photo by: Contributed

British songwriter and stylist Robyn Hitchcock (left) and filmmaker/musician/writer Boots Riley are the two headliners for the Free State Festival, the Lawrence Arts Center announced Thursday.

This year’s Free State Festival will include a comedy from an acclaimed director and musician, films celebrating Algerian cinema and a documentary about a small-town Kansas newspaper that made national headlines over free speech.

The Lawrence Arts Center announced its headliners Thursday and selected films for the Free State Festival 2026, slated for June 22 to 28. The theme for the festival is “The Revolution is at the Movies,” which connects the America 250 celebrations with “change-making movements in history and trailblazing artists working in freedom of thought,” according to the release.

Highlights for the annual film festival include:

• The return of filmmaker/musician/writer Boots Riley to the Free State Festival with his latest film “I Love Boosters,” a comedy about a crew of professional shoplifters.

• A conversation and live performance from British songwriter and stylist Robyn Hitchcock.

• A pair of Algerian films coinciding with the Algerian national team staying in Lawrence during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The two selections — “Chronicle of the Years of Fire,” which won the Palme d’Or prize during the 1975 Cannes Film Festival, and “The Battle of Algiers,” a film about the war of independence considered one of the best films of all time — will feature panel discussions along with the screenings.

• The Kansas premiere of “Seized,” a documentary by Sharon Liese about the police raid on the Marion County Record and the death of its co-owner that “ignited a fierce debate about power, journalism, and the U.S. Constitution.”

• “Nova ’78,” a documentary by Aaron Brookner that features never-before-seen footage from the Nova Convention held in 1978 that gathered counterculture figures like Allen Ginsberg and Patti Smith.

• “Nine Little Indians,” a documentary directed by Shannon Kring and executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio detailing a family’s battle for justice after their time in the American Indian boarding school system.

• “Zidane, A 21st Century Portrait,” a film by by David Gordon and Philippe Parreno that captures a 2005 match between Real Madrid — the team of the legendary French-Algerian soccer player Zinedine Zidane — and Villarreal that “synergizes sport and art,” according to the release.

• “American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez,” a documentary about Luis Valdez, a filmmaker who was key figure furthering Chicano storytelling in the 1980s. The screening will be accompanied with a “Zoot Suit” fashion show

• “Paint Me a Road Out of Here,” a documentary tracking the 50-year journey of the painting “For the Women’s House” from Rikers Island to Brooklyn that touches on themes of mass incarceration

• “The Return of the Sacred Red Rock,” a recent film about how a 28-ton quartzite boulder that used to stand in Lawrence’s Robinson Park known as Iⁿ’zhúje’waxóbe was returned to the Kaw (Kanza) Nation.

Along with the feature films, other events that will make up the Free State Festival include a short film pairing event, a tea tasting that pairs teas from around the world with Lawrence Arts Center artwork and collaborations for soccer viewing parties during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

All access passes are now available at the festival’s website, and a complete schedule of events and individual tickets will be available on Friday, May 1.

photo by: Contributed

Posters of some of the films that will be featured during the Free State Festival, including “I Love Boosters,” “Seized” and “Nova ’78.”