Heartland Film Once Again Brings Oscars® Nominations to Indy First

Media Contacts:
Heartland Film | Jessica Chapman, Director of Marketing jchapman@heartlandfilm.org | 317.750.3902

(January 23, 2024) - The 96th Academy Awards® will take place on Sunday, March 10. Every year, the road to the Oscars® runs through Indiana thanks to Heartland Film's festivals, and this year is no different. A total of 11 films honored by Heartland Film are nominated for 35 Oscars® (listed below). 

The 2023 Heartland International Film Festival showcased, "Anatomy of a Fall," "American Fiction," and "The Holdovers." These three films each received five nominations, including Best Picture.  

Three short films from the Indy Shorts International Film Festival went on to receive Oscar® nominations. The short film “The Barber of Little Rock” had its World Premiere in Indianapolis, won the Jenni Berebitsky Legacy Award and is now nominated for Best Short Documentary. 

Indy Shorts Alumni and past honoree Colman Domingo is nominated for Best Lead Actor for, "Rustin," which was the featured Centerpiece film at last year's HIFF. Colman Domingo was also in "The Color Purple." Heartland Film presented the Oscar®-nominated film, "The Color Purple" and the 13-time Oscar®-nominee,"Oppenheimer, with the Truly Moving Picture Award in 2023.

"We consider thousands of films every year to find the best stories for our audiences and it is always so exciting to know that Indy Shorts and Heartland International Film Festival attendees had the opportunity to see these powerful Oscar®-nominated films here first," says Heartland Film's Artistic Director Greg Sorvig. 

Heartland Film has a few more opportunities coming up for people to watch some of these nominated films.

On March 1 & 2, four fan-favorite films will be screening at the 12th Annual Best of Fest presented by Heartland Film and The Historic Artcraft Theatre. On Saturday, March 2, Best Picture Nominee "The Holdovers" will be screening for free at 2 PM thanks to Focus Features. Best Lead Actor nominee, Paul Giamatti, plays a cranky history teacher at a remote prep school and is forced to remain on campus over the holidays with a troubled student with no place to go and a grieving cook. "The Holdovers" was the Closing Night film at the 2023 Heartland International Film Festival and received the IFJA Best Special Presentation Award Winner. The full Best of Fest schedule and tickets can be found at here.

On Thursday, March 7, Heartland Film will showcase a program of Oscar® Nominated and Shortlisted films from the Indy Shorts International Film Festival at Fort Shorts. Fort Shorts is a new screening series of short films presented by Williams Comfort Air and Mr. Plumber. Details of the film program hosted at the Heartland Film Headquarters will be announced closer to the event. Tickets can be purchased here.

Below are the Academy Award® Nominated films that Heartland Film honored in 2023. The full list of nominees can be found here.

Heartland Film is a nonprofit arts organization that runs the 11-day Heartland International Film Festival in October, the Academy Award®-Qualifying Indy Shorts International Film Festival in July, the Truly Moving Picture Award and other year-round programs. Based in Indianapolis, Heartland Film was founded in 1991 with the mission to curate, promote and celebrate thoughtful and engaging films from diverse perspectives. Over the years, Heartland Film has presented $3.5 million in cash prizes – the largest total amount awarded by any film festival in North America – presented 200+ studio films with the Truly Moving Picture Award, and showcased more than 2,000 feature and short films, including 10 Oscar®-winning short film titles. MovieMaker Magazine named both the Indy Shorts and Heartland International Film Festival on the top 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World list for 2023. The 7th Annual Indy Shorts International Film Festival is scheduled July 23-28, 2024 and the 33rd Heartland International Film Festival runs October 10-20, 2024. For more information, visit www.HeartlandFilm.org.

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