Gearing Up for the Oscars!

We are so thrilled and excited for the Academy Awards on March 7. This year we have a huge list of Truly Moving Picture Award-winning films in the list of nominations.

Six of our 2009 Truly Moving Picture Awards received nominations –  Precious (6 nominations), Up (5 nominations), The Blind Side (2 nominations), Invictus (2 nominations), Bright Star (1 nomination) and The Cove (1 nomination). In addition to our Truly Moving Pictures,  one film from the 2009 Heartland Film Festival was nominated – Kavi which was also our Jimmy Stewart Memorial Crystal Heart Award winner!

Here’s the list of films and nominations. Be sure to tune in on March 7 to cheer on all these Truly Moving Pictures!

Precious
Best Motion Picture of the Year: Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Gabourey Sidibe
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Mo’Nique
Best Achievement in Directing: Lee Daniels
Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published: Geoffrey Fletcher
Best Achievement in Editing: Joe Klotz

Up
Best Motion Picture of the Year: Jonas Rivera
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen: Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Thomas McCarthy
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score: Michael Giacchino
Best Achievement in Sound Editing: Michael Silvers, Tom Myers
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Pete Docter

The Blind Side
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Sandra Bullock

Invictus
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Morgan Freeman
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Matt Damon

Bright Star
Best Achievement in Costume Design: Janet Patterson

The Cove
Best Documentary, Features

Kavi
Best Short Film, Live Action: Gregg Helvey

Free Seminar with Director & Writer of Captain Abu Raed!

Amin Matalqa, Director & Writer of Captain Abu Raed

Join us on Thursday, February 11 at the IUPUI Campus Center for a FREE seminar with Amin Matalqa, Director and Writer of 2008 Heartland Film Festival Grand Prize winning film, Captain Abu Raed.

CINEMA MAGIC: The Art of the Scene begins at 9am with a continental breakfast followed by the free seminar and an optional networking lunch later in the day for $10. During the seminar, Matalqa will break down the filmmaking process to the essential elements that make for effective storytelling by utilizing scenes from Captain Abu Raed. Through these scenes, he will explore the marriage between writing, directing, performance, cinematography, production design, editing, sound-mixing and music. Matalqa will discuss what makes a scene work and how you can create an opportunity for cinema magic. He will also talk about making the transition from writing and directing short films to feature films.

If you’re an inspiring filmmaker, avid moviegoer or just a big fan of Captain Abu Raed, you won’t want to miss this one.

Registration is required, so do so now! If you haven’t seen Captain Abu Raed, learn more about the film, on DVD February 23.

A Shine of Rainbows – in Theaters March 26

Tomas is a young boy that is bullied and unhappy at an orphanage. He is suddenly and mysteriously adopted by a childless couple, who live simply and modestly on a very remote Irish island. The mother, although in ill health, is a woman of astounding positive energy and beauty and sets herself to healing the mental and physical scars of the boy’s unfortunate upbringing. The father meanwhile loves his wife dearly, but is far less excited by the recovering, damaged boy.

Intertwined with this awkward triangle relationship is light fantasy and legend and mystery of the gorgeous Irish coast. The Irish coast is so beautifully rendered that it is like a fourth character.

There is suddenly a great change in circumstances and two parts of the triangle have to come to terms with this tragedy. It takes courage and resolve and change and love. The three actors of the triangle are vivid and hold your attention and each ultimately moves you emotionally in three different ways.

-Bob, Heartland Truly Moving Picture Jury Member

Fun facts from the Festival

Bobby and Kevin Downes, producers of the Official Selection Dramatic Feature Like Dandelion Dust, first heard about author Karen Kingsbury’s work through their wives, who heard Karen speak at a women’s retreat.

Their wives pushed them to make a movie based on one of Karen’s novels and they eventually decided on Like Dandelion Dust. Karen has written 40 novels and has sold around 15 million copies of her books!

Bobby and Kevin, introducing the film at one of the screenings earlier in the week, said they are hoping to release the film nationally in either March or September of 2010 and are hoping to adapt more of Karen’s novels for the big screen in the future!

Festival trivia for the day!

Did you know that Mark St. Germain, director of My Dog, asked people he knew to be in his film about celebrities and their dogs? The film features segments with stars like Richard Gere, Glenn Close and Greg Louganis talking about their relationships with their dogs.

Mark St. Germain, in a Q&A session conducted by cell phone with Jeff Sparks after yesterday’s screening, said that he was also a contributing writer for this year’s Opening Night Event film Hachi: A Dog’s Tale (which just happened to feature Richard Gere!)

Daily trivia from the Heartland Film Festival

My Name is Jerry is one of the only feature length films to be entirely funded by a university. It took director Morgan Mead two years to convince Ball State University to fund the film, but once it got going they shot the film in only 21 days!

