(gentle guitar music) - Welcome to WFYI Presents Heartland Film.

I'm your host, Aric Hartvig, and in this edition, we'll be taking a look at growing up.

Life's journey has a way of putting us through some pretty tough times, but the characters in these short films coming up took the hand they were dealt and did something with it.

Up first is Free Bird, an animated short starring John, a character with Down Syndrome.

John navigates his life with a loving mother, an absent father, a classroom bully, and a lifelong crush.

45 years and five minutes.

Are you Down?

After that is Safe Haven, a film following Monica Kelsey.

Monica was adopted as a child, her birth mother a victim of rape.

She became a firefighter and a medic, and has since dedicated her life to saving life.

Later, we'll catch up with the filmmakers behind these Heartland shorts, and we'll hear from Heartland's own Julia Ricci about this year's upcoming International Film Festival.

But first, here's Free Bird.

(soft footsteps) (gentle music) (light clicks on) (elderly person chortles) (light clicks on) (elderly person snores softly) (ultrasound machine whirring) ♪ I wanna hold your eyes ♪ ♪ Keep my heart on the table ♪ ♪ Sometimes what's in my mind doesn't show on my face though ♪ ♪ I wanna fortify without fossilizing ♪ ♪ Redefine all the people I've been ♪ ♪ Breathe inside each moment I'm in ♪ ♪ And walk into a new horizon ♪ (baby coos) ♪ I'm trying to find my freedom ♪ ♪ Freedom ♪ ♪ I'm trying to find my freedom ♪ ♪ Freedom ♪ ♪ I wish that I could feel the sun without casting a shadow ♪ ♪ Does sleeping in a soft bed dampen my halo ♪ ♪ And I've made plans, takes time to change though ♪ ♪ Or is that just worse to say ♪ ♪ Don't heroes stand outside the fables ♪ ♪ I'm trying to find my freedom ♪ ♪ Freedom ♪ (students laughing) ♪ I'm trying to find my freedom ♪ ♪ Freedom ♪ ♪ I'm trying to find my freedom ♪ ♪ Freedom ♪ (clock ticking, bell rings) ♪ I'm trying to find my freedom ♪ ♪ Freedom ♪ (paper shuffles) ♪ I just wanna stay in the now, now, now ♪ ♪ In the now, now, now ♪ ♪ Never wanna stray from the now, now, now ♪ ♪ From the now, now, now ♪ ♪ I just wanna stay in the now, now, now ♪ ♪ Never wanna stray from the now, now, now ♪ ♪ Screen to a page in the now, now, now ♪ ♪ I lost my way from the now, now, now ♪ (audience applauding) ♪ I saw your face in the now, now, now ♪ ♪ I know you've got a way with the now, now, now ♪ ♪ So take my hand and take me to the now, now, now ♪ ♪ I'm trying to find my freedom ♪ ♪ Freedom ♪ ♪ I'm trying to find my freedom ♪ ♪ Freedom ♪ ♪ I'm trying to find my freedom ♪ ♪ Freedom ♪ ♪ I'm trying to find my freedom ♪ ♪ Freedom ♪ (light clicks off) ('Freedom' instrumentals continue) (music fades out) - My name is Nicholas Herd and I am the creative director of the film, Free Bird.

I have never seen a person with Down Syndrome in animation in my entire life, in any animation, like, like the movies that I love, like Disney films.

But in this film, Free Bird is gonna help make that change.

And while developing the characters, I was overjoyed seeing the characters come to, come together and come to life.

Excited to see this as being more than just a film, but also as something going beyond.

So I wanna say thank you to all of you for watching our film, Free Bird and taking the time to take that all in.

Thank you for being part of it.

And also... be patient with the people who have Down Syndrome.

And... smile.

Just be happy that, and be grateful that they're part of our society.

(popcorn machine running) - Hi, I'm Julia Ricci from Heartland Film here in Indianapolis and we're really excited about this year's film festival.

Our theme is Lost in Film.

This year, you can expect more than 100 independent films from all over the world, and over a hundred filmmakers here in town to answer your questions about their films.

Our opening night film is a documentary from Apple TV+ called Louis Armstrong's Black and Blues.

And we also have, for our closing night film, we have Brendan Fraser's new film, The Whale.

Out, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September, and that will be our closing night film.

We had him here in 2019 for an anniversary screening of The Mummy and we're really excited to have his brand new film playing at our festival this year.

We're gonna be at the Kan-Kan Cinema and Brasserie.

We're gonna be at Living Room Theatres, Newfields, and Landmark Glendale, and the Historic Artcraft Theatre down in Franklin.

You can also watch virtually within, within the United States.

So if you have friends and family who live outside of Indianapolis they can watch as well within the United States online.

At a film festival like Heartland, you can come get that in-person experience.

You get films that you might never have seen otherwise from around the world.

And these films are handpicked by our programming teams.

