The 35th Heartland Film Festival runs October 8 to 18, 2026. The festival publishes more than 100 films across six Indianapolis venues. The programme covers eleven days.
The online schedule lists 259 dated entries across those eleven days, read on 23 September 2026. The load lands unevenly, and that uneven load decides the shape of a group block.
The Two Saturdays Carry the Programme
Saturday, October 17 lists 38 entries. Saturday, October 10 lists 33. No other day reaches 30.
The count by day runs: Thursday, October 8 at one, Friday, October 9 at 22, Saturday, October 10 at 33, Sunday, October 11 at 29, Monday, October 12 at 19, Tuesday, October 13 at 23, Wednesday, October 14 at 19, Thursday, October 15 at 23, Friday, October 16 at 29, Saturday, October 17 at 38 and Sunday, October 18 at 23.
Two Wednesdays sit at 19 entries each. Monday sits at 19. A film club or a university group that books all eleven nights pays for those light midweek nights and fills them from the afternoon blocks.
A Weekend-Heavy Block
The first weekend runs October 9 to 11. The closing weekend runs October 16 to 18, and it holds the heaviest day.
The first entry starts at 11:45 a.m. on October 17 and at noon on October 10. The last entry starts at 8 p.m. on both days. A group on either Saturday leaves the property before midday and returns after 10 p.m.
A group that books the full eleven nights signs for seven nights it uses lightly and four it packs. A group that books two weekends signs two stays and skips the midweek. The hotel quote prices the shape, so ask for the two Saturday nights as a named-rate item inside the block.
The Ticket Cut-Off Sits Ahead of the Marquee Nights
Three entries showed as sold out on 23 September: Opening Night: JIMMY on October 8, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York and Union County on October 17. Twelve further entries inside the run carried a limited-ticket flag, among them La Bola Negra, Method to the Madness, Once Upon a Time in Harlem, Gentle Monster, Centerpiece Screening: Wild Horse Nine, Tangles, Iron Boy and Closing Night: The Debut.
The ticketing site states that Fest Passes and Ticket Packs exclude Premium Events. A group that plans around a pass still buys the marquee nights separately. The ticket commitment therefore comes first and the rooming list second.
Pass prices published on the festival site are $220 for a VIP Fest Pass, $176 for members; $430 for a Duo Fest Pass, $344 for members; $120 for a Theater 10-Pack, $96 for members; and $140 for a Streaming 10-Pack, $112 for members. Membership takes 20 per cent off every pass. Each pass must be redeemed for individual tickets to hold a seat. If a passholder is not scanned in by the start time, the organiser states it may treat admission as forfeited and reissue the ticket.
Two Dates Bracket the Arrival
The online schedule opens before the festival does. A trailer watch party ran Wednesday, September 23 at 7 p.m. A preview screening of First Five runs Wednesday, October 7 at 7 p.m. with a limited-ticket flag. The last dated entry is Closing Night: The Debut on Sunday, October 18 at 6 p.m.
A group that attends the preview arrives on the Wednesday before the festival opens. A group that stays to closing night holds rooms on the night of October 17 and checks out on the 18th.
The Rooming List and the Attrition Clause
Heartland Film publishes no room block and names no hotel partner on the festival pages or the ticketing site. The group negotiates with a property, so every term that governs a block stays unpublished until the hotel writes it.
Four terms carry the most weight for a programme-led group. The attrition clause, because a group that peaks on two of eleven nights should not be measured against a flat nightly average. The cutoff date, because the hotel sets one. The pickup floor, because a block sized to a 38-entry Saturday runs empty on a 19-entry Wednesday. The release date, because unsold rooms return to inventory on the hotel's schedule.
What to Ask Before Signing
Ask the hotel to price a shoulder shape: more rooms Friday and Saturday, fewer Sunday through Thursday. Ask how the property counts a group that shrinks midweek. Ask for the cancellation ladder in writing, with the date each step begins. Ask each property for its distance to the venues the group will use, because six venues across the city mean no single block sits beside the whole programme.
Match the dates to the ticket cut-off on the same call. The schedule page carries its own warning that the schedule is subject to change, and that the online schedule may differ from the printed guidebook.
One more input sizes the in-person block. Many festival films stream in the United States through October 19, and the site states that the virtual hub carries part of the programme. A group that splits its members between theatres and the streaming hub buys fewer rooms than its ticket count suggests.
The six venues are Alamo Drafthouse Cinema at the Square, 3898 Lafayette Road; Indy Art Center, 820 E 67th Street; Kan-Kan Cinema, 1258 Windsor Street; Living Room Theaters, 745 E 9th Street, Suite 810; Newfields, 4000 N Michigan Road; and the Scottish Rite Cathedral, 650 N Meridian Street. All are ADA-accessible, and the box office answers accessibility questions at boxoffice@heartlandfilm.org.
groupRooms publishes a group rate from a block of 10 or more rooms. Send the room request with the nights and the rooming list, or start from the group rate calculator and the Indianapolis directory. How the request works.
