Matt Shapira’s BIG MUDDY took home the award for Best Narrative Film, April Wright’s GOING ATTRACTIONS: THE DEFINITIVE STORY OF THE MOVIE PALACE was given the nod for Best Documentary, and C.D. Malloy’s SING YOU A BRAND NEW SONG: THE WORDS AND MUSIC OF COLEMAN MELLETT won the Audience Award.
Writer and producer Shawn Austin and stars Edi Gathegi and Tayler Buck are scheduled to attend the screening. Immediately following the screening, audiences will have the opportunity to meet NIFF filmmakers at an Opening Night Party featuring food, drinks and live music.
Four top-tier titles expected to be major awards players this year have been secured for each of the gala slots for this year’s edition of the film festival, and a number of attention-getting films will join them as Heartland takes another major step toward being a leader on the regional circuit. Marielle Heller’s Tom Hanks-starrer A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD was chosen as the Opening Night Gala film, and Destin Daniel Cretton’s JUST MERCY will screen as the Closing Night Gala selection. Noah Baumbach’s MARRIAGE STORY is set to be the Centerpiece Screening, and Fernando Meirelles’ THE TWO POPES will be the Showcase Screening.
“Bold, daring, and innovative, are all key words for us at the Heartland International Film Festival this year, and our two honorees and our very special guest each are examples of those words in multiple ways. It will be a great pleasure to celebrate the work of our two incredible Life Achievement Award honorees; Michael Apted, who has proven to be an exemplary storyteller, regardless of whether he is working in fiction or documentary; and Cloris Leachman, an on-screen force-of-creative nature for going on 8 decades now,” said Heartland International Film Festival’s Executive Director Craig Prater. “That alone sets us up for an amazing film festival. However, to be able to also welcome to Heartland an actor who has put together one of the most eclectic and entertaining filmographies on record, AND happens to be one of Indy’s favorite son’s – Brendan Fraser? Well, that already puts us over the top for 2019, and we haven’t even announced our lineup yet.”
“BFF has an unwavering commitment to support groups and people historically underrepresented in media. This year, 86% of the films selected included key representation by female filmmakers and 62% included representation by filmmakers of color, LGBTQIA, or different abilities. We saw sold out houses for the competition and spotlight films and full audiences for impactful discussions held during the festival,” said Wendy Guerrero, President of Programming for Bentonville Film Festival.
Niagara Falls International Film Festival’s Founder and President Bill Cowell said, “It’s always thrilling to both grow the film festival with more screenings and more filmmaker appearances for the local film fans to enjoy. But combining a salute to one of the greats of cinema like Samuel Fuller including his wife and daughter and some of the wonderful stars he worked with, with the best in independent film is going to add up to an incredible week for the city and the people here that truly love movies.”
aGLIFF Board President Ashley Marshall, added, “This year’s festival was such a wonderful representation of our “prism” theme, as we got to celebrate with and get to know our visiting filmmakers, film jury members, and our aGLIFF film fans. Our vision for aGLIFF is to be a place where any queer person can walk into the theater and feel seen and surrounded by family, and this year felt like a gratifying culmination of sorts of our efforts to increase the diversity of our programming, our board, and our audience, to reflect the full prism of the rainbow. I know that I came away from this year’s fest feeling full of love and appreciation for our community and I hope everyone else had the same experience.”
“The Alliance has grown steadily over the past five years, and now there is an increased interest in widening our membership reach,” said FFA Board President & Cucalorus Festival’s Chief Instigating Officer Dan Brawley. “As an organization, we’ve created a collective voice for film festivals and we want to expand that conversation so that we can share stories, resources, and challenges with our peers around the world. We see this as an essential step in order to address the constant shifts in our industry related to technology, consumption, and culture.”
Women Texas Film Festival Founder and Artistic Director Justina Walford said, “I am in love with this jury. Each juror added wisdom and gravitas, but most importantly used their love of filmmakers to be the focus of their decisions. As always, we want to not simply screen films envisioned and created by women, but to push forward the risk takers. And this group of films and the filmmakers that created them earned the right to be singled out via these awards.”
“The Memphis Film Prize took a massive leap this year towards our goal of being one of the most important film competitions and essential catalysts for independent film production in the nation,” said Gregory Kallenberg, founder and executive director of the Film Prize Foundation. “We are so proud of our talented filmmakers and of the spirited attendees from this year’s Film Prize, and we are looking forward to coming back next year and being bigger, better, and burning brighter than ever!”
