Tallgrass Film Festival

A KANSAS PREMIERE IS REQUIRED FOR FEATURE FILMS. IF YOUR FILM PLAYS IN ANY KANSAS FILM FESTIVAL BEFORE OCTOBER 15, 2026, YOUR FILM IS AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED FROM CONSIDERATION.

World and US Premieres are not required.

**Films screened in the USA before June 2025 or are available on VOD (paid or free) care not eligible for competition.**

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE USE:
The use of AI is limited to the human-prompted creation or guidance of visual and audio material ONLY. Films that are entirely generated by AI tools are not encouraged to submit. The use of AI tools for direction, writing, or editing is NOT allowed.
Submissions that use AI within the festival's rules must include PDFs or screenshots of the prompts and responses generated by AI tools. AI tools must also be included in credits.

Submitting to a second category is unnecessary, as programmers will contact you regarding additional categories as needed. Please use your money wisely.

The festival will determine the final competition section, which will be indicated in the invitation email. Some films may be invited to compete in more than one category. The festival reserves the right to determine final category eligibility.

The festival does not offer refunds in case of multiple category submissions.

The festival generally does not screen films that are available commercially on VOD at the time of the festival. Generally, films that are available for free online are also not considered. However, the festival reserves the right to make exceptions to this rule.
Works-in-progress are discouraged from submitting unless a concrete completion date is before the festival notification date.

Films with missing/broken links will be marked as incomplete, and if no response is given after a request for an updated file is sent, they will be disqualified after 2 weeks.
For films submitted using the "Student Fee," a valid copy of a school ID is necessary to qualify for the reduced fee; failure to include a valid student ID will make the submission incomplete.

The festival does not offer refunds in case of ineligible submissions.

– – – SCREENING/PRESENTATION TERMS OF AGREEMENT – – –
Final exhibition media MUST include open captioning (yes, even non-dialogue films). Films without captions may be removed from competition.
- All films in a language other than English must be subtitled in English for festival presentation.

Tallgrass Film Festival is granted the right to utilize an excerpt from any film submitted and accepted for exhibition at the Festival for promotional purposes.
The individual or corporation submitting the film hereby warrants that it is authorized to commit the film for screening and understands and accepts these requirements and regulations. If the film is selected for exhibition, it may be made available online via our virtual festival platform with a ticket-split agreement with the filmmaker.
The individual or corporation submitting the film shall indemnify and hold harmless Tallgrass Film Festival from and against any and all claims, liabilities, losses, damages, and expenses (including but not limited to attorney's fees and court costs) that may be incurred by reason of any claim involving copyright, trademark, credits, publicity, screening, and loss of or damage to the screening videos entered.
Should your film be accepted, we ask permission to keep a copy for our festival library. This request is voluntary and not conditional. The copy in the TFF library will not be used for profit. Should we consider re-screening the film for a public paid event, we will notify individuals or corporations representing the film for permission and conditions.
Withdrawal after acceptance into the festival may mean incurred costs, which we will pass on to you.

WAIVER POLICY*: Please do not contact us requesting waivers or reduced submission fees. As a nonprofit organization, our annual operations and the process of evaluating the volume of submissions we receive are very costly. We strive to keep our fees as reasonable as possible and encourage all applicants to take advantage of our early and official deadlines to save on submission fees.
*We can consider your request if your film comes from a country affected by US financial sanctions. Requests can only be considered during the early deadline period.
All rules are subject to discretion by the festival.