Kansas City FilmFest is in the books

Thoughts from the Kansas City FilmFest, which was held last weekend at Cinemark on the Plaza ...

* Our screening led off an 8:30 p.m. block, and proceeded a 90-minute documentary called "Woman On Fire" about the first (and so far, only) transgender firefighter in New York history. What a fascinating movie about a complicated issue. I wish the director, Julie Sokolow, would have been there, but I did reach out to her afterwards.
* There were plenty of other filmmakers there, of course, and it's always great to visit with them. Unfortunately, I had to leave before the screening of "The Grand Illusion," a documentary short about one of the most famous plays in college baseball history - which happened to come at the expense of my friend Phil Stephenson.
* That's me in all three of these photos, with producer Savannah Rodgers (top left), producer Jon Pic (top right) and executive producer John Stephens (bottom left).

Rest in peace, Jinx No. 8

Southwestern College has had many black cats named "Jinx," but this one will always be my favorite, because he appears in our documentary. I just saw him last month on our visit to Southwestern, and took delight in explaining to my two guests where he lived (the basketball gym) and what his job was (to serve as an unofficial mascot and maybe catch a mouse or two).
But Jinx was sick, and he reportedly died over the weekend. Southwestern wasted no time in going to the Humane Society and replacing him with another Jinx yesterday. That's Jinx No. 9 ... they think.

Our busy month ahead

Here is a list of where "Out Here In Kansas" will be screening in April.

* 8:30 p.m. Thur., April 6: Kansas City FilmFest, Kansas City, Mo. Details

* 6:30 p.m. Thur., April 13: Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas Details

* 6:30 p.m. Wed., April 19: Wichita State University, Wichita, Kan. Details

* 7 p.m. Wed., April 26: Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, Kan. Details

* 2 p.m. Sat., April 29: Twister Alley Film Festival, Woodward, Okla. Details

Spring college tour continues in Overland Park

Our spring college tour will continue in Overland Park with a screening at Johnson County Community College.
The screening is 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 26 in the 221 lecture hall of the Carlsen Center on the JCCC campus.
This screening came at the request of Judy Dutra, an Overland Park resident who is the mother of our main subject, Burt Humburg. More details can be found on the Facebook event page, which can be found here.
JCCC will join Butler Community College, Southwestern College, Kansas State and Wichita State as colleges at which we've screened this year.
We'd love to screen at more colleges this fall. If you're interested in setting something up, drop us a line at OutHereInKansas@gmail.com.

Oklahoma premiere will be at Twister Alley

"Out Here In Kansas" has been selected to screen in the Twister Alley Film Festival, a three-day event that runs April 27-29 in Woodward, Okla.
Our documentary will be shown 2 p.m. Sat., April 29 at the Woodward Arts Theater, a gorgeous historical theater. (We're even among the four nominees for Best Doc Short Film.)
A full schedule of the festival can be found here.

The Hitman is on board

Our screening at Wichita State on April 19 will be emceed by a local legend in the radio world: Greg "The Hitman" Williams.
Williams, who can be heard from 6-10 a.m. weekdays on Power 93.5 FM, has been on Wichita's airwaves since he was a student at East High School. He also attended WSU, which is part of the reason we wanted him to emcee the event.
Most important, though, was the fact that he's seen "Out Here In Kansas" and wants to support it. You can learn more about the event on WSU's Facebook event page here.

WSU to screen documentary April 19

In what I'm sure will be our largest audience to date, "Out Here in Kansas" will screen on the campus of Wichita State University next month.
The event will start at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 19 at the CAC Theater. Admission is $2, with proceeds going to WSU Spectrum, a social/discussion group for the LGBT community and its allies.
Spectrum is one of my favorite organizations. Even though it has no religious affiliation, I believe its mission falls right in line with what Jesus taught us.
WSU's Elliott School of Communication and Office of Diversity and Inclusion have stepped up to co-sponsor the event, as well as the Kansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Admission is free for WSU students. You can learn more about the event, and RSVP for it, on this Facebook event page.