Available to viewers located in Kansas AUDIENCE FAVORITE NARRATIVE SHORT: SHE RAISED ME

In a society where kissing is punishable by death and people pay for things with slaps to the face, Angine, an unhappy woman, shops compulsively in a department store. There, she becomes fascinated by an ingenuous salesgirl. The two become close, raising the suspicions of a jealous colleague.

Deux Personnes échangeant de la Salive [Two People Exchanging Saliva]

In a farcical world where kissing is punishable by death, a personal shopper threatens the status quo.

Violeta, the young daughter of a widowed electrical maintenance worker, retreats to her mother's neglected music workshop to play music to remember her. When she causes a widespread power cut tensions rise between father and daughter bringing their grief to boiling point.

Synthesize Me

A young teenager finds a way to bring her mother's synthesizers back to life with disastrous consequences for her and her father.

Ms. Hopkins, an aging African American woman, is a middle school
drama teacher on the verge of retirement. However, while finishing up her
final notes to a group of students who are about to perform Shakespeare’s
Much Ado About Nothing, she’s confronted by a new challenge that threatens
her life and the lives of her students. Her only hope lies within the memory of
the language of love.

Ms. Hopkins and her middle school students are rehearsing for an upcoming production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing when it is interrupted by a school shooter.

Nine-year-old Percy spends summers in Derby, Kansas, leaving his stable life with his father in Florida to stay with his mother, Alexis, in her mobile home. While his days are filled with childhood adventures, Alexis’s struggles with alcoholism leave him neglected and alone. As his frustration grows, his behavior spirals, culminating in an act of violence that exposes his family’s dysfunction. When a tornado forces Percy and his estranged parents into a cramped bathroom, he faces a reckoning that reshapes his understanding of family. Based on a true story, Derby explores how our past shapes our future relationships.

Derby

In Derby, Kansas, summer is coming to an end and 9-year old Percy is confronted with the harsh reality of his mother’s addiction.

A high school senior named Barry panics backstage before his band concert as his classmates debate whether he is worthy of the highly coveted solo performance. Barry relinquishes his solo and flees to the bathroom, where he suffers a panic attack. Amidst the chaos, Barry falls onto the bathroom floor and wakes up in a dark room, his subconscious. From this room, Barry sees through the eyes of his body as an unknown persona, Baz, takes control and achieves what Barry could only dream of. Through action and success, Baz persuades Barry to hold control over his body until he can obtain admission to their dream school. As this deadline passes, Barry realizes that he is watching his life and dreams go on without him, forcing him to revolt. After breaking the glass of his subconscious, Barry wakes back up in the bathroom he passed out in, ready to take action and obtain what he’s always wanted.

The Backseat

An anxious high school senior named Barry battles for the right to control his life and body in the depths of his subconscious with a more charismatic and ambitious alter ego.

In an underground garage, a voice message becomes the testament of a love left in limbo, while fleeting images allude to the moment that led to it.

A Poem

In an underground garage, a voice message becomes the testament of a love left in limbo, while fleeting images allude to the moment that led to it.

Tiger Lily Mountain Pass is a hand-drawn animation inspired by Nate King's time spent in the forests of Appalachia. The work explores nature as a space of queer erotic encounter in a region where queerness is often hidden or disguised. King animates with a combination of pencil, paper, and digital processes, weaving together a dreamlike poem that tells a story of ecstasy, longing, and heartache.

Tiger Lily Mountain Pass

A hand-drawn animation set in the Appalachian wilderness, Tiger Lily Mountain Pass explores queerness, eroticism, and longing through a dreamlike blend of pencil, paper, and digital poetics.

FootRocket - Apple Seed

SHE RAISED ME is a dark comedy about a struggling playwright named Louie, whose plan to break up with his boyfriend goes awry, when he discovers his boyfriend’s mother is Marilyn Muff, an actress (and gay icon) that Louie grew up idolizing. Louie quickly clings to Marilyn like a childhood security blanket, but what lengths will he go to to hold onto her?

She Raised Me

When a struggling writer discovers he’s dating the son of his favorite actress, he’ll do anything to make (and keep) a meaningful connection.

Kansas

NARRATIVE SHORT AWARDS SHOWCASE

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2025 Festival Passes

The 23rd Annual Tallgrass Film Fest occurs in-person in Wichita, KS from October 16-19, and online from October 21-28, 2025

Here's what's coming up soon. Can't make it? No sweat. Many live streams will be available for on-demand viewing as well.