# Heartland International Film Festival

The Heartland International Film Festival (HIFF) is a high academy qualifying film festival held each October in Indianapolis, Indiana, hosted by the nonprofit organization Heartland Film, Inc. The festival was first held in 1992, with the goal to "inspire filmmakers and audiences through the transformative power of film". HIFF accepts entries of feature-length films at least 40 minutes long, including student submissions. Shorter films are accepted through Heartland Films' spinoff "Indy Shorts International Film Festival", also an Academy Award qualifying festival.

## Grand Prize and Audience Choice Award-winning films

| Year | Grand Prize for Best Narrative Feature | Grand Prize for Best Documentary Feature | Grand Prize for Best Short Film | Audience Choice Award | Audience Choice Award | Audience Choice Award |
| Year | Grand Prize for Best Narrative Feature | Grand Prize for Best Documentary Feature | Grand Prize for Best Short Film | Narrative Feature | Documentary Feature | Short Film |
| 1999 | Wayward Son | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2000 | The Rising Place | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2001 | The War Bride | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2002 | To End All Wars | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2003 | Saints and Soldiers | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2004 | Love's Brother | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2005 | End of the Spear | – | A Kiss on the Nose | Innocent Voices | Earthling | The Man Who Walked Between the Towers |
| 2006 | Shooting Dogs | The Hip Hop Project | Shade | Shooting Dogs | A Man Named Pearl | I Want to Be a Pilot |
| 2007 | Bella | Hear and Now | Validation | Man in the Chair | Hear and Now | Validation |
| 2008 | Captain Abu Raed | Pray the Devil Back to Hell | Victoria | Captain Abu Raed | Ripple of Hope | Go |
| 2009 | Welcome | P-Star Rising | Bicycle (Jitensha) | Like Dandelion Dust, A Shine of Rainbows (tie) | After the Storm | Grande Drip |
| 2010 | The Space Between | Freedom Riders | The Butterfly Circus | Ways to Live Forever | Once In My Life | The Butterfly Circus |
| 2011 | Red Dog | Crime After Crime | Thief | Red Dog | Crime After Crime | Sun City Picture House |
| 2012 | Cairo 678 | Rising from Ashes | Head Over Heels | A Bottle in the Gaza Sea | Stuck, Rising from Ashes (tie) | It Ain't Over |
| 2013 | Hide Your Smiling Faces | The Network | The Amber Amulet (Narrative Short), Wrinkles of the City: La Havna (Documentary Short) | 23 Blast | Life According to Sam, Blood Brother (tie) | The Amber Amulet (Narrative Short), Running Blind (Documentary Short) |
| 2014 | Siddharth | Happiness | Record (Narrative Short), Showfolk (Documentary Short) | Where Hope Grows | Becoming Bulletproof | Till Then (Narrative Short), Showfolk (Documentary Short) |
| 2015 | The Judgement | Romeo Is Bleeding | The Way of Tea (Narrative Short), The 100 Years Show (Documentary Short) | Marie's Story | dream/killer | Moving ON (Narrative Short), Teen Press (Documentary Short) |
| 2016 | Home Care | Night School | The Ravens (Narrative Short), Mining Poems or Odes (Documentary Short) | Te Ata | Night School | Good Business (Narrative Short), Violet (Documentary Short) |
| 2017 | Red Dog: True Blue | Liyana | The Cage (Narrative Short), Edges (Documentary Short) | The Bachelors & Mum's List (tie) | I'll Push You | Me and My Father (Narrative Short), Refugee (Documentary Short) |
| 2018 | The Elephant and the Butterfly | On Her Shoulders | Shorts moved to Indy Shorts International Film Fest | Indivisible | Emanuel | Shorts moved to Indy Shorts International Film Fest |
| 2019 | House of Hummingbird | Sama | – | Feast of the Seven Fishes | Jump Shot | – |
| 2020 | There Is No Evil | 76 Days | – | Not awarded due to COVID-19 pandemic | Not awarded due to COVID-19 pandemic | – |
| 2021 | Americanish | All These Sons | – | Peace By Chocolate | For The Left hand | – |
| 2022 | Our Father, The Devil | Hidden Letters | Shorts moved to Indy Shorts International Film Fest | Rally Caps | Butterfly In The Sky | Shorts moved to Indy Shorts International Film Fest |
| 2023 | Simón | We Dare To Dream | Shorts moved to Indy Shorts International Film Fest | Sight | The Body Politic | Shorts moved to Indy Shorts International Film Fest |