The 29th Annual Heartland Film Festival will be held Oct. 8 through Oct. 18. This year’s festival will be unique, in that the 76 films, filmmaker Q & As, and 23 premiers will be held not in the theatre, but in the comfort of your living room or at a drive-in!
Guests will be able to view films on any computer, or smart TV or a streaming device between Oct. 8-18. Finalists to the festival include 76 Days (documentary about the early days of COVID-19), There is No Evil (drama), Sisters Apart (drama), River City Drumbeat (documentary), and many more shorts, documentaries, musicals, and special features. Several genres are represented, including action/thrillers, art and musics, horror, comedies, current events and history, family friendly features, sports, and a cultural journey preview to Israel. 
Guests can select films to watch, pay online ($9), pop your own popcorn, and settle into your favorite chair to see films you wouldn’t ordinarily see in your local cinemaplex (even if they were open). In addition, the Opening Night festivities will take place on Thursday, Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m. at Tibbs Drive-In (480 S. Tibbs Ave.), with a screening of the hilarious new comedy Eat Wheaties! starring Tony Hale and Elizabeth Banks (cost is $11 per person). Tibbs Drive-In will also be the place to see films on Friday, Oct. 9, Saturday, Oct.10, Sunday, Oct.11, Thurs., Oct. 15-through Closing Night, Oct. 18 that features Blithe Spirit starring Dan Stevens and Judi Dench. Conner Prairie will host Drive-in movies on Monday, Oct. 12 (and will also feature a reserved picnic area), Tuesday, Oct.13, and a Hitchcock double feature Rear Window and Vertigo. ($15).
There will be a virtual and a drive-in Centerpiece film. Minari will only be available for 24 hours (Oct. 14 and 15) and is the story of a Korean-American family that moves to an Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The Drive-In Centerpiece is The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain, a timely drama about a man who triggers his medical pendant, and by 7 a..m. he’s dead. It will be shown at the Tibbs Drive-In at 7:15 p.m. Oct. 15. Closing Night virtual feature is MLK/FBI, a documentary based on the declassified files of the FBI detailing the government’s surveillance and harassment of the civil rights leader.
To see the full line-up of films and special events, visit heartlandfilmfestival20.org
