photographer Harry Benson’s illustrious career began with intimate photographs of The Beatles on their first trip to America. His story is told by the icons of music, politics, and film he has captured and still shoots today at 86.
INSATIABLE: THE HOMARO CANTU STORY
DIRECTOR: Brett Schwartz
USA | 2016 | 1h 38m
Celebrity chef, inventor, and entrepreneur, Homaro Cantu, experienced a meteoric rise and fall in the Chicago culinary scene. Presented by: The Kitchen Place
JACKSON
DIRECTOR: Maisie Crow
USA | 2016 | 1h 32m
With a single abortion clinic remaining in the state of Mississippi, the city of Jackson has become ground zero in the nation’s battle over reproductive healthcare.
MAD TIGER
DIRECTORS: Jonathan Yi, Michael Haertlein
Japan, USA | 2016 | 1h 22m
Two Japanese best friends spend fifteen years touring the United States with their performance art, punk band Peelander-Z. When one of them decides to quit, they both face deeper challenges than expected.
MAYA ANGELOU AND STILL I RISE
DIRECTORS: Bob Hercules, Rita Coburn Whack
USA | 2016 | 1h 54m
A new journey through the remarkable life and works of Dr. Maya Angelou.
RUSH BROTHERS
DIRECTOR: Jordan Haro
USA | 2016 | 1h 12m
JaRon, Kareem, and Brandon Rush are basketball prodigies and brothers bound by each other’s triumphs and tragedies.
SANTOALLA
DIRECTORS: Andrew Becker, Daniel Mehrer
USA, Spain | 2016 | 1h 23m
A mysterious disappearance looms over a crumbling Spanish village, notorious for years of hostility between its residents.
SOUR GRAPES
DIRECTORS: Reuben Atlas, Jerry Rothwell
UK | 2016 | 1h 25m
Controversy erupts when an unassuming young wine expert floods the American wine market with fake vintages valued in the millions, in this humorous and suspenseful tale (featuring Bill Koch).
PUMPED DRY
DIRECTOR: Steve Elfers
USA | 2016 | 1h
In places around the world (including Kansas), supplies of groundwater are rapidly vanishing. As aquifers decline and wells begin to go dry, people are being forced to confront a growing crisis.
THIRSTY LAND
DIRECTOR: Conrad Weaver
USA | 2016 | 1h 30m
Farmers, communities, and the environment are impacted by the challenges of extreme drought and the water crisis in the Western United States.
TICKLED
DIRECTORS: David Farrier, Dylan Reeve
New Zealand | 2016 | 1h 32m
Journalist David Farrier stumbles upon a mysterious tickling competition online. As he delves deeper he comes up against fierce resistance, but that doesn’t stop him from getting to the bottom of a story stranger than fiction.
TO BE A MISS
DIRECTOR: Edward Ellis
USA, Venezuela | 2016 | 1h 24m ** US PREMIERE
Venezuela has won more global beauty competitions than any other nation in the world. Yet behind the glamor of pageantry lies a more sobering portrait of what it means to be a woman in this country.
TOWER
DIRECTOR: Keith Maitland
USA | 2016 | 1h 36m
On August 1, 1966, a sniper rode the elevator to the top floor of the University of Texas Tower and opened fire. These are the untold stories of witnesses, heroes, and survivors of America’s first mass school shooting.
UNDERFIRE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF PFC. TONY VACCARO
DIRECTOR: Max Lewkowicz
USA | 2016 | 1h 19m
Tony Vaccaro, a WWII infantryman, smuggled his $47.00 portable camera into battle to create one of the most comprehensive and intimate records of the war.
WALK WITH ME: THE TRIALS OF DAMON J. KEITH
DIRECTOR: Jesse Nesser
USA, Canada | 2016 | 1h 30m
Detroit civil rights giant Judge Damon J. Keith reflects on his journey from enlisting in a segregated army to deciding some of the most landmark and controversial rulings of the last 50 years.
