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X-WR-CALNAME:Free State Festival
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://freestatefestival.org
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Free State Festival
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TZID:America/Chicago
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TZOFFSETFROM:-0600
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:CDT
DTSTART:20260308T080000
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DTSTART:20261101T070000
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DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260626T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260626T220000
DTSTAMP:20260707T232205
CREATED:20260504T174407Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260615T193420Z
UID:4391-1782505800-1782511200@freestatefestival.org
SUMMARY:Robyn Hitchcock In Concert
DESCRIPTION:Headliner Robyn Hitchcock performs a full band concert live on the Arts Center stage! \nTickets are $25. Doors at 8pm. Concert at 8:30pm. General admission. \nNote: this event is a separate ticket from the 6:30pm conversation with Robyn Hitchcock. \nThis event is made possible thanks to support from the Lawrence Public Library\, Love Garden Sounds and Eighth Street Taproom. \nThis concert is SOLD OUT! We will have a waitlist queue in the Lawrence Arts Center lobby starting at 7:30pm. If there are no shows\, we will release tickets on a space available basis starting at 8:15pm. \nABOUT THE ARTIST\nWith a career now spanning six decades\, Robyn Hitchcock remains a truly one-of-a-kind artist. A surrealist rock ‘n’ roller\, iconic troubadour\, guitarist\, poet\, painter\, and performer\, Hitchcock has traversed many genres with humor\, intelligence and originality. From The Soft Boys’ proto-psych-punk and The Egyptians’ Dadaist pop to solo masterpieces\, Hitchcock has crafted a strikingly original oeuvre rife with sagacious observation\, astringent wit\, recurring marine life\, mechanized rail services\, cheese\, Clint Eastwood\, and innumerable finely drawn characters\, real and imagined. \nAlong with his musical efforts\, Hitchcock has appeared in several films\, among them collaborations with the late Jonathan Demme on 1998’s concert documentary Storefront Hitchcock and roles in 2004’s The Manchurian Candidate and 2008’s Rachel Getting Married. An inveterate traveller and live performer\, Hitchcock has toured nearly constantly for the past four decades\, playing countless shows worldwide\, from Africa to the Arctic.
URL:https://freestatefestival.org/event/robyn-hitchcock-in-concert/
LOCATION:Lawrence Arts Center\, 940 New Hampshire St\, Lawrence\, KS\, 66044\, United States
CATEGORIES:Music
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://freestatefestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Robyn-Hitchcock.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260627T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260627T140000
DTSTAMP:20260707T232205
CREATED:20260504T210055Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260621T030400Z
UID:4434-1782561600-1782568800@freestatefestival.org
SUMMARY:American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez
DESCRIPTION:Winner of the U.S. Documentary Audience Award and the Festival Favorite Award at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival!  \nDirected by David Alvarado \n\nIntroduction by Dr. Neill Gabrielle Esquibel-Kennedy\, Visiting Assistant Professor of the Chicanx/Latinx Program in KU Department of American Studies. \nRun time: 1hour 32min \nABOUT THE FILM\nAn auteur emerges from America’s underclass: from migrant farmworker to revolutionary artist\, Luis Valdez changed American culture. In the 1960s\, his El Teatro Campesino performed on flatbed trucks and helped mobilize workers to win the first farmworker union contract. His Zoot Suit was the first Chicano play on Broadway. Despite critical rejection that killed the show\, he persevered\, creating La Bamba—a breakout blockbuster that authentically depicted MexicanAmerican life to the world. Now in its 60th year\, El Teatro continues to be a beacon for Latino/a creators. This is the story of an artist who gave voice to the overlooked and opened pathways for generations.
