Indy Shorts Film Festival Showcases Oscar Potential
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowHeartland Film in Indianapolis kicks off its 4th annual Indy Shorts International Film Festival today, showcasing a variety of genres. The six-day event is an Academy Award-qualifying fest dedicated to the art of short film. More than 200 films, selected from thousands of submissions, will be presented during the festival, including entries in live action, documentary, and animation.
In an interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick, Heartland Film Artistic Director Greg Sorvig said interest in this festival is growing. “We had 3,300 short film submissions from all around the world, dozens and dozens of countries,” said Sorvig.
Sorvig says Indy Shorts is one of the largest film festivals in the Midwest and winning films get the attention of Hollywood.
”If you win one of our grand prizes, you have this “Wonka Golden Ticket.” You get to leapfrog some of the requirements for the Academy. And you were immediately on the map for contention,” explained Sorvig.
He says this festival has helped produce eight Oscar winners, including one last year. Sorvig says there will be 22 world premieres and 19 U.S. premieres. Sorvig says some of the films include Hollywood names like Will Ferrell, William Jackson Harper from the NBC sitcom “The Good Place,” and Noah Reed from “Schitt’s Creek.”
“It’s a great smorgasbord, you can see a program of a wide variety of different films,” said Sorvig.
Last year’s festival was all virtual because of the pandemic. But this year, Heartland is offering a hybrid festival, including indoors, outdoors and virtually. One of the new venues is at the BottleWorks District in downtown Indianapolis.
Click here to learn more about Heartland Films.