IFC Outreach

The IFC and its members play a major part in the varied Kansas City-area film scene.
Its members have been involved behind and in front of the camera on national productions shot in the Kansas City area, such as Ang Lee’s “Ride with the Devil,” Robert Altman’s “Kansas City,” Jason Wiles’ “Lenexa, 1 Mile” and “Truman” starring Gary Sinise. Some of the current members also worked on James Ivory’s “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge” before the IFC was founded.

The IFC has good relationships with the Missouri Film Commission, the Kansas Film Commission, the Kansas City Film Commission, and their respective commissioners.

IFC members serve on boards, committees and volunteer groups for the Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee Film Festival, the Kansas International Film Festival (KIFF), the KAN Film Festival, the Kansas City Gay & Lesbian Film+Video Festival, and the Kansas City Women in Film chapter.

The IFC itself has sponsored screenings, competitions and/or events in conjunction with the KC Filmmakers Jubilee, Film Fest Kansas City, KIFF, Kansas City Screenwriters, and the IndyOutties Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.

The KIFF event is the IFC’s Page One film competition/screening (since 2004) in which filmmakers are given a script or lines of dialogue and must make a film using the script or incorporating the dialogue into their films. The KC Screenwriters and the IFC sponsor an annual screenwriting contest (since 2003), which culminates in publicly directed readings of the finalists.

In addition, IFC members have presented educational seminars during and served as judges for many of the local film festivals. And representatives from local film festivals have always been welcome to make presentations at IFC meetings and have served as judges for IFC film competitions/festivals.

With its participation in the local film and film festival scene, the IFC and its members have cultivated positive relationships with many national filmmakers, including close relationships with women filmmakers met when IFC members organized the KC Jubilee’s annual Crosscut: Women Make Movies symposium the last two years.

As stated before, the Every Picture Tells a Story Film Festival is an outreach vehicle to regional visual artists. The IFC also cultivates relationships with regional musicians. We maintain an audio library for members “looking” for musicians to score their films. As a result of the films they’ve made, individual members also have relationships with artists in the worlds of dance and performance art.

The IFC has begun making inroads in its outreach to students, who are welcome as members and have participated in IFC events. In 2004, the organization sponsored a special Bentley Film Festival screening in conjunction with Pembroke Hill High School students. We also alert all regional colleges and universities of our various events.