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Up To Date

Kansas City Underground Film Festival champions the cinema underdogs

By Steve Kraske,
Nora Crutcher-McGowan
Published September 7, 2026 at 4:00 AM CDT
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Submissions are open worldwide to filmmakers, but the festival usually dedicates a screening slot to locally made films.

The festival returns for its sixth year of free movie programming, which will include films across a range of genres from experimental to animation.

Willy Evans, who founded the Kansas City Underground Film Festival along with Kari Bingham-Gutierrez in 2019, had the idea to start a film festival after witnessing the closing of several beloved local movie theaters in central Kansas City, particularly the original Tivoli Theater in Westport in 2019.

Modeled after similar festivals he had been to in bigger cities such as Chicago and New York, the Kansas City Underground Film Festival aims to serve as a “hub” for reliable, independent and not-for-profit films in Kansas City, Evans said.

“We really wanted to have something that was centrally located, that was accessible, that people could come to and enjoy movies without needing to go out to the suburbs or pay a bunch of money for tickets or passes,” Evans told KCUR’s Up To Date.

Evans and Bingham-Gutierrez received hundreds of hours’ worth of films for this year’s fest, which will kick off on Sept. 11 at Charlotte Street. Each submission was watched thanks to the help of a larger pool of volunteers.

While the festival doesn’t stick to any one theme, the organizers usually feature horror films during one day of the fest because of the genre’s popularity, as well as local films.

One local filmmaker, Forest Kinsey, will show two of his short films at the festival. Both are animated passion projects that reference two pop culture icons: the dance-pop superstar Charli xcx and the ‘90s drama series “Sex and the City.” He said he likes using cultural references in his work because it draws people in.

“It's a wonderful launching pad for comedy because comedy is all about subverting the expectation. You start with an expectation, a show people like or know, and you play from there and it's just open horizons,” Kinsey told KCUR’s Up To Date.

The Kansas City Underground Film Festival will be held Sept. 11-19 at Charlotte Street. The films are free and open to the public. 

  • Willy Evans, co-founder, Kansas City Underground Film Festival
  • Kari Bingham Gutierrez, co-founder, Kansas City Underground Film Festival
  • Forest Kinsey, filmmaker
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Up To Date PodcastmovieFestivalindependent filmArts & Culture
Steve Kraske
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.
See stories by Steve Kraske
Nora Crutcher-McGowan
Nora Crutcher-McGowan is the summer 2026 intern for Up To Date. She recently graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where she worked for mid-Missouri's NPR station, KBIA. She has experience telling stories for her community through long-form audio and digital formats, and she is particularly drawn to reporting on third spaces.
See stories by Nora Crutcher-McGowan
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