The Tallgrass Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Wichita, Kansas. It was founded in 2003 by Timothy Gruver, and is operated by the non-profit organization Tallgrass Film Association.It is a four-day independent film festival, open to the public, and screens roughly 120 features and shorts each year.
The festival takes place at several locations in downtown Wichita including the Orpheum Theatre. In 2009, over 8,000 people attended. Since its creation in 2003, over 20,000 people have attended with approximately 200 filmmakers and guests coming in for the festival from all over the world.
Official Selections have included Audience Award winners The Big Bad Swim and 39 Pounds of Love; as well as the 2006 Independent Spirit Award winner Conventioneers, the 2007 Independent Spirit Award nominee Trials of Darryl Hunt as well as Bomb The System, Manhattan, Kansas, Dreamland, The Real Dirt on Farmer John, Fat Girls, Iraq in Fragments, The Last Picture Show, The Buddy Holly Story and the popular High School Shorts Program and Timothy Gruver Spotlight on Kansas Filmmakers.
2003 Opening Night Film: Bomb The System 2004 Opening Night Film: Up For Grabs; 2005 (Shortgrass) Opening Night Film: Conventioneers; 2006 Opening Night Film: Manhattan, Kansas; 2007 Opening Night Film: Kansas v. Darwin; 2008 Opening Night Film: What's the Matter with Kansas?; 2009 Opening Night Film: The Only Good Indian; 2010 Opening Night Film: The Dry Land 2011 Opening Night Film: Der Sandmann