Heartland International Film Festival

SELECTION PROCESS
Each submitted film goes through an involved judging process, and is screened in its entirety by at least one member of the selection committee. Selected films could eventually be seen more than six times by members of the screening committees, programming staff, and juries.

Films submitted to Heartland International Film Festival are judged on their overall artistic and technical quality. Additionally, each film must be engaging and entertaining, but do more than simply entertain. Selected films have a transformative power that impacts audiences by educating, inspiring, challenging or shifting perspectives - ultimately Heartland International Film Festival programs story-driven films that do much more than entertain.

RULES & TERMS
Please visit http://heartlandfilm.org/festival/submit/ for a full list of 2018 Rules and Regulations

ELIGIBILITY
To be eligible for the Heartland Film Festival, films must comply with the following:
- The film must have been completed on or after January 1, 2017 and be longer than 40 minutes in length. Short films (40 minutes or less) must be submitted to Indy Shorts, the separate, all-short-film expansion festival (July 26-29, 2018).
- The film must be available for 3-4 screenings during the Festival, October 11-21, 2018.
- There must not be a screening fee attached to the film. Heartland will not pay a screening fee to any film featured in the Festival; there are no exceptions.
- Heartland requires a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) for every film. No Blu-rays, DVDs or 35mm prints will be screened at the Festival.
- Premiere status has no bearing on whether a film is selected. Heartland Film does not encourage your film being available on YouTube, Vimeo, theatrical release, etc. prior to the event, but that does not have any bearing on eligibility.
- The film cannot require dual projection (interlock) or separate soundtracks.
- Non-English films must be subtitled.
- Films competing for Best U.S./World Premiere must hold their U.S. or world premiere at the Heartland International Film Festival between Oct. 11-21, 2018. If it is found that the film has already played, or is scheduled to play prior to the Heartland International Film Festival, the film is no longer eligible for the Premiere Awards and may be pulled from the lineup at the discretion of Heartland Film. Once a film is confirmed as a premiere title it cannot play any other festival prior to the scheduled Heartland screening date, regardless of any other festivals or events you have submitted to before Heartland.

RULES FOR SUBMISSION
In addition to the eligibility requirements listed above, filmmakers must comply with the following submission rules to be considered as a Finalist in their respective category:
- The submitting filmmaker must be either the producer or director of the film.
Entries are accepted exclusively through FilmFreeway.com.
- A completed official entry on FilmFreeway.com must be digitally signed by the filmmaker.
- Payment of the non-refundable entry fee must accompany the submission. Payment can be made by credit card, check or money order payable in U.S. dollars to Heartland Film, Inc. The filmmaker will be responsible for bank fees associated with any check returned to Heartland by the bank as unpaid.
- All items on the materials checklist (below) must be provided by the entry deadline.
- Multiple submissions must be provided as individual submissions.
- Films submitted in the wrong categories to save on submission costs will be disqualified and fees will be kept by Heartland Film, Inc. (example: filmmaker submits to High School Film Competition but was not a student at the time the film was made) - this includes filmmaker claims of being a student when they are not indeed students.

MATERIALS CHECKLIST
All entries must submit the following information to be considered for the Festival:
- Link to a functional streaming video file (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) in high definition 720p or 1080p. If the link is password-protected, a working password is mandatory.
- Completed and digitally signed submission on FilmFreeway.com.
- Entry fee.

NOTIFICATION
Filmmakers (producer or director) for films selected as Finalists in their respective category will be notified by phone around mid-August, 2017 (via supplied email address). All other filmmakers will be notified by email after that date or before mid-September, 2017. Official Selections and Finalists will be publicly announced on September 13, 2018, at the Heartland International Film Festival Announcement Party. Heartland reserves the right to release basic information about selected films as early as August.

FINALISTS/OFFICIAL SELECTIONS
Films are ultimately chosen as either Finalists, which remain in competition for the Grand Prizes, or Official Selections, which screen out of competition for the Grand Prizes (though they may remain eligible for other prizes).
10 filmmakers will be selected as Finalists in the following categories:
- 5 Narrative Features
- 5 Documentary Features

Films are ultimately chosen as either Finalists, which remain in competition for the Grand Prizes, or Official Selections, which screen out of competition for the Grand Prizes (though they may remain eligible for Best Premiere or Indiana Spotlight prizes, as described below).

All submitted films that meet the below eligibility requirements are considered “in competition” to be selected as a Heartland Film Festival Finalist at the time of submission. In September 2018, Finalists are publicly announced. Only Finalists are eligible for the Grand Prize in each category. Grand Prize winners are announced at the Heartland International Film Festival Awards Party on Saturday, October 20, 2018. Filmmakers must be present to win, as described below.

Films that are not honored as Finalists may be invited to screen as “Official Selections” and are eligible for the Audience Choice Awards. Official Selections are no longer “in competition” for the Grand Prizes: only Finalists will be eligible for Grand Prizes.
Feature-length films having their U.S. or World Premiere at Heartland are eligible for Best Premiere Awards. Indiana films meeting eligibility requirements for the Indiana Spotlight competition are eligible for the award in that category.

Other films may be invited to screen at the Festival as a “Special Presentation” or in a “To Be Announced” time slot; these may be eligible for the Audience Choice Award depending on when the films are scheduled.

Films selected as Finalists will be programmed to screen up to four times during the Festival. Official Selections will screen up to three times.

In 2017, 213 films were selected from more than 3,500 submissions.