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS: SHORTS PROGRAMS, Sponsored by Mini of Wichita
Short Films Playing with Gala Films
How To Lose Weight in Four Steps, 2016, Benjamin Berman, USA, 7m w/Folk Hero & Funny Guy
One man (un seul homme), 2016, Philippe Gregoire, Canada, 13m w/Old Stone
The Fifth Sense, 2016, Landon Barton, USA/Wichita, KS, 6m w/Delinquent
The Dynamic Double Standard, 2015, Luke Patton, USA, 5m w/Girl Flu
Short Films Playing with Feature Films
Ace - The Gas Station Cowboy, 2015, Evan Senn, Ken Pugh USA/Wichita, KS, 9m w/Eat That Question
An Evening, 2016, Soren Green, Denmark, 10m w/Closet Monster
Ari, 2015, Alex Murawski, Australia, 10m w/Empty Space
Call of Beauty, 2015, Brenda Lien, Germany, 9m w/To Be A Miss
Detach, 2016, Khairul Rahimi, USA, 7m w/Tower
Eggplant, 2015, Yangzi She, China, 8m w/Free In Deed
Fruit, 2016, Gerhard Funk, Germany, 7m w/Santoalla
Love Bite: Laurie Lipton and Her Disturbing Black & White Drawings, 2016, James Scott, UK, 34m w/Burden
Love Comes Later, 2015, Ying-Fang Shen, USA/Taiwan, 10m w/Jackson
Nelly, 2015, Chris Raiber, Austria, 17m w/The Arbalist
NIMBI, 2015, Colin Garcia, Canada/USA, 15m w/Mad Tiger
One Shot, 2015, Andrea Casaseca, Spain, 10m w/Mother
Brave (PAWO), 2015, Antje Heyn, Germany, 8m w/April and the Extraordinary World
Stream of Doubts, 2016, Joseph Catte, France, 10m w/Tickled
The Submarine, 2015, Wenceslao Scyzoryk, Spain, 21m w/Harry Benson: Shoot First
Title, 2015, Hazart, USA, 5m w/Author: The JT Leroy Story
Who Nose, 2016, Chloe Peters, UK, 2m w/Sour Grapes
Artistry : Animated Shorts
RUNTIME: 110 min
In the Waves, 2015, Ying-Fang Shen, USA/Taiwan, 6m
MANOMAN, 2015, Simon Cartwright, United Kingdom, 11m
Ego, 2016, Pei-Hsin Cho, Taiwan, 5m
Artemis, 2016, Heather Freeman, USA, 4m
Fulfilament, 2015, Rhiannon Evans, United Kingdom, 8m
Madama Butterfly, 2015, Andreas Kessler, Lea Najjar, Germany, 6m
Duhkaha, 2016, Aaron Lun, Canada, 4m
The Sail, 2016, Anna Taberko, USA, 3m
Sisters, 2016, David Chontos, USA, 5m
349, 2015, Kristen Lauth Shaeffer, USA, 4m
Dawit, 2015, David Jansen, Germany, 15m
In Exile, 2016, Alexander Kurilov, Moldova, 11m
The Idea Thief, 2016, Dani Alva, Juan Lozano, United Kingdom, 3m
I’m Scared, 2015, Pet Levin, USA, 5m
What Happens In Your Brain if You See a German Word Like…?, 2015, Zora Rux, Germany, 5m
“Parade” de Satie, 2016, Koji Yamamura, Japan, 15m
Heroic : Courageous Shorts
RUNTIME: 93 min
Veterans Day, 2016, Monica Lee, Cooper Hayden, Josh Jacobs, USA, 3m
The Telegram Man, 2011, James Francis Khehtie, Australia, 15m
Brave Bunch. Children of the Warsaw Uprising, 2015, Tomasz Stankiewicz, Poland, 30m
Apollo 13: The Spirit That Built America, 2015, Ron Sylvester, USA/Hutchinson, KS, 15m
The Story of Father Kapaun, 2016, Steve Hubert, USA/Wichita, KS, 30m
Memoirs : Documentary Shorts
RUNTIME: 110 min
Alzheimer’s: A Love Story, 2015, Gabe Schimmel, Monica Petruzzelli, Amanda Le, Riani Singgih, USA, 17m
Brother Valentine, 2015, Tim Rundel, USA, 30m
The Radical Jew, 2016, Noam Osband, Palestine/Israel, 25m
Spectrum: A Story of the Mind, 2015, Jill Jones, USA, 24m
