35th Heartland Film Festival Announces Winners: 'Take Me Home' Takes Narrative Grand Prize, Will Poulter Honored
The 35th Heartland International Film Festival announced its award winners on October 19 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The festival ran October 8-18 and showcased 100 films, including 24 world or U.S. premieres, 24 spotlight screenings and 9 Indiana Spotlight films. At the Awards Brunch held October 18 at Tinker House Events, the festival awarded $80,000 in cash prizes, including $20,000 each for the Narrative and Documentary Grand Prize winners. Since 1992, Heartland Film has presented $4 million in cash prizes, the largest total of any film festival in North America.
The $20,000 Narrative Feature Grand Prize went to 'Take Me Home,' directed by Liz Sargent. The film follows Anna, a 38-year-old Korean adoptee who cares for her aging parents; when a Florida heat wave shatters the family's fragile balance, Anna must create a world where she can thrive. The jury praised its tender, unsentimental portrayal of disability, caregiving and family.
The $20,000 Documentary Feature Grand Prize went to the world-premiere documentary 'The Fish Don't Care When It Rains,' directed by Jennifer Msumba and Siobhan McDonnell, which also won the Overall Documentary Audience Choice Award and the $2,000 Richard D. Propes Documentary Social Impact Award. The film tells the story of autistic artist Jen Msumba, who spent years inside the Judge Rotenberg Center, where painful electric shocks were used as behavioral treatment, before escaping and speaking out through testimony, music and art.
The $5,000 Jimmy Stewart Legacy Award went to 'Home from the Vietnam War,' directed by Mat Hames, following a decorated veteran who returns to Vietnam with a friend who fled the war as a child. Actor Will Poulter attended the brunch and was honored with the Pioneering Spirit Award; he also accepted the $2,000 Richard D. Propes Narrative Social Impact Award alongside director Adam Meeks for 'Union County,' about brothers in a court-mandated rehab program in rural Ohio amid the opioid epidemic.
The Overall Narrative Audience Choice Award was a tie between opening-night film 'JIMMY,' directed by Aaron Burns and starring KJ Apa as Jimmy Stewart, and Amazon MGM's 'I Play Rocky.' The closing-night film, Jesse Eisenberg's 'The Debut' from A24, screened to a sold-out crowd at The Tobias Theater at Newfields on October 18. Artistic Director Greg Sorvig said this year's honored films exemplify stories that deepen understanding and reflect resilience and compassion. Many winning films remain available to stream through October 25.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 本届电影节开拓精神奖得主 Will Poulter 本人资料图（多伦多国际电影节红毯）。Photo by Johnsearsmedia / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0。文件页：https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Will_Poulter_at_the_Toronto_International_Film_Festival_3.jpg
