Jenica Bergere

FILM FESTIVAL NEWS: Melissa Haizlip and Samuel D. Pollard’s MR. SOUL opens The 2018 Heartland Film Festival Announces Film Lineup, with 18 films making World and U.S. Premieres, and $80,000 in prize money in the offing

The Heartland International Film Festival today announced the official selections for the film festival’s 27th edition. Documentaries will be spotlighted to bookend one of the major (and potentially, most lucrative) stops for filmmakers on the regional film festival circuit, with Melissa Haizlip and Samuel D. Pollard’s award-winning MR. SOUL! chosen as the Opening Night Gala film, and Julie Getz’s feel good doc CARE TO LAUGH, will make its world premiere as the Closing Night Gala selection. Kendall Goldberg’s WHEN JEFF TRIED TO SAVE THE WORLD is set to be the Centerpiece Screening, and Elizabeth Chomko’s star-studded drama WHAT THEY HAD will be the Spotlight Screening. Television legend Hal Linden was also announced to receive the Heartland’s Pioneering Spirit: Lifetime Achievement Award.

FILM FESTIVAL NEWS: Brooke and Doug Purdy’s QUALITY PROBLEMS delights and touches hearts during Los Angeles premiere at New Filmmakers L.A. on December 16

Brooke and Doug Purdy’s comedy/drama hybrid about a couple managing her reoccurrence of breast cancer at the same time her father is on the decline with Alzheimer’s and possibly most alarmingly, their daughter has an all-important 8th birthday party coming up, made its Los Angeles premiere at NewFilmmakers L.A. on Saturday, December 16.