Every October, the Heartland Film Festival gives its moviegoers access to more than 200 visiting independent filmmakers from around the world, right in the heart of the Midwest. Celebrating its 30th Anniversary in 2021, Heartland Film Festival (October 6-16, 2022) showcases more than 200 independent films over 11 days of red carpet premieres and events, parties and hundreds of film screenings across Indianapolis.
In 2018, the Heartland Film Festival expanded to an all-new shorts fest, Indy Shorts Film Festival (July 19-24, 2022), which has earned the special designation of being a qualifying festival for the Annual Academy Awards within the Live Action Short, Documentary Short, and Animated Short categories. Each year, HFF and Indy Shorts awards a combined total of $100,000 in cash prizes. Since 1992, Heartland Film has awarded more than $3.1 million to support indie filmmakers.
Beyond the festivals, Heartland Film honors theatrically-released films that align with its mission via the Truly Moving Picture Award and exhibits films in the greater Indianapolis area throughout the year.