Drive-in, online movies part of Bentonville Film Festival

BENTONVILLE — The show went on for the sixth Bentonville Film Festival as it celebrated with a hybrid event allowing audiences to experience the festival despite the covid-19 pandemic.

The festival ran Aug. 10-16 and included online presentations, film premiers and panels, as well as drive-in film screenings, according to event organizers. Participants purchased tickets or ticket packages from $12 to $225 to view events and films through streaming partner CineSend.

“We realized we had the opportunity to bring our film festival experience to anyone in their living room around the globe,” said Geena Davis, festival co-founder. “We learned that not only could more audiences have access to the films, but that we also could bring more exposure to the festival’s mission.”

The festival aims to celebrate and advance female and minority perspectives in front of and behind the camera.

“Our mission is to provide an outlet for underrepresented voices,” said Rebecca Elkins, festival marketing director.

About 70,000 people have attended the annual event, she said. The number of participants in the festival’s online and drive-in events is not yet available, Elkins said, noting she’s confident fewer people participated this year.

“We had about the same number of competition films and panels as in prior years,” Elkins said. “Our goal was to maintain the number of filmmakers that we could showcase, as we are first and foremost a competition festival and wanted to provide the opportunity to filmmakers as in years past. Our panels also were on par from previous years.”

Isabel Sandoval’s “Lingua Franca” took home the top recognition for the festival, winning the jury award for best narrative feature, according to a festival news release.

Alice Gu’s “The Donut King” won best documentary, Rachel Harrison Gordon’s “Broken Bird” was selected best short film narrative and Rachel Fleit’s “Ava & Bianca” won short film documentary, according to the release.

Taylor Lee Nagel’s “Lady Liberty” and Miguel Angel Duran’s “Immigrant Voices of America” took the honors in the episodic category.

This year’s competition categories included 12 narrative films and 12 documentaries, 26 shorts and 10 episodic films, plus the spotlight films in narrative and short regional reels categories. Some 68 films were showcased — told by 80% female, 65% Black, indigenous or people of color and 40% LGBTQ directors and filmmakers.

“It is very gratifying to see these films and filmmakers come together to find a home and a place where they can feel seen and be supported, especially in these challenging times,” said Wendy Guerrero, president of programming.

David Lightfoot, 39, of Bella Vista has attended the festival all six years, he said.

Lightfoot went to two of the drive-in movie events this year with his children, Dillon Lightfoot, 9, and Clara Lightfoot, 7, he said. The showings featured “Trolls World Tour,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “Stuart Little” and “A League of Their Own,” the last of which features festival co-founder Davis.

“It was great to see the parking lot fill up before it even was dark,” Lightfoot said. “It was genuine quality time with family, something we could all use.”

Attending the event this year meant a lot more to him than it did previously, Lightfoot said, explaining event organizers didn’t give up on their supporters and made sure the festival happened when many other events were canceled because of the pandemic.

“What has been a challenging time has also shown us how important it is that these stories be seen and heard, now more than ever,” Davis said.

The seventh film festival is being planned for April or May 2021, Elkins said.

“The plan is to once again have the festival in person next year, with people able to see our films and panels and our famous blue carpet press events, meet and connect with our filmmakers, as well as adding the online portions for a nice blended experience,” she said. “That being said, we have established a template for how to do this in the virtual space, and we could still do a hybrid version as well.”