KC’s Juneteenth Film Festival returns for an entire month of programming, events, and premieres at Screenland Armour

Photo Courtesy of Underneath: Children of the Sun

As a journalist and film critic for Fox 4 News Kansas City, Shawn Edwards frequently corresponds with the city’s Black independent filmmakers, who often tell him about the difficulty of finding a platform where they can showcase their work. In 2023, Edwards launched the Juneteenth Film Festival to provide them with such a platform: The Juneteenth Film Festival.

The second annual festival will be held from June 4-26 at Screenland Armour Theater. This year’s festival will feature six locally-produced independent films (four of which are documentaries), two studio films, and one short film screened before each feature. 

Edwards, who curates each year’s lineup, says the festival performs a crucial role for the city’s Black directors. 

“I think it’s even more significant now, because there seems to be this battle over who gets to tell the story of what happened in America back in the day,” he says. “There seems to be a lot of convenient editing and denial of what actually happened. We need platforms like this to protect our perspectives.” 

Edwards says The Heroic True-Life Adventures of Alvin Brooks is one of this year’s films that best encapsulates the spirit of Juneteenth. Directed by Kevin Willmott, the documentary explores the life of longtime civil rights activist and public servant Alvin Brooks. 

Willmott met Brooks while working on From Separate to Equal: The Creation of Truman Medical Centers, his 2011 documentary about Kansas City’s segregated hospitals. While interviewing him for the film, Willmott was impressed by Brooks’ storied history with Kansas City. When Brooks’ autobiography, Binding Us Together, came out in 2021, Willmott knew he wanted to bring this history to the screen. 

Willmott says his goal for the film was to let Brooks speak for himself, and, in the process, to illuminate a side of him that the public might not be familiar with. 

“I think most people know he’s a great man, but I hope the film shows all the levels of greatness that he has,” Willmott says. “When you see his complete story, you understand how he became such a superior human being.” 

In The Pistol, director Paul Rayford details the exploits of his father, Kenneth Rayford, a lifelong Kansas City resident and former criminal. The elder Rayford previously recounted his stories in his 2023 book of the same name, which inspired his son to begin work on the documentary. 

Both Rayfords hope the film shows younger viewers that there are better ways of dealing with adversity than a life of crime. 

“I’m trying to impact some of the young people out here, to give them some hope and some answers that possibly make sense to them,” Kenneth says. “ I’m very remorseful about my life, and before I pass, I hope to leave a positive note.” 

Festival tickets and schedules can be found here.