The festival presented more than $60,000 in cash prizes to recipients at the Awards Party on Saturday, October 18 at The Jazz Kitchen.
"Happy Birthday," directed by Sarah Goher, received the $20,000 Narrative Feature Grand Prize, marking the first time that a husband and wife have separately directed films that have won the Narrative Grand Prize (Mohamed Diab, "Cairo 678" in 2012). It is also Egypt's official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards®.
"Jimmy & The Demons," directed by Cindy Meehl, won the $20,000 Documentary Feature Grand Prize. This documentary followed the 79-year-old artist Jimmy Grashow as he poured four years into his magnum opus. Jimmy passed away in September of 2025. Film subject Lesley (Guzzy) Grashow, Jimmy's widow, accepted the award during the presentation.
Audience Choice Award winners were announced on Monday, October 20. James Vanderbilt's
"Nuremberg" from Sony Pictures Classics won the Overall Narrative Audience Choice Award, while the Overall Documentary Audience Choice Award went to World Premiere title
"Best Day Ever," directed by Ben Knight and Berne Broudy. Among major studio special presentation offerings,
"Rental Family" from HIKARI and Searchlight Pictures earned the Narrative Special Presentation Audience Choice Award and
"John Candy: I Like Me,"directed by Colin Hanks from Prime Video, was voted Documentary Special Presentation Audience Choice Award winner. The Heartland International Film Festival attendees also voted on winners in the categories of Narrative Official Selection, Documentary Official Selection, Indiana Spotlight and Horror.
"Congratulations to this year's winners," said Artistic Director Greg Sorvig. "Honoring such an international slate of powerful stories right here in the Heartland is truly an honor. I would like to thank every single storyteller who has spent the past 11 days with our audiences."
Heartland Film has the distinct honor of being the only festival in the world sanctioned by the Stewart Family to present an award in honor of classic actor Jimmy Stewart.
"The Eyes of Ghana," directed by Ben Proudfoot, received the $5,000 Jimmy Stewart Legacy Award. This is Ben Proudfoot's feature film debut after being an alumnus of the Indy Shorts International Film Festival with several short films, including Oscar®-winning documentaries "The Last Repair Shop" and "The Queen of Basketball."
The Hoodox Indiana Spotlight Award goes to a film that highlights stories from the Hoosier state or created by filmmakers right here in Indiana. Director Andie Redwine accepted the $2,000 Hoodox Indiana Spotlight Award for the world premiere documentary
"The Tenderness Tour." The film also went on to take home the Indiana Spotlight Audience Choice Award. Since 1989, Indianapolis native Richard D. Propes has traveled over 5,000 miles by wheelchair, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities worldwide in his nationally-recognized effort known as the Tenderness Tour. A paraplegic/double amputee with spina bifida, Propes completed the 35th year of the acclaimed event last year. He is the founder and publisher of TheIndependentCritic.com, a member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association and the recipient of numerous honors, including the Sagamore of the Wabash.
Propes is also the namesake to two Heartland International Film Festival's social impact awards.
"Comparsa," directed by Vickie Curtis & Doug Anderson, received the $2,000 Richard D. Propes Documentary Social Impact Award.
"Shakti," directed by Nani Sahra Walker, received received the $2,000 Richard D. Propes Narrative Social Impact Award, as well as the $2,500 Best Narrative Premiere Award.
"Tight & Nerdy" is another title that took home two honors. The documentary is a hilarious and unexpectedly moving portrait of the fearless women behind the world’s first (and only) burlesque tribute to “Weird Al” Yankovic. The film had it's world premiere at HIFF in partnership with the Indy Dance Council who performed a "nerdlesque" routine before the screening. Directors Jeff Nucera and Jonathan Ruane attended the awards ceremony and received the $2,000 Humor & Humanity Award. The film also received the Documentary Official Selection Audience Choice Award.
The Indiana Film Journalists Association (IFJA) announced its winner for best English language Special Presentation Narrative Feature. This year, the IFJA Award went to
"Blue Moon," directed by Richard Linklater and starring Ethan Hawke, from Sony Pictures Classics.
Saturday, October 18, HIFF hosted the 3rd Annual
PitchDox Main Eventpresented by Hoodox where five local documentary filmmakers presented their project ideas to a live audience for a chance to receive $10,000 to complete their film. The $10,000 Grand Prize went to "Barbara Boyd: On Top of the World," directed by Manòn Voice. Set in Indianapolis during the upheaval of the civil rights era, this documentary explores the groundbreaking career of Barbara Boyd, who became the first African American woman on-air in Indiana in 1969. This film also won the $2,500 PitchDox Audience Choice Award.
The 2025 Heartland International Film Festival hosted screenings at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at The Square, Indy Art Center, Living Room Theaters, Kan-Kan Cinema and Newfields. The festival theme, "Connect to What Matters," was inspired by the early days of the World Wide Web and excitement around connecting people and stories from all over the world. Attendees were encouraged to connect to new places, people and perspectives as they browsed through festival films.
In 2023 & 2024, the festival made MovieMaker Magazine's Top 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World list. Audiences still have time to be a part of the festival. Select award-winning titles will also be available to stream through Sunday, October 26 at
HeartlandFilmFestival.org.
Heartland Film is a nonprofit arts organization that runs the 11-day Heartland International Film Festival in October, the Academy Award®-Qualifying Indy Shorts International Film Festival in July and other year-round programs. More information about the festivals and programming can be found at
HeartlandFilm.org.