The Invisible World, 2016, Jen Fineran, USA, 14m
Well Grounded : Terra Firma Shorts
RUNTIME: 105 min
Pork.0, 2016, Brett Kuxhausen, USA, 17m
Pickle, 2016, Amy Nicholson, USA, 16m
Grid Corrections, 2016, Gerco de Ruijter, Netherlands, 2m
The LaRosh Harvest Legacy, 2016, Doug Armknecht, USA/Smith Center, KS, 8m
Glass Bottled-Milk: Saving the Iwig Family Dairy, 2016, Benjamin Garner, USA/Lawrence, KS, 21m
Water from Stone, 2016, Ben Masters, USA, 9m
When the Well Runs Dry, 2015, Stephen Lerner, Reuben Aaronson, USA, 32m (32
Rights : Civil Rights Shorts
RUNTIME: 104 min
Time Simply Passes, 2015, Ty Flowers, USA, 56m
Playing with
Black Cop, 2016, Cory Bowles, Canada, 11m
[Solitary], 2015, Derek Pastuszek, USA, 17m
Soul City, 2016, Monica Berra, SheRea DelSol, Gini Richards, USA, 20m
Gripping : Dramatic Shorts
RUNTIME: 112 min
Mine, 2016, Nick Dixon, USA, 12m
The Lost Ones, 2015, Dima Lochman, Germany, 19m
You Can Go, 2016, Christine Turner, USA, 10m
Meeting Between Two Parked Cars, 2016, Anna Linke, Germany 25m
Plein Soleil (Blazing Sun), 2014, Fred Castadot, Belgium, 24m
El Lugar Mas Obscuro (The Darkest Place), 2016, Arturo Mendicuti Barroeta, Mexico, 10m
The Visit, 2015, Shane Andries, USA, 12m
Levity : Lighter Shorts
RUNTIME: 116 min
SRY BSY, 2016, Verena Westphal, Germany, 4m
What if…?, 2016, Lorielle Mallue, USA, 22m
Goodbye Vesna, 2016, Cristian Sulser, USA, 20m
Total Awesome Viking Power, 2015, Morten Forland, USA, 15m
Love Gov: From First Date to Mandate, 2016, John Papola, USA, 27m
Confessions of A Breastimator, 2016, Jisu Kim, USA, 3m
How I Wanted to Become Famous, 2016, Tim Oppermann, Austria, 16m
AVO, 2015, Golnaz Jamsheed, Iran, 9m
Relativity : Relationship Shorts
RUNTIME: 105 min
Red Peace, 2016, Rahim Toofan, Iran, 15m
Brix and the Bitch, 2016, Nico Raineau, Canada, 10m
Pitter Patter Goes My Heart, 2015, Christoph Rainer, Germany, 22m
Walk With Me, 2016, Hazart, USA, 15m
Dawn, 2016, Jake Graf, UK, 14m
Somebody Else, 2016, Laurent King, China, 16m
I Am Virgin, 2015, Cody Mathieson Packer, USA, 13m
Advancing : Aging Shorts
RUNTIME: 116 min
He and She, 2015, Marco Gadge, Germany, 16m
Mikelis, 2016, Marc Bethke, Germany, 15m
Last Days, 2016, Arturo Leon Lierena, Peru, 11m
Why Didn’t You Take A Taxi?, 2016, Caspar Kaeser, Germany, 14m
Something’s Different about Felix Weathers, 2016, Matt Russak, USA, 20m
Deafblind Couple, 2015, Esteban Pedraza, USA, 4m
The Last Days of the Cinema, 2015, Christopher Downs, Spain, 25m
Que La Nuit Soit Douce (Sweet Night), 2015, Frederic Recrosio, Switzerland, 6m
In the Blink, 2015, Damien Patrik, USA, 5m
Adulting : Coming of Age Shorts
RUNTIME: 121 min
Coffin Grabber, 2016, Claire Elizabeth Alberie, UK, 15m
VICI, 2016, Johnny Kirk, USA, 17m
Winter Hymns, 2015, Dusty Mancinelli, Canada, 16m
Out of the Village, 2015, Jonathan Stein, USA, 17m
Patriot, 2015, Eva Riley, UK, 15m
Billy the Kid, 2015, Sam Johnson, USA, 16m
Sing, 2016, Kristof Deak, Hungary, 25m
Futuristic : SciFi Shorts
RUNTIME: 110 min
Second Skin, 2016, Charlie Manton, UK, 20m
The Quantified Self, 2015, Gleb Osatinski, USA, 16m
