The Free State Festival celebrates the free spirit of the state Kansas with films that challenge, inspire, and entertain. This annual signature event brings independent films, live music, comedy and art installations to venues across the vibrant college town of Lawrence through programming support from community partners and its sponsoring organization, the Lawrence Arts Center.

We encourage filmmakers to look at our past film selections before submitting to see if your work would be a good fit for our programming. We enjoy films that exhibit innovative storytelling techniques, tackle compelling social issues and challenge our audiences in new ways.

Feature films must be a Lawrence, Kansas premiere.

Visit us online at freestatefestival.org.

Rules & Terms

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

- The filmmaker must secure all rights, licenses, clearances and releases necessary for exhibition.

-The Free State Film Festival will consider work-in-progress. Filmmakers must deliver the final format if accepted.

AGREEMENTS:
If your film or video is accepted for screening by the Free State Festival, you agree to and understand the following:

FORMAT: You agree to provide the festival an exhibition copy of the entry on the format indicated on the entry form.

SHIPPING: You are responsible for the arrangements and cost of shipping the exhibition copy to the Free State Festival.

LOSS & DAMAGE: Every precaution will be taken to safeguard films, videos and publicity materials while they are in the possession of the festival. However, if loss or damage occurs, The Free State Festival cannot accept or assume responsibility.

8 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • Kelvin Garvanne

    My experiences at the 2026 Free State FF were exceptional. The staff and community members were friendly and helpful. The film offerings were outstanding. Lawrence has good restaurants, the Spencer is a top notch museum, and the area I was in had interesting architecture, history, and a great farmers market.

    June 2026
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  • Benjamin Arredondo

    It was an honor to be included in the Free State Festival. The program was brilliantly curated and the staff was most welcoming. Audience members were engaged and kind. Lawrence in general is a great place to be and visit.

    June 2026
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  • Kevin McKinney

    I recommend the Free State Festival if you want a place where the festival consciously builds an audience for your film and doesn't program films to compete for the same time-slot. If you socialize with the audience members you will have seen the same films and have that in common to talk about. Many films are made to provoke discussion so this is the best way to run a film festival: fewer films and deeper discussion. The festival printed a large poster of all of the films to hang in the lobby. This also gave us more photo-ops and a chance to see the broad diversity in programming. Thank you Marlo and the Free State Festival crew!

    July 2024
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  • I-Bing Fu

    We were thrilled to have been able to screen our film Baseball with Dad at this year’s event! Everyone was very courteous and the communication was prompt and easy to follow. Thank you so much for having us and we would without a doubt love to submit to this event again!!

    July 2023
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  • Daniel Szlauderbach

    Free State Fest is an absolute gem! Marlo and co. curated such a fascinating variety of artists and organized an incredibly well-run week of events. Lawrence KS has for decades been a small creative hub in the middle of the country, and Free State Fest both keeps that spirit alive and takes it to the next level.

    July 2023
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