How to donate
You can support the work of the Heartland Independent Film and Drama Forum by donating here. Details on our 501 (c) 3 status can be found here.
For more information on supporting our latest film Old Heart, please call us at (231) 720-0930 (voice only), rogerdrapoport@me.com
ABOUT HEARTLAND
Thanks for considering support of the Heartland Independent Film and Drama Forum. The Forum's goal is to tell stories via feature films, plays, articles, lectures, websites, podcasts, and webcasts that inform and enlighten audiences. Our focus is on America’s central concerns including mental health, suicide prevention, the justice system, reducing racial bias and ending age discrimination.
Going beyond the headlines, Heartland projects reach a wide national and international audience via compelling dramatizations. Self serving propaganda, misleading advertising and sound bites contributing to disruption are replaced by fact based storytelling woven into dramas that place these issues in context. These relatable stories replace dangerous rhetoric with compassion and empathy.
Films
Our award winning feature films, Coming Up For Air, Pilot Error and Waterwalk have won best ten feature awards at festivals around the world including the Grand Prize for Best Feature at the Culver City Film Festival, Vero Beach and Silicon Beach Film Festivals. Award winners at more than 30 festivals, each screening in theaters and online helps promote mental health, transportation safety and finding creative ways to bring together people for the common good.
In our latest project the feature film Old Heart, our Michigan based production team takes a close look at the key role black soldiers have played in preserving our democracy. The film also addresses mixed-race relationships, working across cultural boundaries, and preserving elder independence. Old Heart’s focus on humanitarian relief is particularly timely in view of the current situation in Gaza and the Ukraine.
All our film projects, related events, articles and books developed in Michigan and other midwestern states draw on first-rate talent from the region. The focus is on vital stories often overlooked by the mass media.
We appreciate your joining the many donors and volunteers who have helped us further the work of the Heartland Independent Film and Drama Forum.
PLAYS
Old Heart, adapted from Peter Ferry’s award winning novel premiered in Detroit and Muskegon Michigan in 2022 and 2023. Old Heart tells the story of African American GI Tom Johnson who joins forces with 24-year-old Sarah van Praag and the Dutch resistance to smuggle food and supplies from the liberated south across Nazi lines to starving cities in the northern Netherlands. Their brief love affair collapses at the war’s end, and sixty years later Johnson, about to be sent off to assisted living by his family, disappears on a flight to Amsterdam. While his children desperately try to locate him, Johnson is determined to track down Sarah. This play offers a look at the hidden history of courageous African-American soldiers during World War II and the racism they faced after they returned home. This play has been adapted into a Heartland film out in May 2025.
WEB SERIES
IN THE TIME WE HAVE LEFT
A compelling look at many of the reasons why high voter turnout is critical to our future, this eight episode series tells a unique and thought provoking story. Featuring outstanding actors Doug Mancheski and Jeffrey Holmes, In The Time We Have Left is aimed at persuading the critically important non-voter group to head to the polls. Their voices need to be heard now more than ever.
Website Resources
Heartland has created a unique 1,400 page website featuring the complete victim impact statements of more than 200 women who spoke at the sentencing of Michigan State University sports medicine Dr. Larry Nassar. This important resource that includes a searchable database documents the case histories of women who were victims of this trusted physician. Created with our media partner, the University of Michigan Daily, this site has become an important research tool useful to anyone who wants to know more about this landmark case that is beginning to transform the legal landscape in Michigan and beyond. It is being used by universities, professors and their students around the world.
Black Theater - Heartland supports black theater dedicated to the hidden history of courageous African American soldiers who have fought in all the nations wars back to our nation’s revolution. A website at rogerrapoport.com/blacktheater supports that mission.
Justice Through Storytelling - Heartland supports the work of Justice Through Storytelling which advocates for women defending their lives against an intimate abuser. Women in the America, according to the CDC, are more likely to be killed by an intimate abuser, spouse or boyfriend than a stranger. When women have defended their lives many have ended up in prison due to a lack of understanding by prosecutors, judges and juries.