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Heartland Film announces winners at Indy Shorts International Film Festival

Heartland Film, Inc., an innovator in the film industry, has selected film winners across seven categories for their Indy Shorts International Film Festival, Indianapolis’ only short film festival and an Academy Award®-qualifying event. Indy Shorts exclusively features short films 40 minutes or less in length, and with over 150 films shown, the festival is the largest of its kind in the Midwest. The festival is also one of the largest cash awarding short film festivals in North America, bestowing $32,000 in cash prizes across multiple categories.

 

“We are thrilled about the high quality films we received and were able to showcase during our second annual Indy Shorts,” said Heartland Film President Craig Prater. “The award-winning films that were ultimately selected by our juries represent the powerful filmmaking that we are striving to achieve at Heartland Film. We’re also proud to be able to award these deserving filmmakers with one of the largest cash prize purses in North America.”

 

Indy Shorts selected and honored films in several categories, with winners receiving grand cash prizes of up to $5,000 and Academy Award®-qualification.* Those categories include: Best Narrative Short Film ($5,000 Grand Prize/Academy Award®-qualified), Best Documentary Short Film ($5,000 Grand Prize/Academy Award®-qualified), Best Animated Short Film ($5,000 Grand Prize), Indiana Spotlight Competition ($2,000 Grand Prize), High School Film Competition ($2,000 Grand Prize), Best Student Film ($1,000 Grand Prize), and the Jenni Berebitsky Legacy Award ($1,800 Grand Prize), honoring longtime Heartland Film friend Jenni Berebitsky who was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease in March 2009. This award recognizes one short film for the best embodiment of Jenni’s spirit and legacy. Audience Choice Award Winners will be announced post-Festival and also carry a cash prize.

 

Below is a complete listing of the award-winning films, as announced at the Indy Shorts Awards Presentation Saturday, July 27, 2019: 

 

Indy Shorts Award-Winning Films:

 

Best Narrative Short Film – BROTHERHOOD

$5,000 Grand Prize/Academy Award®-qualified

Director/Writer: Meryam Joobeur

 

Best Documentary Short Film – ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN

$5,000 Grand Prize/Academy Award®-qualified

Directors: Sami Khan and Smriti Mundhra

 

Best Animated Short Film – MIND MY MIND

$5,000 Grand Prize

Director/Writer: Floor Adams

 

Indiana Spotlight Competition – THE SECRET LIFE OF MUSLIMS: RICHARD McKINNEY

$2,000 Grand Prize

Director/Writer: Joshua Seftel                             

 

High School Film Competition – THE BURDENS THEY CARRY

$2,000 Grand Prize

Director/Writer/Producer: Alyssa Andrews       

 

Best Student Film  HORS PISTE (OFF ROAD)

$1,000 Grand Prize

Directors/Writers: Léo Brunel, Loris Cavalier, Camille Jalabert, and Oscar Malet

The École des Nouvelles Images in France

 

Jenni Berebitsky Legacy Award – ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN

$1,800 Grand Prize

Directors: Sami Khan and Smriti Mundhra

 

*Indy Shorts is an Academy Award®-qualifying film festival in both the Live Action and Documentary Short Subject film categories, and the winners of the Narrative and Documentary Grand Prizes will qualify for Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, granted it meets all the other requirements needed to qualify.

 

About Heartland Film, Inc.

Heartland Film is a nonprofit arts organization founded in 1991 with the mission to inspire filmmakers and audiences through the transformative power of film. Heartland Film is a supporter of purposeful filmmaking, providing an outlet for filmmakers and storytellers from all over the world to be creative and honored for their work. The films selected for the Festival do more than just entertain; they inspire and uplift, educate and inform, and shift audiences’ perspectives on the world. For more information, visit heartlandfilm.org.

 

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