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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFilms starring Julia Roberts, Sydney Sweeney and Keanu Reeves highlight the lineup of the 34th Heartland International Film Festival.
The Indianapolis festival, scheduled Oct. 9-19, will open with a screening of “Rental Family,” starring Indianapolis native and Academy Award-winner Brendan Fraser, organizers announced Thursday.
Heartland will close with a screening of “Nuremberg,” starring University of Evansville alum and Academy Award-winner Rami Malek.
“Rental Family” and “Nuremberg” will be shown at Newfields, one of five festival venues. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Kan-Kan Cinema, Living Room Theaters and Indy Art Center are the other sites.
More than 100 feature films make up the Heartland lineup, including 19 world or United States premieres and nine designated as Indiana Spotlight films.
The roster of Indiana Spotlight films includes “The Tenderness Tour,” a documentary focused on medical-debt activist Richard Propes, and “Ignite the Fire,” a documentary detailing the first season of play by professional women’s volleyball team the Indy Ignite.
Roberts, who won an Academy Award for her work in the 2000 film “Erin Brockovich,” leads a cast that includes Ayo Edebiri and Andrew Garfield in psychological drama “After the Hunt.” Heartland will present “After the Hunt” Oct. 14 at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.
Sweeney, a two-time Emmy Award nominee, depicts professional boxer Christy Martin in the film “Christy.” Martin is scheduled to attend the Oct. 13 screening of “Christy” at Alamo.

Reeves, star of the “John Wick” and “The Matrix” film franchises, portrays an angel in “Good Fortune,” a comedy that will be shown Oct. 10 at Alamo.
Tickets and festival passes are available for purchase at heartlandfilmfestival.org. Admission prices range from $13 to $20.
Eight additional noteworthy films scheduled to be presented at Heartland:
- “Arco,” an animated film featuring the voice talents of Natalie Portman, Will Ferrell, Mark Ruffalo and Andy Samberg.
- “Blue Moon,” a film directed by Richard Linklater in which Ethan Hawke portrays Broadway songwriter Lorenz Hart.
- “It Was Just an Accident,” this year’s winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. “It Was Just An Accident” will serve as France’s submission for consideration as best international film at the Academy Awards.
- “John Candy: I Like Me,” a documentary directed by Colin Hanks. Candy co-starred with Hanks’ father, Tom Hanks, in 1980s films “Splash” and “Volunteers.”
- “Love + War,” a documentary from co-directors Jimmy Chen and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, who won an Oscar for 2019’s “Free Solo.”
- “A Private Life,” a French-language mystery starring two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster.
- “Rebuilding,” the story of a rancher, portrayed by “The Crown” star Josh O’Connor, affected by wildfires.
- “Train Dreams,” the story of a railroad worker, portrayed by Australian actor Joel Edgerton, in the early 1900s.
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