Hux, 2016, Mageina Tovah, Charlie Lieberman, USA, 13m
They Will All Die in Space, 2015, Javier Chillon, Spain, 15m
Not the End, 2014, Cesar Esteban Alenda, Jose Esteban Alenda, Spain, 30m
Sing for Your Supper, 2016, Mu Sun, USA, 16m
Oblivion : Fatality Shorts
RUNTIME: 99 min
PET, 2015, Chris Moraitis, Greece, 12m
Two Windows, 2016, Tim Ellrich, Leonhard Kaufman, Germany, 11m
20 Matches, 2015, Mark Tapio Kines, USA, 10m
The Right Place, 2015, Fernando Franco, Begoña Arostegui, Spain, 4m
Black Swell, 2015, Jake Honig, USA, 9m
the garden of the earthly delights, 2015, Jorge Muriel, Spain, 17m
Vanilla, 2015, Juan Beiro, Spain, 10m
Wonderland, 2016, Patrick Haischberger, Austria, 16m
Get the F K Outta Paris, 2015, Greg Emetaz, USA, 10m
Bloody : There Will Be Blood Shorts
RUNTIME: 108 min
Coup de Grace, 2015, Pascal Glatz, Switzerland, 9m
Pesanta, 2015, Angel Valera, Spain, 19m
Ellis, 2015, Nolan Cubero, USA, 15m
Counting to 1000, 2016, Josh Pfaff, USA, 20m
Portal to Hell!!!, 2016, Vivieno Caldinelli, Canada, 13m
Hit & Run, 2015, Jordan Liebowtiz, USA, 7m
Los Angeles 1991, 2015 Zacarias & MacGregor, 10m
Zombriella, 2016, Benjamin Gutsche, Germany, 15m
Fantastic : Bizarre Shorts
RUNTIME: 114 min
Dreamkeepers, 2016, Whitney Stephenson, USA, 10m
Doorcuts, 2016, Zak Tatham, Canada, 6m
Sleeping Wonder, 2015, Alberto Rizzi, Italy, 10m
The Voice in the Head, 2015, Cyrus Trafford, UK, 12m
Getting Fat in a Healthy Way, 2015, Kevork Aslanyan, Bulgaria/Alemania, 22m
StalkerZ, 2014, Damien Patrik, USA, 4m
Caves of the Vampires, 2016, RG Miller, USA/Wichita, KS 50m
Joel Fein Emerging Filmmaker Program (High School & Younger Filmmakers)
RUNTIME: 105 min
The Bench, 2015, Cameron Burnett, USA/California, 6m
Finding Strength, 2016, Maya Suchak, USA/New York, 10m
With Love Tuck and Alex, 2016, Eliza Frakes, Aashna Dev, USA/California, 9m
One Day On Carver Street, 2015, Azure Allen, USA/South Carolina, 4m
Penalties, 2016, Roderick Gadaev, Australia, 10m
Talk to Me, 2015, Josh Knoller, USA/California, 20m
Scarlett, 2016, Brett Jones, USA/Derby, KS, 15m
Kansas Sunshine, 2016, Kenneth McLaughlin, USA/Lawrence, KS, 8m
Two Far Gone, 2016, Andrew Kivett, USA/Wichita, KS, 9m
The Puppet Lady, 2016, Kate Gondwe, USA/Wichita, KS, 14m
Timothy Gruver Spotlight on Kansas Filmmaker Program
RUNTIME: 102 min
Grammy, 2015, Jill Gevargizian, USA/Lenexa, KS, 2m
Nestor Talbot, 2015, Craig Erpelding, USA/Manhattan KS, 11m
If Death Were Kind, 2015, Austin Blankenau, USA/Lawrence, KS, 14m
The LaRosh Harvest Legacy, 2016, Doug Armknecht, USA/Smith Center, KS, 8m
Other Parts of Self, 2016, Robert Brogden, USA/Olathe, KS 16m
Off Track Betty, 2015, Clayton Dean Smith, USA/Shawnee Mission, KS 21m
Imaginem, 2016, Cole Campbell, USA/Wichita, KS, 3m
Better Luck Next Time, 2016, Naythan Smith, USA/Wichita, KS, 4m
Ace - The Gas Station Cowboy, 2015, Evan Senn, Ken Pugh USA/Wichita, KS, 9m
King, 2016, Ellen Crispin, USA/Wichita, KS, 9m
Other, 2015, Rodrick Pocowatchit, USA/Wichita, KS, 5m
Please visit http:// www.tallgrassfilmfest.com for festival pass and ticketing information.
