thenationofartists.com

By Elliot V. Kotek
(Oct. 17, 2010)

Wow! What a ceremony. The Heartland Film Festival handed out its awards last night:
*Best Short: Butterfly Circus ($10,000)
*Best Documentary: Freedom Riders ($25,000)
*Best Feature Narrative: The Space Between ($50,000)
And reached an aggregate of $2.3 million in prize money handed out over its 19-year history.

Check out my review of “The Space Between” in the next couple of days. Written and directed by Travis Fine, the film focuses on an airline stewardess (Academy Award nominee Melissa Leo) labored with looking after an Islamic unaccompanied minor during the aftermath of 9/11. I’ve had trouble watching 9/11-themed films, but found that Fine’s pic truly captured that essence of what was going on in the days after the tragedy. He also questions that mysterious mindset that enables us to forget about the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, an event mostly erased from common media’s memory.

The dinner and lounge afterparty that respectively preceded and followed the ceremony were lavish affairs at which Indianapolis high society mixed with the filmmakers, who, sorting them out in conversation starters at each table, recruited those within their reach to attend their films over the coming days.