Michael Apted, acclaimed director of the new film Amazing Grace, has already visited a few festival screenings of his movie, but there's still one item left on his itinerary—the stateside premiere of the film, to be held at the Heartland Film Festival on October 19th.

Amazing Grace is a biopic based on the life of William Wilberforce, a devout Christian, abolitionist, and social activist. The film opens in U.S. theaters in February, but its first screening on American soil will double as the kick-off for Heartland's annual fest. In addition to Apted, the film's producer, Ken Wales, will also be in attendance. Both men will participate in a brief Q&A following the screening.

Jeffrey L. Sparks, President and CEO of Heartland, expressed his excitement about the event: "We are both thrilled and honored to have Michael and Ken join us as we celebrate Heartland's 15th anniversary and the U.S. premiere of Amazing Grace."

The festival, which runs Oct. 19-27 in Indianapolis, will also feature its annual Crystal Heart Awards gala, festival screenings, a special night of children's movies, a filmmaker's brunch, a showing of the celebrated new film The Queen, and a special presentation of clips from The Nativity Story, including a Q&A with director Catherine Hardwicke.

In other movie news:

Nativity Story's Mary actress is pregnant (People)
Keisha Castle-Hughes, 16, and her boyfriend are expecting

Gospel According to Jimmy features a "Jesus clone" (Variety)
"Satirical comedy" stars a guy cloned from Shroud of Turin's DNA

Hanging a sacrilegious Ten (Film Stew)
Comedy, due in '07, to parody The Ten Commandments

Franka Potente to star in Pope Joan (Production Weekly)
Bourne Identity actor to play 9th century Catholic scholar

George Lucas: "We don't want to make movies" (Variety)
Emphasizes TV, "quantity." Also: More on Clone Wars, Indy 4

Kids First provides child-friendly programming (Kids First)
Non-profit organization distributes movies for whole family

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