The Media Buff Goes to Heartland

The Media Buff (left), Ryan Shank (middle), Heartland staff (right) during Q&A post-screening.

Some projects start as a good idea. Others slowly grow into something much bigger. The Village on the Prairie: 50 Years of Prairietown became the latter.

What began as a side project in 2023—something my co-worker Ryan Shank and I chipped away at alongside our daily work at Conner Prairie—finally turned into a full-length documentary celebrating five decades of Prairietown. We poured ourselves into it: recording more than 50 interviews, uncovering stories from staff past and present, and digitizing hundreds of photographs, slides, and old film that had been waiting for new life. So when we submitted the finished film to the 2025 Heartland International Film Festival and received the news that it had been selected, it felt surreal. Being part of #HIFF34 was an honor in itself.

Heartland gave the documentary three screenings—one at the Indy Arts Center and two at the Alamo Drafthouse, just minutes from where I grew up. Walking the red carpet, meeting other filmmakers, and watching audiences experience our work was a blast. Awards night came with plenty of incredible films in the mix, and while we didn’t go in expecting hardware, being there was more than enough.

The Media Buff (left) and Ryan Shank (right), walking the red carpets of the 2025 Heartland Film Festival.

Documentary mentioned in the 2025 Heartland Film Festival official program.

The documentary itself tells the story of Prairietown, founded in 1974 through the vision of Eli Lilly, and its role in bringing 19th-century Indiana life to the present through trades, foodways, music, and storytelling. Digging into that history—both of Prairietown and Conner Prairie as a whole—was a privilege. One unexpected bonus was collaborating closely with the collections team, which helped spark ongoing efforts to digitize even more of Conner Prairie’s archives for future projects.

None of this would have happened without a lot of support. Huge thanks to Conner Prairie staff—past and present—who shared their time and stories, to Ryan for being the perfect creative partner throughout the process, and to my wife Meredith for her constant encouragement (and for letting me sneak off to Heartland during the first month of life with Naomi). The celebratory ice cream afterward was well earned.

Seeing this project find a home at Heartland was a reminder of why telling these stories matters—and why the people behind them are worth celebrating.

View the full documentary, now on YouTube(!), embedded in this post.

- The Media Buff