So you, you know, that these films are gonna be good and kind of like a friend recommending a film to you.

And you also have the experience of, you know, seeing these films with audiences, but also having the filmmakers here in person to talk about their films.

And you have a chance to interact with them and ask them questions, and hear stories about how they made it.

And it's just, it's a, it's a great way to get that festival experience that you wouldn't get watching at home.

The festival has already started, but you can still get your tickets at HeartlandFilm.org.

We hope to see you there.

- Up next is Safe Haven, the origin story of Indiana's baby boxes.

(birds chirping) (gentle music begins) - Well I always knew that I was adopted.

My parents were told when they adopted me was that my biological parents were young in love, and couldn't care for me, so they placed me for adoption.

When I was 37, I, I reconnected with my biological mother and the inevitable question came up: Who is my biological father?

She got up from her chair and she comes back with a blue folder, and it's tattered and it's torn, and she pulls out this police report dated August 25th, 1972.

She was 17 years old.

She was brutally attacked and raped and left along the side of the road.

He was arrested, he was charged, and if that wasn't the worst of it, six weeks later she finds out she's pregnant.

She was hidden for the remainder of the pregnancy.

She gave birth in April of 1973, and abandoned her child two hours after that child was born.

And that child was me.

I didn't want this to be my life.

I didn't want to be conceived out of violence.

I, I had always had the idea that I was conceived with wine and roses and, you know, my parents loved me, and this was not what I had signed up for.

This is my life now.

Now, what do I do with it?

You know, do I, do I try to make it better for others?

Do I just shove it under the rug and tell no one?

I mean, I, I could have easily done that but what good would have come out of that?

(uplifting music begins) You know, when Amelia was found, this actual story really kind of shook me.

But this little girl died laying in a park while animals gnawed at her arms and feet.

Where would these kids be today?

You know, when you think about it, where would they be today?

I don't really think we see the full potential of, of these, these babies, because we never gave them a chance.

They never had a chance.

(curios music begins) We were at a church in Cape Town, I was walking in the door of this church and I'm, I'm looking at this thing in the wall and I'm like, "What is this and what is it used for?"

And the woman that was with us that was taking us around, she says, "Well, women bring their babies here at night so that they can save their lives."

And so, on the flight back from Cape Town, South Africa, on a Delta napkin, I hand drew my version of the baby box.

(metal clanks) So this is the $700 prototype.

(laughs) Look how advanced it is.

This was exactly what we needed to, to get started to understand where we needed to go next.

The Department of Health, the Department of Child Services was against it.

And then they said, "Well, what if the box fails?"

What if it doesn't?

I knew that these boxes had to be a hundred percent, a hundred percent of the time, they could never fail.

- Once the door opened, the, the first alarm goes off our silent alarm.

And once the baby's placed in the bassinet, it will actually break the, the beam from the eye of the reflector.

And as soon as that beam's broken, it dials out to our own company.

- [Firefighter] There you go.

(door slams shut) - In the Indiana law, it doesn't say that I can put baby boxes in at that time, but it didn't say that I couldn't, either.

I slapped my first box in Woodburn, Indiana.

We put the very first two baby boxes in April of 2016.

(people applauding) Five days later, both locations got certified letters from the Department of Child Services saying, "Shut your boxes down, they're illegal.

And if you don't, we'll shut them down for you."

These boxes weren't going down, they were not being shut down.

And if you want to shut them down, you're gonna have to take me in front of the Indiana Supreme Court.

- And she stuck to her guns.

We're so very proud of her for doing that and I'm happy to stand by her the entire way.

- [Monica] (laughing) She just wants to play with you guys.

Did you eat your treat?

- 30 days to the day after I put that baby box in and it went live, I was on the ambulance at night, and it was about 1:50 in the morning, and I got called to a vehicle rollover, party pinned.

- [Operator] Is it a car accident?

- [Driver] We were being dumb asses and flipped the Jeep, and our guy got pinned.

- And they were at a high school graduation party where the homeowner bought booze.

I find out that it's my son and his best friend, and one is dead and one is alive.

And I have no idea which one is which.

The vehicle had pinned Casey.

There were 50 kids at this party that had ran over and picked this jeep up, and put it back on all four tires to unpin Casey.

So when I got there, I found my son doing chest compressions on, on his best friend.

And so I quickly went to my son, 'cause as a mom, your, your first reaction is, I gotta take care of my kid.

And he said, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine.

Save Casey's life."

And we worked him in the field.

18 minutes had passed, and we called time of death.

My husband came, JJ stood up and they hugged, and JJ said, "Casey's dead and it's my fault."

I stopped installing baby boxes.

I had to fix my family.

I had to, I had to fix my son.

You know, I mean, can you imagine waking up every day knowing that you killed your best friend?

He was charged with OWI causing death.

