Bentonville film festival is ready to roll

When the Bentonville Film Festival was forced by the pandemic to go virtual in 2020, festival chair Geena Davis wasted no time in transitioning. “It’s been very enlightening; there’s tremendous value in having a virtual aspect” to a film festival,” she says.

Responding out of caution to the pandemic, the film festival, after shifting to a hybrid platform and rescheduling its dates to August, attracted over 30,000 active viewers to what organizers say was the most diverse and inclusive film program to date. More than 80 percent of the films showcased were directed by women, with 65 percent from Black and indigenous people of color (BIPOC) filmmakers, and 45 from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning, intersex, and asexual (GBTQIA) filmmakers.

Before covid-19, “you always needed to go there,” Davis says. “Having a hybrid festival had some very good benefits. People around the globe could watch our films in 2020. It increased our attendance.” From now on, “We will always have a virtual component, where more people can experience our festival without having to be there.”

The seventh annual festival, planned for Aug. 3-8, will present virtual and on-ground programming in Bentonville and the surrounding areas. Film screenings, panels, filmmaker events and industry engagements will take place virtually and be accessible globally.

The focus is on the creators of the films, she says. “We always have incredible filmmaker events, like Q&As with directors, a filmmakers lounge, a filmmaker retreat with one-on-one mentorship with staff and master classes by studio partners, providing pathways into the industry.

“Access points are tough for people without entrance into the industry.”

BFF, formerly operating under the Bentonville Film Festival LLC, will now be produced as an annual program of the BFFoundation, a 501(c)(3) based in the state of Arkansas, led by a board of directors and operated by year-round and seasonal staff.

The nonprofit foundation will continue to emphasize the festival’s mission of creating a deeper impact for racial and gender equality in all media, along with a commitment to support and help the film industry within Arkansas grow.

“Our organization remains dedicated to championing the inclusion of underrepresented storytellers and content creators across the industry,” says Davis, who won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her performance in “The Accidental Tourist” in 1989. “We will continue to champion change by supporting work that reflects gender and racial equity on both sides of the camera that allows for authentic representation of all forms of relationships and sexual orientations, and amplifies the voices of females, LGBTQ, Black and indigenous people of color, and people with disabilities in entertainment and media.”

The experience of filmmakers is of prime importance to BFF, she says. “We want to make sure that they feel valued and appreciated, and that they want to come back again. We’re very happy with the response we get from a lot of filmmakers, how different their experience is at our festival.”

Along with film,”We have a television portion of the festival,” says Wendy Guerrero, president of programming for BFF since its inaugural year in 2015, “with a competition section on Web-based episodic programming which may be coming to a television near you. We will look to further amplify shows that may not be seen as widely as some of the studio programs. We love to discover new voices in all areas.”

Returning this year are the festival’s popular implicit bias panels in which Davis’ friends read from famous scripts and swap gender roles. “We’ve done it every year,” she says. “It’s tremendous fun. A lot of times we pick comedies, but it’s funny no matter what the genre of the film is.

“The idea is: Don’t make a movie or cast a movie without viewing it through a gender lens. What characters could be either male or female? Bring in both male and female actors to audition for each role to show that there’s a lot more possibility in casting than what first sprang from the writer’s mind.

“We hope that’s making a change in the industry.”

Details of in-person events such as drive-in screenings have yet to be announced; “We’re taking all CDC and state guidelines into consideration when planning the in-person events at the festival,” Guerreo says. “We will use every opportunity to keep audiences safe.”

Guerrero is taking on an additional leadership role as the president of the festival and the BFFoundation, leading its year-round initiatives and inclusive programming.

“Inclusion is our mission,” says Guerrero. “We love that we’re in the middle of the country. We are highlighting regional filmmakers in Arkansas and finding opportunities to develop talent here and beyond. We put a tremendous focus on diversity, on a wide variety of female filmmakers from around the country. We want to bring out the best in America.”