URL:https://freestatefestival.org/event/american-pachuco-the-legend-of-luis-valdez/
LOCATION:Lawrence Arts Center\, 940 New Hampshire St\, Lawrence\, KS\, 66044\, United States
CATEGORIES:Film
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://freestatefestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/American-Pachuco-The-Legend-of-Luis-Valdez.jpeg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260627T143000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260627T163000
DTSTAMP:20260707T232205
CREATED:20260505T040154Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260526T222710Z
UID:4451-1782570600-1782577800@freestatefestival.org
SUMMARY:Slice of Life: Short Documentaries + Pizza Party
DESCRIPTION:Four short documentaries capture people\, places and things in Kansas and beyond. Experience the films on the big screen and head to the lower lobby for pizza by our friends at Johnny’s Tavern and conversation with filmmakers! \n\nLend Me A Hand by Kat King (14 min)\nWelcome to Dollar Country by Michael Suter (24 min)\nLand Back to the Future by Brendan McInerney (23 min)\nReclaiming Home: Remembering the Topeka Bottoms by Matt Jacobson & Maria Velasco (28 min)\n\n  \n 
URL:https://freestatefestival.org/event/slice-of-life-short-documentaries-pizza-party/
LOCATION:Lawrence Arts Center\, 940 New Hampshire St\, Lawrence\, KS\, 66044\, United States
CATEGORIES:Film
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://freestatefestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Welcome-to-Dollar-Country-Poster-scaled-1.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260627T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260627T190000
DTSTAMP:20260707T232205
CREATED:20260504T211326Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260621T030133Z
UID:4439-1782579600-1782586800@freestatefestival.org
SUMMARY:Nine Little Indians
DESCRIPTION:Nine Little Indians makes its Kansas premiere at the Free State Festival followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Shannon Kring\, Director of Photography Marc Gerke\, and Pat Charbonneau moderated by Sarah Bariya of the STA (Sexual Trama and Abuse) Care Center. Don’t miss this special engagement! \nRun Time: 1 hr 40 min \nABOUT THE FILM\nExecutive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio\, Shannon Kring’s wrenching\, vital documentary tells the story of a family’s decades-long fight for acknowledgment\, justice\, and healing after the abuses they suffered in the American Indian boarding school system. In 2008\, the nine Charbonneau daughters sought restitution for the appalling physical\, emotional\, and sexual abuse that they had endured decades earlier at St. Paul’s Indian Mission School in Marty\, South Dakota—one of many such American Indian residential schools that proliferated in the U.S. and Canada from the early 19th through mid-20th centuries with the explicit goal of assimilating Native American children to white Christian society and culture.
URL:https://freestatefestival.org/event/nine-little-indians/
LOCATION:Lawrence Arts Center\, 940 New Hampshire St\, Lawrence\, KS\, 66044\, United States
CATEGORIES:Film
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://freestatefestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/nine-little-indians-web.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260627T200000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260627T213000
DTSTAMP:20260707T232205
CREATED:20260505T041608Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260621T023714Z
UID:4459-1782590400-1782595800@freestatefestival.org
SUMMARY:Taste of Cinema: Culinary Pairings
DESCRIPTION:Experience bite-sized films thoughtfully paired with culinary selections by Meadowlark Wine Bar & Kitchen. A favorite event at every festival\, this pass-holder only screening is peppered with community and conversation. \n\nOne More Time by Jessie Van Der Vyver (5 min)\nYoga Girl by Kaitlyn Furey (9 min)\nHome by Kelvin Garvanne (11 min)\nPuzzles by Brett Eitzen (9 min)\nBenchless by Galiam Bruno Henry (23 min)\n\n  \n  \n 
URL:https://freestatefestival.org/event/short-films-culinary-pairings/
LOCATION:10th & Mass Studios\, 1000 Massachusetts St.\, Lawrence\, 66044\, United States
CATEGORIES:Film
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://freestatefestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/benches.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260628T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260628T140000
DTSTAMP:20260707T232205
CREATED:20260504T204224Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260621T030330Z
UID:4430-1782648000-1782655200@freestatefestival.org
SUMMARY:Paint Me a Road out of Here
DESCRIPTION:Introduction by Susan Earle\, Curator of European and American Art at the Spencer Museum of Art on Faith Ringgold’s visits to Lawrence. \nDirected by: Cathrine Gund \nRun Time: 1 hr 30 min \nABOUT THE FILM\nIn 1971\, artist Faith Ringgold created a monumental painting “For the Women’s House” for the women incarcerated at Rikers Island jail. Fifty years later\, artist Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter\, who gave birth in prison 15 years ago\, finds herself banding together with an eclectic group of activists\, politicians\, artists\, corrections officers and Faith Ringgold herself to free the artwork with the ultimate goal of freeing the women. Paint Me a Road Out of Here is a wild tale of the painting’s whitewashed journey and the two artists who challenged the same powerful and oppressive institutions\, a half century apart\, with their artwork\, their voices and their shared\, persistent goals.
