Heartland Film adds new festival!
Heartland Film, Inc. is expanding! The group that brings us the Heartland Film Festival will inaugurate the Indy Shorts International Film Fest (Indy Shorts) July 26-29 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields. It will feature short films less than 40 minutes in length.
Heartland Film just wrapped its 26th season, enjoying record-breaking numbers in the areas of film submissions, filmmaker attendance and amount of films programmed. “In 2017, our film submissions grew by more than 1,000 submissions from around the world,” said Heartland Film President Craig Prater. “The majority of these were short films, and we are thrilled to dedicate an all-new festival to this exciting medium of independent film. Heartland Film is devoted to growing the film community in Indianapolis and beyond, and Indy Shorts is an exciting way to expand on what we’ve accomplished over the past 26 years.”
Sponsored by ShortsTV, Indy Shorts is expected to be one of the largest short film festivals in the Midwest, featuring films that will eventually qualify for the Academy Awards®. All short film categories and prizes associated with the Heartland International Film Festival will move to Indy Shorts, with winners to show encore screenings at HIFF on Oct. 11-21, 2018. The inaugural Indy Shorts event will bestow more than $25,000 in cash prizes across multiple categories. The complete unveiling of films to be featured in the festival will be announced on June 28. A preview of the event’s programs and the schedule of events are outlined below. For more information on Indy Shorts, visit www.indyshorts.org.
2018 Indy Shorts’ Featured Programs:
** Indy Shorts Finalists: Indy Shorts finalists will make up two programs during the festival, which will include the top five short films for each category, including documentary, narrative and animated.
** Indy Shorts Official Selections: Enjoy nine additional programs of Indy Shorts Official Selections throughout the four-day event, with themes including comedy, arts and music, international short films, after-hours and more.
** Indiana Spotlight: Showcases talented filmmakers from the Hoosier state. 65 percent of the film has to be shot in Indiana. The director, producer or writer has to be an Indiana resident or native.
** Heartland High School Film Competition: Encourages tomorrow’s filmmakers to get involved with the Festival. Directors must have been in high school when the film was completed and must not have graduated from high school any earlier than Summer 2017.
** Joyce Forum: Award-winning short films from The Joyce Forum at the San Diego Jewish Film Festival that portray the Jewish experience from contemporary and historical perspectives 9FilmFest – Award-winning short films from the 2018 9FilmFest from France, India, Belgium, the Netherlands and more.
** Indy Shorts REVEAL Party will be Thursday, June 28 at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. at Heartland Film, 1043 Virginia Ave. #2. Heartland Film will host the Indy Shorts Reveal Party, where the film lineup, a schedule of events and more details will be announced. As an added bonus, a brand-new friend of Heartland Film, who is an expert in all things short, will also be revealed. Music, food, wine, Sun King beer and corn hole will be just some of the fun items offered at this party to get people excited for Indy’s first ever short film festival. Get your tickets at heartlandfilm.eventive.org.
** Indy Shorts Kickoff After Party will be Thursday, July 26 at 9 p.m. at Newfields, 4000 Michigan Road. Join Heartland Film in kicking off the grand opening of Indy Shorts International Film Festival at this red-carpet style event. Workshop: Pitch Your Story Friday, July 27 at 6 p.m. at Newfields. Indy Shorts offers aspiring filmmakers the opportunity Indy Shorts offers aspiring filmmakers the opportunity to perfect their pitch with professionals before taking it to the big leagues. Pitching spaces in this workshop are limited, so email your name and project title to Christiana Beasley at cbeasley@heartlandfilm.org to confirm your spot today.
** Summer Nights at Newfields is Friday, July 27 at 7:30 p.m. featuring an outdoor screening of a selection of Oscar-nominated short films including “Garden Party” (2017), “Watu Wote: All of Us” (2017), “La Femme et le TGV” (2016), and Oscar-winning short films “The Silent Child” (2017) and “Sing” (2016). For more Indy Shorts events, visit www.heartlandfilm.org.
Heartland Film President Craig Prater with Patty Spitler, host of Great Day TV.
