The 32nd Heartland International Film Festival (HIFF) announced the 2023 award winners with major cash prizes going to “Simón” from Director Diego Vicentini ($20,000 Narrative Feature Grand Prize), “We Dare to Dream” from Waad al-Kateab ($20,000 Documentary Feature Grand Prize), and “Hard Miles” from Director RJ Daniel Hanna ($5,000 Jimmy Stewart Legacy Award).

Matthew Modine attended the Awards Celebration to accept the Pioneering Spirit Award. He has two films at the Heartland International Film Festival. He is the Executive Producer of the documentary “Downwind” and he stars in “Hard Miles.”

“Congratulations to all of the 2023 Heartland International Film Festival award-winning filmmakers,” said Artistic Director Greg Sorvig. “Your films have captured the attention and admiration of our jury, and it has been an honor to showcase your work.”

The Overall Audience Choice Award went to “Brave the Dark.” “Rustin” from Netflix took home the Narrative Special Presentation Audience Choice Award, and “The Lionheart” from HBO and TIME Studios received the Documentary Special Presentation Audience Choice Award. The Narrative Feature Grand Prize-winning film, “Simón,” received the Narrative Audience Choice Award. The Heartland International Film Festival attendees also voted on winners in the categories of Documentary, Horror and Indiana Spotlight. 

There was a tie for the Indiana Film Journalists Association (IFJA) Best Special Presentation Award. “All of Us Strangers” from Searchlight Pictures and “The Holdovers” from Focus Features share this honor. 

2023 HEARTLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AWARD WINNERS

PIONEERING SPIRIT AWARD
Matthew Modine
The Pioneering Spirit Award honors individuals who embody Heartland Film’s mission; those whose work has inspired conversation, ignited imagination, and shifted perspectives. The Pioneering Spirit Award honors individuals in the prime of their career. Past honorees include include Colman Domingo, Will Smith, Jessica Biel and Geoffrey Rush.

Matthew Modine is an esteemed actor, producer, and director whose expansive body of work has spanned independent short and feature films all the way to major blockbusters that have redefined popular culture, including “Full Metal Jacket,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Stranger Things” and “Oppenheimer.”

PIONEERING SPIRIT: RISING STAR AWARD
​Dominic Sessa
The Pioneering Spirit: Rising Star Award is reserved for young and up-and-coming talent. This year’s recipient, Dominic Sessa, stars opposite Paul Giamatti in Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” and delivers a phenomenal breakthrough performance in his feature film debut.

THE SPIRIT OF HEARTLAND FILM AWARD
Amy Pauszek
This award honors a person who demonstrates enthusiasm and dedication to working with or promoting Heartland Film. Heartland Film is proud to recognize Amy Pauszek as the inaugural recipient of The Spirit of Heartland Film Award.
Amy embodies the gratitudes and values outlined in the criteria for this special award. Her continuous support and promotion of Heartland Film is appreciated by all the Heartland Film Staff.

Grand Prize for Narrative Feature ($20,000 Grand Prize)
“Simón,” directed by Diego Vicentini (Venezuela & USA)
Barely escaping the clutches of the oppressive Venezuelan dictatorship, freedom fighter Simón must now combat his trauma and guilt as he builds his case for asylum in order to be able to stay in the USA.

Grand Prize for Documentary Feature ($20,000 Grand Prize)
“We Dare To Dream,” directed by Waad al-Kateab (United Kingdom)
As the Refugee Olympic Team prepares to compete at the Tokyo Olympics, “We Dare to Dream” chronicles their hopes and desires as they fight for a better life. Waad previously won the HIFF Documentary Feature Grand Prize and Richard D. Propes Documentary Social Impact Award for her Oscar-nominated 2019 feature “For Sama.”

Jimmy Stewart Legacy Award ($5,000 Cash Prize)
“Hard Miles,” directed by RJ Daniel Hanna (USA)
A strong-willed social worker (Matthew Modine) at a youth prison assembles a cycling team of teenage convicts and takes them on a transformative 1000-mile ride.

Humor & Humanity Award ($2,000 Cash Prize)
“American Fiction,” directed by Cord Jefferson (USA)
“American Fiction” is Cord Jefferson’s hilarious directorial debut, which confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write an outlandish “Black” book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain. Winner of the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival People’s Choice Award. Special presentation of Orion Pictures.

Richard D. Propes Narrative Social Impact Award ($2,000 Cash Prize)
“Radical” directed by Christopher Zalla (Mexico)
Based on a true story, “Radical” takes place in a Mexican border town plagued by neglect, corruption, and violence, where a frustrated teacher (Eugenio Derbez) tries a radical new method to break through his students’ apathy and unlock their curiosity, their potential…and maybe even their genius. The film shines a light on the incredible opportunities children can manifest when an innovative teacher awakens their curiosity and allows them to discover the joy of learning.