URL:https://freestatefestival.org/event/paint-me-a-road-out-of-here/
LOCATION:Liberty Hall\, 644 Massachusetts St\, Lawrence\, KS\, 66044\, United States
CATEGORIES:Film
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://freestatefestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Paint-Me-a-Road-Web.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260628T143000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260628T163000
DTSTAMP:20260707T232205
CREATED:20260504T195941Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260628T180906Z
UID:4417-1782657000-1782664200@freestatefestival.org
SUMMARY:Seized
DESCRIPTION:Online Ticket Sales have closed. Please visit the Liberty Hall Box Office for tickets. \nThe Kansas premiere of the highly anticipated documentary fresh from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival accompanied by a post-screening Q&A with Director Sharon Liese\, Producer Paul Matyasovsky\, and Kansas Public Radio’s Kaye McIntyre! The Q&A will also feature Marion County Record Editor Eric Meyer\, former Marion County Record Reporter Phyllis Zorn\, and Marion County Record Attorney Bernie Rhodes. This event is made possible by support from the Lawrence Journal-World and the KU William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications. \nRun time: 1 hr 34 min \nABOUT THE FILM\nSeized is a gripping\, stranger-than-fiction investigative thriller that plunges audiences inside the troubling police raid on the Marion County Record. What begins as a shocking small-town incident quickly spirals into a national story\, exposing how corruption\, politics\, and decades-long tensions turned a quaint Kansas community into a battleground over the First and Fourth Amendments. The film unfolds in real time through police body-cam and surveillance footage\, revealing the raid’s chaos\, the bombshells that followed\, and the devastating personal toll on the newsroom\, including the tragic death of its 98-year-old co-owner.
URL:https://freestatefestival.org/event/seized/
LOCATION:Liberty Hall\, 644 Massachusetts St\, Lawrence\, KS\, 66044\, United States
CATEGORIES:Film
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://freestatefestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/seized-web.jpeg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20260628T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/Chicago:20260628T203000
DTSTAMP:20260707T232205
CREATED:20260504T202820Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260621T025515Z
UID:4425-1782671400-1782678600@freestatefestival.org
SUMMARY:Nova '78
DESCRIPTION:Aaron Brookner returns to Lawrence for the Kansas premiere of the film Nova ’78 followed by a filmmaker Q&A with Aaron Brookner moderated by photographer Philip Heying! This event is made possible by support from Tom Harper of Stephens Real Estate. \nRun Time: 1 hr 18 min \nABOUT THE FILM\nNova ’78\, directed by Aaron Brookner and Rodrigo Areias from a restored archive by Howard Brookner\, is an electrifying journey into the heart of 1970s counter-culture\, built around never-before-seen footage from the legendary Nova Convention. This explosive three-day event in New York City celebrated William S. Burroughs’ return to America after living for over twenty years in Latin America\, North Africa\, Paris\, and London. It brought together icons such as Patti Smith\, Frank Zappa\, Laurie Anderson\, Philip Glass\, Allen Ginsberg\, Merce Cunningham\, John Cage\, and many more. A cultural time capsule on the enduring power of creative freedom\, the footage captures backstage moments\, candid encounters\, and raw performances at the heart of the downtown scene.
URL:https://freestatefestival.org/event/nova-78/
LOCATION:Liberty Hall\, 644 Massachusetts St\, Lawrence\, KS\, 66044\, United States
CATEGORIES:Film
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://freestatefestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/NOVA78_Courtesy_Pinball_london.jpg
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