Free State Festival returns with films on freedom and change

Free State Festival will return June 22-28 as a weeklong civic showcase, with Boots Riley and Robyn Hitchcock headlining a lineup built to send people through downtown Lawrence, Liberty Hall and other local gathering places. Tickets are now on sale, with prices ranging from free to $25 and an all-access pass available at a discount through the end of May.

The 2026 theme, The Revolution is at the Movies, links the festival to America250, the national commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026. The Lawrence Arts Center has framed the program around freedom of thought, social movements and historical change, and the mix of screenings and live events gives that idea a local edge. The festival is produced by the Lawrence Arts Center with support from community partners, grants and individual sponsorships, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Lawrence and Explore Lawrence.

That mix of national history and Lawrence identity runs through the schedule. The festival includes events tied to I‘zhúje‘waxóbe, the 28-ton quartzite boulder local advocates want rematriated to the Kaw Nation, along with films about Algerian independence and the raid on the Marion County Record. The programming also lands as Lawrence prepares for another high-profile international moment, with the Algerian football team expected to make Rock Chalk Park its summer home base for the World Cup.

Among the clearest draws is The Battle of Algiers, listed for June 23 and described by the festival as a landmark film about a key year in Algeria’s struggle for independence from French occupation. Another centerpiece is Seized, which will have its Kansas premiere at Liberty Hall on June 28 and adds a local newspaper raid to the conversation about power, protest and memory. The lineup also includes A Conversation With Robyn Hitchcock and a live performance presented with the Lawrence Public Library’s 780 Series, Love Garden Sounds and Eighth Street Taproom, while the Boots Riley event, I Love Boosters, brings him back after he headlined the festival in 2023. Lawrence Arts Center materials note that Hitchcock has more than 30 albums.

For downtown Lawrence, the festival is more than a calendar item. It is designed to draw residents and visitors into screenings, conversations and music events that spill into theaters, shops and bars, while using a major arts platform to connect the city’s present-day energy to broader questions about freedom, change and who gets remembered in public life.