OWI causing death with blood alcohol 0.085, and then also underage consumption.

And he decided to plead guilty.

People think that I stopped installing baby boxes because of the fight with the Department of Child Services.

People who know me know that that was not the case because I would've never backed down from the department, but I had to take care of my family first.

I'm looking at my phone going, "We've got three missed calls from Coolsprings Fire Department."

Like, it's like 11 o'clock at night, like, what is going on?

- [Operator] Coolspring Fire, 7111 West 400 North, for a medical alarm.

- I'm thinking somebody put a raccoon, or a cat, or a dog, or something in there.

- And so I, I called him and, and he picked up the phone and he's like, "We got our first baby."

I said, "You're not pulling my leg, are you?"

Like, "are you being serious?"

And, and he's like, "Yes, and she's beautiful."

- I've been doing this for 30 some years.

We see a lot of bad calls in our life and it sticks with you.

But when you get a call like this, it makes all the bad things well worthwhile.

- My son was in prison when the first baby was placed in one of our boxes, and it was two months before he was released.

And I don't think that was a mistake because then it was my turn again, I needed to pick back up where I had left off.

It is a great day to be from Crestwood, Kentucky, (people applauding) home now of Safe Haven Baby Box # 81 in the country.

- [Audience] Woo!

- Woo!

(hopeful music plays) Every state that we get in, abandonments go down.

I can't wait to see us in all 50 states because I think that is when we're going to see the biggest drop in infant abandonment in this country.

She's like, I don't know about all this place.

- Friends?

- [Monica] Can you be friends?

- All right.

See, we can be friends.

- That is one of the greatest parts of my job.

Getting to have a relationship with the kids that we save.

It kinda allows us to keep fighting because, you know, sometimes you're just like, "Oh, are we really making a difference?"

And then you save the life of a child in one of our boxes and it's just an uplifting thing to have (baby's footsteps) one of these little guys running around.

(birds chirping) - [Toddler] Fire truck.

- [Monica] Fire trucks!

- [Toddler] Whoa!

Fire truck.

(Monica laughs) - See, I think she's warming up to me now.

The top picture in the center with the, the hat on that is Baby Hope- that was the very first baby ever placed in our box.

She will be four in November.

You know, having my life now with the baby boxes, it is pretty clear that I am fighting for these women who resemble my birth mom.

(Somber music plays) I wouldn't have called her a hero prior to meeting her.

She was 17 years old, she had no one to walk with her, you know, and, and she abandoned me outside a hospital.

But you give women an option, and a good option, and things will start to happen in your community that are positive.

You know, Amelia was the last dead infant found in Indiana, illegally abandoned.

The last, the last one.

(inspiring music plays) And so, I'm pretty proud that on my watch, she was the last one that's died.

But today, all these babies that have been saved, and that truly is the legacy I hope I leave.

(music fades out) - Hi, I'm Faith Marsh.

I'm the director, writer, and animator for Safe Haven.

This story meant a lot to me.

So, as a college student coming in preparing to make a student documentary, I really wanted to find something a story that that I thought had value, and had worth, and was something worth telling.

So when I heard Monica's story, that was, it was kind of everything I had possibly hoped for.

It was an incredible story that needed to be told, and was such an amazing thing to share.

And it was just an incredible privilege, and honor to, as a college student, be able to tackle it.

As an in documentary, I really view your job as a storyteller is to tell the stories of other people, to find other people and figure out how to tell their stories in a meaningful way, and to kind of be a bridge between audiences and these people doing amazing things.

And so for me personally, that was incredibly meaningful to be able to have a story as impactful and as important as Monica's, and to be able to take that, learn about it, and then be able to share it with other people.

Everyone talks a lot about making a difference.

I grew up wanting to change the world.

That was very much my M.O.

as a kid.

Then the question becomes, how do you actually do that?

Amelia was the last dead infant found in Indiana illegally abandoned.

The last one.

And so I'm pretty proud that on my watch she was the last one that died Monica, what she's doing is a very practical answer to how, how do you make a difference?

She's doing it.

Firetruck yes Firetrucks Firetruck (laughter) People like to talk about making a difference in these big broad terms, but, really when it comes down to it, a lot of making a difference is more the interactions with, you have with individual peoples.

There, it's one thing to say you're gonna end child abandonment.

It's another to look at, to look at a kid who was rescued and who is alive and happy with a great family because of the work that you did.

So, and especially talking to the other people involved in these baby boxes.

As a filmmaker, I can make a difference just by finding people with good stories and telling them.

And it's the kind of thing of, even if one person walks away inspired you did make a difference in that way.

- Well, we hope you've enjoyed these inspiring films about growing up and making a difference.

There's a lot more to be discovered at this year's Heartland International Film Festival.

For more information, log on to HeartlandFilm.org.

And thanks for joining WFYI and Heartland Film for movie night.

(acoustic guitar music plays)