© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

At the Kansas City Underground Film Festival, independent and inventive movies take center stage

A man wearing a baseball cap and a T-shirt talks animatedly inside a radio studio while gesturing with his right hand.
Carlos Moreno
/
KCUR 89.3
Willy Evans talks about listening to the hundreds of entries submitted to the Kansas City Underground Film Festival.

The Kansas City Underground Film Festival kicks off this week, offering an opportunity for movies produced locally and around the world to be screened in front of a Kansas City audience. "[We] really love independent, low-budget movies, especially ones that really highlight ingenuity and inventiveness," said co-founder Willy Evans.

Willy Evans co-founded the Kansas City Underground Film Festival in 2020, in an effort to revive what he felt was a dying film scene after theclosing of the Tivoli Cinemas.

The festival is inclusive to film makers with varying skillsets and budgets, and this year has received more than 800 submissions from around the globe.

"It gives people the opportunity to experiment and to find new ways of making films. And ultimately, it's all still storytelling," said Evans. "It's a little bit of inventive and unique, but it at the core, it's still the same idea."

The free festival runs from Sept. 7-16 atCharlotte Street.

Evans and Abby Olcese, film editor for The Pitch, shared some of the films they think are must-sees out of this years entries.

Willy Evans' recommendations:

Abby Olcese's recommendations:

Stay Connected
When I host Up To Date each morning at 9, my aim is to engage the community in conversations about the Kansas City area’s challenges, hopes and opportunities. I try to ask the questions that listeners want answered about the day’s most pressing issues and provide a place for residents to engage directly with newsmakers. Reach me at steve@kcur.org or on Twitter @stevekraske.
As a producer for Up To Date, my goal is to inform our audience by curating interesting and important conversations with reliable sources and individuals directly affected by a topic or issue. I strive for our program to be a place that hosts impactful conversations, providing our audience with greater knowledge, intrigue, compassion and entertainment. Contact me at elizabeth@kcur.org or on Twitter at @er_bentley_ruiz.
KCUR serves the Kansas City region with breaking news and award-winning podcasts.
Your donation helps keep nonprofit journalism free and available for everyone.