BENTONVILLE, Ar. ( KTAL/KMSS )—The 10th annual Bentonville Film Festival, which champions female, non-binary, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, API, and disabled voices in entertainment, is coming to Northwest Arkansas.
The nonprofit, “BFFoundation,” is led by Academy Award-Winning actress Geena Davis, known for her roles in Thelma & Louise, Ava, Grey’s Anatomy, and many others, to celebrate extraordinary storytelling.
BFF is ‘ more passionate than ever about championing independent voices, nurturing and connecting diverse artists, and spotlighting work that can challenge us but also entertain and move us.’
The film festival will take place from June 10-23rd featuring Beetlejuice and Barbie costume competitions.
BFFoundation has three passes/tickets:
- ‘On-demand film pass’ includes 13 days of access to available films;
- All festival passes include the On Demand Film Pass, reserved seating, festival merchandise, and 25% discounts;
- And a Foundation Pass with all the benefits of panels and screenings.
According to the news release, the festival will open with the film adaptation ‘ Out of My Mind ‘ soon to be released on Disney+, which follows a nonverbal wheelchair user navigating sixth grade and cerebral palsy.
After the adaptation based on Sharon M. Draper’s novel, director Amber Sealy, author Phoebe Rae-Taylor, and lead actress Phoebe Rae-Taylor will participate in a Q&A.
“In celebrating BFF’s 10 years of commitment to inclusion, I’m thrilled to present Out of My Mind as our Opening Film. It’s a universally relatable story about making an impact in the world while centering artists with differing abilities as both performers and collaborators,” Geena Davis, Bentonville Film Festival chair, said in a statement. “Out of My Mind is a humorous and heartfelt manifestation of BFF’s belief that if they can see it, they can be it.”
The festival will screen five World Premieres throughout the week and will also add a new category, the Alumni Showcase category, in honor of the festival’s 10th anniversary. This category will showcase films led by filmmakers who have shown films at previous festivals.
The news release details that ‘more than 75% of the competition program is from creators who identify as female or gender non-conforming; 51% who identify as BIPOC, Asian, or Pacific Islander; 30% who identify as LGBTQIA+; 7% who are over 50; and 6% who identify as a person with a disability.’
The program includes alumni screenings featuring ‘ The Queen of my Dreams ,’ about a queer Pakistani grad student navigating grief and her relationship with a conservative Muslim mother in rural Canada, and spotlight screenings from Ireland, Pakistan, and America.
Screening competitions showcasing inclusivity through animation, documentary, narrative, episodic shorts, short films, and adventure shorts.
BFFoundation, in partnership with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, works with schools and community institutions to educate about the effects of stereotyping, unconscious bias, and representation imbalance related to gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and disabilities.
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