Truly moving pictures
October in Indy is marked by the changing colors of the leaves and the appearance of the Heartland Film Festival mission statement: To recognize and honor filmmakers whose work explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.
Festival President Jeff Sparks is ready to get the shows rolling, stating, “This is a banner year for the Heartland Film Festival, with the most films ever entered and the highest quality of independent films I’ve seen in the 12 years of Heartland.”
Heartland will honor and showcase 14 Crystal Heart Award- and Jimmy Stewart Memorial Crystal Heart Award-winning films from Friday, Oct. 17 through Thursday, Oct. 23. The winning selections, chosen from a record 383 entries, will open at AMC Castleton Arts Cinema, the Indiana History Center Theater and AMC Greenwood Park on Friday, Oct. 17 with a rare opportunity for those in attendance to meet the filmmakers and learn about the vision behind each film. Filmmakers will host question and answer sessions in theaters after their films have been screened.
With the aforementioned screening sites in Castleton, downtown and Greenwood, Heartland has spread itself wide across the city. “We continue to work with venues who share the same passion for film and for impacting the community through filmmaking,” Sparks said.
Along with showcasing the award-winning films, Heartland will host special screenings of Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony, a 2003 Heartland Film Festival Truly Moving Pictures Award of Excellence recipient, and the Chuck Workman Program, a collection of movie-centric documentaries from award-winning director, writer and producer Chuck Workman (not NUVO’s longtime jazz columnist!).
Heartland will also feature a Truly Moving Animation festival curated by Beauty and the Beast producer Don Hahn and featuring audience favorites Toy Story and The Iron Giant (see sidebar).
With so much going on, what makes Sparks the most proud? “This year three things come to mind,” he said. “First, we have Ryan Little, a student filmmaker and Jimmy Stewart Memorial Crystal Heart Award winner from four years ago, returning to Heartland with a professional film — Saints and Soldiers.” The feature, based on the “Malmedy Massacre” during the historic Battle of the Bulge in 1944, deals with five soldiers trapped behind enemy lines.
Second on Sparks’ list is having other filmmakers return to Heartland. In addition to Little, this year’s returnees include Jamie Redford with Spin, his third Crystal Heart Award-winning film. The tale of a reckless orphaned teen coming of age in the 1950s, based on the novel by Donald Axinn, stars Ryan Merriman, Stanley Tucci, Dana Delaney, Paula Garces and Ruben Blades.
David James’ Uncle Nino, his second Crystal Heart Award-winning film, focuses on an elderly Italian peasant whose trip to America to visit his family gradually causes significant changes to all involved. It stars Joe Mantegna, Anne Archer, Trevor Morgan, Gina Mantegna and Pierrino Mascarino.
Leif Bristow’s Kart Racer, his second Crystal Heart Award winner, concerns a gifted, but unpolished, 14-year-old go-kart racer estranged from his father, a former champion in the sport, following the death of his mother. Randy Quaid and Will Rothhaar star in the story of redemption.
Finally, Sparks is proud of Radio, a major studio production currently receiving lots of promotion for its upcoming national release, and its director, Mike Tollin. “It is especially exciting for Heartland to have past Crystal Heart Award winners like Mike Tollin now making films with studios that are winning Heartland’s Truly Moving Pictures Award of Excellence,” Sparks said. Radio, a based-on-fact film about the friendship forged between a football coach and a mentally-retarded man, stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Ed Harris and Debra Winger.
Heartland will also present a special screening of Secret Santa, starring Barbara Billingsley (beloved for her role as June Cleaver in the classic TV series Leave It to Beaver). The story follows a young journalist whose cynical take on Christmas lands her in a small town on assignment for The Indianapolis Sentinel (We wish!). Her mission to uncover the identity of the town’s mysterious philanthropist leads her to some unlikely suspects and ultimately to the true meaning of Christmas.
“Heartland is very excited about screening the compelling and powerful film before it airs on NBC this holiday season,” Sparks said, “especially because Barbara Billingsley, Charlie Robinson, executive producer Beth Polson and writer Robert Tate Miller will be attending the screening.” The screening starts at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19 at the Indiana History Center Theater. A reception will follow the screening at 8:30 p.m.
For full information on the screenings and events of the Heartland Film Festival, as well as a complete list of the celebrities and experts coming to town and where to see them, call (866) 433-1010, go to www.heartlandfilmfestival.org or pick up one of the guides available at Marsh supermarkets.
In addition to a series of classic shorts featuring Wallace and Gromit and many others, several of the picks for the festival are unquestionable classics, from the heights of traditional animation to technological marvels. Disney’s entries include films from both of the studio’s golden ages. Pinocchio represents Walt Disney at the height of his powers, endlessly creative and willing to go the distance into truly hellish visions. Beauty and the Beast, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise (1991) during the studio’s great modern revival, is a pitch-perfect rendition of the classic fairy tale and well deserving of its Best Picture nomination.
Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece, Spirited Away, plunges into a strange world, frightening and magical all at once.
The Iron Giant is warm, sweet, funny and absolutely heartbreaking. That it was dumped into box offices and quickly forgotten is a crime. Director Brad Bird and voice actor Vin Diesel pay tribute to 1950s sci-fi and horror films, nuclear paranoia and, at last, Superman, in a film that can truly be described as perfect.
John Lasseter and the crew at Pixar animation had been experimenting with computer-animated shorts for a decade, but nonetheless it was a grand surprise when they sprung Toy Story onto the world in 1995. With a boost from classic vocal performances by Tim Allen and Tom Hanks, they created a fresh, engaging world unto itself. Their films just seem to keep getting better and better, but even so, the original Toy Story stands alone.
—Paul F. P. Pogue
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