The 2024 documentary “Luther: Never Too Much” will have its Kansas premiere as the opening night gala of the 22nd annual Tallgrass Film Festival, in downtown Wichita, Oct. 24-27.
With a mix of free and paid events and extensive educational programming, the festival annually brings thousands of visitors to the city. This year, the festival will feature more than 129 films, in venues including the Orpheum Theatre, the Advanced Learning Library and a new venue with three screens inside Century II, including the Mary J. Teall Theater.
Tickets for most movies are $10. Tallgrass Passes that include admission to all movies and special events can be purchased. For tickets and a complete festival schedule, go to tff24.eventive.org/schedule
“Luther: Never Too Much”
Tallgrass will host the regional premiere of “Luther: Never Too Much,” a documentary chronicling the life of iconic musical performer Luther Vandross from childhood musical talent to worldwide fame. The film explores his collaborations, influences, character, and relationships with family, friends and fans.
The film, purchased by CNN, will not premiere nationally until 2025.
The story, presented with Carla Eckels, host of KMUW’s “Soulsations,” is the opening-night gala for Tallgrass and features a pre-reception, at Hopping Gnome, 1710 E. Douglas, with the Kevin Marlo (better known as Keith Martin) Band.
Tickets to the movie are $15 and combined movie and reception tickets are $30. The movie screens Thurs., Oct. 24, 7 p.m., Century II Mary Jane Teall Theater. The pre-reception begins at 4:30 p.m.
Celebrating Hattie McDaniel
The festival will celebrate Hattie McDaniel, an African-American, singer-songwriter, and comedian who was born in Wichita. She became the first African American to win an Oscar for her supporting role as Mammy in “Gone With the Wind.”
Her great-grandnephew, Kevin John Goff, a filmmaker, actor, and public speaker, will be in Wichita for the festival and tribute to McDaniel. The tribute begins at 9:30 a.m. Sat., Oct. 26, at the Hattie McDaniel memorial marker at 925 N. Wichita for a special kick-off morning reading of a poem by Goff.
At 11 a.m. the McDaniel tribute continues at The Kansas African American Museum, 601 N. Water. With a discussion on McDaniel between TKAAM Executive Director Denise Sherman and Goff. Goff continues to honor her legacy by inspiring the newest generation to take courage from her trailblazing accomplishments. Also on display will be a painting commissioned by the festival in 2004.
Kansas 1939 Film Ties
This year, the festival pays tribute to Kansas cinematic history ties from 1939, with a showing of the 1939 movies “In This Our Life,” featuring McDaniel, and “The Wizard of Oz.”
McDaniel received the National Board of Review “Best Acting” citation for her role “In This Our Life.” She played the mother of a brilliant son targeted because of his race. The film stars Bette Davis as a neurotic southerner who steals her sister’s husband then vies with her for another man.
“In This is Our Life” will be shown on Sat., Oct. 26, 4:30 p.m. at the Orpheum Theater, 200 N. Broadway.
There will be a free showing of “The Wizard of Oz” in Naftzgar Park, on Douglas just north of Intrust Bank Arena on Wed., Oct 23, 7 p.m.
Black Representation on Screen: Then and Now
Join the conversation with Hattie McDaniel’s great-grandnephew Kevin John Goff, Gordon Parks’ son David Parks, and Gordon Parks Award-winning filmmakers (see more below) as they discuss the representation of Black people on the big and small screen, what’s changed, what’s stayed the same, and what to strive toward in the future.
This panel will begin at the end of the screening of “In This Our Life” on Sat., Oct. 26, the Orpheum Theater, 200 N. Broadway.
Gordon Parks Award Movies
The fourth annual Gordon Parks Award for Black Excellence in Filmmaking competition presented by Cargill provides a $5,000 cash prize and a $10,000 camera rental package to the winner. This year’s competitors are:
Albany Road, 135 minutes
Celeste met her soulmate. But, Kyle’s mother, Paula, had it in for Celeste and wasn’t going to let her take away her son and Paula wins. One year after the Kyle/Paula debacle, fate puts Celeste and Paula in a car on a road trip from NYC to Washington, D.C. where Paula realizes she may have misjudged Celeste. When they run into Kyle and his new fiancée, crap hits the fan.
The film will be shown at the Orpheum Theatre on Sat., Oct. 26, at 8 p.m., as part of the Saturday night gala.
Othelo, The Great, 83 minutes
“Othelo, The Great” is a documentary about Sebastião Bernardes de Souza Prata, aka Grande Othelo, one of Brazil’s greatest actors and comedians. Black, orphaned, and the grandson of enslaved people, Othelo escaped poverty to forge a career that broke every imaginable barrier for a Black actor in the first half of the 20th century.
The Fight for Black Lives, 73 minutes
The Fight for Black Lives shows how racial stress and the U.S. healthcare system disadvantage the health of Black Americans, starting before birth. The film weaves together stories of Black women who were pregnant during the pandemic and Black Lives Matter uprising.
This film plays at the Century II Pear 101 on Sun., Oct. 27, at 4:30 p.m.
I Needed Paris: Inspired by Gordon Parks
You may have read stories in The Voice about the trip students from Gordon Parks Academy in Wichita were fundraising to take to Paris, to assist with this film. Well, here’s the result of their trip. “I Needed Paris” follows the nine students as they reimagine how Gordon Parks photographed fashions, portraits, and street photography during his 1950-1952 tenure in Paris as a photographer in the LIFE magazine bureau.
This film plays on Thu., Oct. 24, 11 a.m., Century II Mary J. Teall Theater.
