INDIANAPOLIS — The 98th Academy Awards are Sunday, and an Indianapolis nonprofit is heading into Hollywood's biggest night with a record number of connections to this year's nominees.
"20 films that we've had at our festivals we honored through another award, 44 nominations, which I think is also a record for us," Greg Sorvig, the artistic director of Heartland Film, said.
That includes nine short films and 11 feature films.
Among them is "Train Dreams," nominated for Best Picture, and the short film "Jane Austen's Period Drama," co-directed by Indianapolis native and Indiana University graduate Steve Pinder. The film won the Comedy Award and the Overall Audience Choice Award at Indy Shorts 2024.
"We have a lot of, a lot of great movies that have won awards at our festival," Sorvig said.
Sorvig also highlighted "Sinners" as a film to watch beyond Heartland's festival connections.
"That film was original, it was amazing. It won the ensemble Award at the Actors Awards. Michael B. Jordan, I think, surprised everybody, but in a great way," Sorvig said.
The film's director, Ryan Coogler, could become the first Black man to win Best Director at the Academy Awards.
"I'm going to predict maybe a swap or kind of a one-for-one between Best Picture and Director, whether that's One Battle-winning picture and Coogler director or the other way around, but you never know, it could be a historical night," Sorvig said.
Sorvig also pointed to some of the tightest individual races of the season, including Supporting Actress, where he noted Amy Madigan for "Weapons," and Supporting Actor, where he mentioned Delroy Lindo for "Sinners" as a potential surprise.
This year, Heartland Film had a record nine films out of the 15 that were Oscar-nominated. For the first time ever, Sorvig said Heartland Film could also have all three short film category winners.
Sorvig said the milestone is another opportunity to raise Indiana's profile in the film world.
"People might not regard Indiana as a big place, as a film hub, but we've been making a lot of noise. So it's really great to have that reputation of being trusted and being this really cool stop on the indie film scene for the Oscars," Sorvig said.
The Oscars air Sunday, March 15, with coverage starting at 7 p.m. on WRTV.
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