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Kansas on Film
Film Festivals
Kansas has a rich history of film. Many of the best know silent film actors were born in Kansas. Most notable is Buster Keaton from Piqua. His Kansas roots are celebrated every fall in Iola at the Buster Keaton Festival drawing scholars and film buffs from around the country. The Topeka Silent Film Festival held every February is a weekend of early cinematic revelry followed up in the Fall with a Halloween-themed silent film in Grace Cathedral. Kansas natives Martin & Osa Johnson were filmmaking pioneers amongst the first to film in remote villages of the south Pacific and and Africa. Artifacts from their travels are on display at a museum bearing their name in Chanute. Every fall a weekend community celebration and Film Festival highlight their work.
For more recent films by independent filmmakers check out the Tallgrass Film Festival in Wichita, or try your hand at making a film on the spot at the Flint Hills Film Festival in Junction City.
Wizard of Oz
No mention of Kansas film can be made with out a mention of Dorothy, Toto and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The 1939 classic was not filmed in Kansas, but a replica of the house can be found in Liberal. In Wamego, the Oz Museum features one of the largest collections of Wizard of Oz memorabilia including the books and films. Every October the community comes alive with Oz-toberfest.
Kansas on Screen
Through the years many films, mini-series and television shows have been filmed in or have taken place in real or fictional Kansas towns. Among the most notable are The Only Good Indian (2009), C.S.A. The Confederate States of America (2003), Ride with the Devil (1999), Sarah Plain and Tall (1991), The Day After (1983) and Paper Moon (1973).
For more information on Kansas on the large and small screen contact the Kansas Film Commission.
Images from left to right: Oz Museum (Wamego), Midland Hotel (Wilson), Warren Theatre (Wichita), Osa and Martin Johnson Museum (Chanute)
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