They bought in only a couple of professionals from the movie industry for the filming. A crew of about 60 students filled out the rest of the production staff. They had to go through a two week boot camp prior to filming!

Morgan, alongside story-creator Andrew Janoch, created the film as a showcase for actor Doug Jones. They wanted to develop a role and a film to showcase his actual face (Doug has appeared in most of his films under heavy plastic makeup, such as when he played The Silver Surfer in F4: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Abe Sapien in Hellboy and Hellyboy 2: The Golden Army.) Doug has stated that he is eternally grateful to Morgan for the opportunity!

Tips on co-directing a movie

At the Heartland Film Institute Seminar on Monday Gloria La Morte and Paola Mendoza spoke about the difficulties and advantages of co-directing a film. The pair co-wrote and co-directed the Crystal Heart Award-winning Dramatic Feature Entre Nos.

According to Paola, co-directing a film takes more time than directing one on your own.  The key is to keep communication open between the co-directors to ensure that they aren’t giving contradictory information to the actors and crew.

Gloria stressed how important it is to make certain that both co-directors are focused on the project and not let the difficulties become personal. This is especially important during disagreements regarding the film; it is paramount to think “what’s best for the project” and not let one’s ego interfere.

Trivia for the day!

Did you know?

Gregg Helvey, the producer/director/writer of Kavi, discovered while researching his film that there is more slavery today than there was during the 400 years of the slave trade. He hopes his film will shed light on such a troubling topic.

You might not have realized it, but Side by Side, director Christian Sønderby Jepsen Crystal Heart Award-winning short film, actually is a documentary. Christian’s father and their neighbor had really not spoken to each other for fifteen years!

Both of these shorts, as well as Small Collection and Vision Award for Best Short Film winner Bicycle (Jitensha) are playing in CHA Shorts Collection #2 throughout the week! Be sure to catch them and the rest of the short film programs!

Did you know?

Gabriel Noble, director of Best Documentary Feature Award-winner P-Star Rising, followed Priscilla (P-Star) Diaz and her father Jesse for four years as she rose to stardom. Did he get a chance to have a personal life at the same time, or even work on other projects?

As Gabriel mentioned at the Filmmakers’ Brunch on Sunday morning, not only did he manage to complete the film, he also got married, had a baby, and even made another documentary, Autumn’s Eyes, which he co-directed with Paola Mendoza, herself a Crystal Heart Award-winning for this year’s Entre Nos!

HEARTLAND FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2009 AWARD WINNERS

Awards and $200,000 in cash prizes were presented to 17 films. Heartland announced Welcome by Director Philippe Lioret as the $100,000 Grand Prize Award Winner for Best Dramatic Feature; P-Star Rising by Director Gabriel Noble as the winner of the $25,000 Award for Best Documentary Feature and Bicycle (Jitensha) by Director Dean Yamada as the winner of the $10,000 Vision Award for Best Short Film.

Award-winning Extra correspondent and Indianapolis-native Carlos Diaz emceed the glamorous awards ceremony. Special guests Greg Paul (Trustee of The Stewart Foundation and President of Castle Rock Entertainment) and Don Hahn (Beauty and the Beast, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Waking Sleeping Beauty) presented awards. Co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, Dr. Ed Catmull, was honored with the Pioneering Spirit Award for his creative spirit in filmmaking and his contribution to Heartland’s mission.

During the program, Heartland honored 17 dramatic and documentary short and feature-length films. Two student films received Jimmy Stewart Memorial Crystal Heart Awards and 15 films were honored with Crystal Heart Awards. These films were selected from more than 600 international film submissions for best meeting Heartland’s mission and demonstrating excellence in filmmaking.

Additional highlights included Heartland recognizing recipients of the prestigious Truly Moving Picture Award, which is bestowed upon theatrically released films that uphold the values of Heartland. Also, three-time GRAMMY® Award-winner and producer of the Official Selection documentary feature, Kabul 24, Michael W. Smith was in attendance and performed a song from his instrumental album.

Also, filmmakers and stars from the following Official Selection films were in attendance: A Shine of Rainbows, Americana, Another Harvest Moon, Beauty, Being Bucky, Facing Extinction: Christians in Iraq, Fifty Cents, JesusFreaks, Kabul 24, Like Dandelion Dust, Mandie and the Secret Tunnel, The Mighty Macs, My Name is Jerry, Pearl, Quest for Honor and She’s a Fox.

All of the Crystal Heart Award-winning films and Official Selections will be playing all week at AMC Castleton Square 14 and AMC Greenwood Park 14. For full listings check out the Festival guide online.