Richard D. Propes Documentary Social Impact Award ($2,000 Cash Prize)
“The Space Race,” directed by Lisa Cortés and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza (USA)
“The Space Race” uncovers the little-known stories of the first Black pilots, engineers and scientists that became astronauts. Special presentation of National Geographic Documentary Films.

Best Narrative Feature Premiere ($2,500 Cash Prize)
“Sight,” directed by Andrew Hyatt (USA), World Premiere
A world-renowned eye surgeon takes on the impossible task of saving a blind orphan’s sight, only to be met with memories of his own traumatic past and realize his own strength can only take him so far. Starring Greg Kinnear.

Best Documentary Feature Premiere ($2,500 Cash Prize)
“UnBroken” directed by Beth Lane (USA), World Premiere
Seventy-five years after the remarkable escape of seven Jewish siblings who evaded Nazi capture, the daughter of the youngest child embarks on an international quest to uncover answers about her family’s extraordinary survival and the outstanding bravery of the German strangers who helped them.

Horror Award ($2,000 Cash Prize)
“Et Tu,” directed by Max Tzannes (USA), World Premiere
A dark comedy thriller about a director driven to madness during a regional production of Julius Caesar. Starring Lou Diamond Phillips and Malcom McDowell.

Indiana Spotlight Award ($2,000 Cash Prize)
“Liminal: Indiana in the Anthropocene,” directed by Zach Schrank (USA)
Liminal: Indiana in the Anthropocene is a meditative aerial film that illustrates our state as a microcosm of this new planetary epoch. Entirely filmed with drone cameras by Indiana Aerials and accompanied by an original score written by Fort Wayne composer Nate Utesch (aka Metavari), Liminal reveals a compelling and uncanny view of Indiana in all its features and forms.

Overall Audience Choice Award Winner
“Brave the Dark,” directed by Damian Harris (USA), World Premiere
Based on a true story in 1986, small town USA. Brave the Dark tells the story of a homeless teen struggling to find his purpose and the courage to confront the darkness of his past. When popular drama teacher, Stan Deen, takes on a troubled kid, Nate, no one quite prepared him for the journey he was undertaking or the dark secrets Nate is hiding. “Brave the Dark” is a heartwarming story about a teenager who finds his true father.

Narrative Special Presentation Audience Choice Award Winner
“Rustin,” directed by George C. Wolfe (USA)
“Rustin” shines a spotlight on Bayard Rustin (Colman Domingo), who, alongside giants like Martin Luther King Jr. and Ella Baker, dare to imagine a different world and inspire a movement in a march toward freedom. Centerpiece, special presentation of Netflix.

Documentary Special Presentation Audience Choice Award Winner
“The Lionheart,” directed by Laura Brownson (USA)
When Dan Wheldon, two-time Indy 500 Champion, is killed in one of the worst crashes in IndyCar history, it shakes motorsports to its core. Now, ten years later, Dan’s two boys, Sebastian and Oliver, follow in their father’s footsteps as they work through their loss the only way they know how: getting behind the wheel to race. Opening Night, ​special presentation of HBO and TIME Studios.

Narrative Official Selection Audience Choice Award Winner
“Simón,” directed by Diego Vicentini (Venezuela & USA)
Barely escaping the clutches of the oppressive Venezuelan dictatorship, freedom fighter Simón must now combat his trauma and guilt as he builds his case for asylum in order to be able to stay in the USA.

Documentary Official Selection Audience Choice Award Winner
“The Body Politic,” directed by Gabriel Francis Paz Goodenough (USA)
With unfettered access, “The Body Politic” follows Baltimore City’s idealistic young mayor into office, where he puts his personal and political future on the line to save his beloved city from chronic violence.

Indiana Spotlight Audience Choice Award Winner
“Art & Soul: A Portrait of Nancy Noel,” directed by Alex Kosene (USA), World Premiere
Nancy Noel was a renowned painter, a visionary in her business, and an activist in her life. Nancy Noel created not just paintings, but a life that became her art’s inspiration. Through her images and their creation, we see the world as Nancy saw it.

Horror Audience Choice Award Winner
“New Life,” directed by John Rosman (USA)
A mysterious woman on the run, and the resourceful fixer assigned to bring her in. Their two unique stories inextricably link, as the stakes of the pursuit rise to apocalyptic proportions.

IFJA Best Special Presentation Award ​(Tie)

“All of Us Strangers,” directed by Andrew Haigh (United Kingdom, USA)
One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam (Andrew Scott) has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor Harry (Paul Mescal), which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. Special presentation of Searchlight Pictures.

“The Holdovers,” directed by Alexander Payne (USA)
From acclaimed director Alexander Payne, “The Holdovers” follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa) — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). ​Closing Night, special presentation of Focus Features.