Big Events, Small Town: The Bentonville Film Festival Continues to Thrive

For the last three years, I’ve had to explain why I’m going to Arkansas for work. People assume I only thrive in the bright lights of metropolitan cities. But some of my favorite film festivals happen in smaller areas. And without fail, they tend to be some of the best. The town and its population are truly excited by and support the films, turning up with true hospitality and asking shockingly good questions at Q&As that some Angelenos could learn from.

The Bentonville Film Festival was founded in 2015 by Geena Davis and Trevor Drinkwater, who in addition to having the coolest name ever, is an ARC Entertainment executive. The fest partners with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender Media and focus on diversity and underrepresented voices. Never mind that, at the time, there was no movie theater in the town - they made do in various gathering areas referred to as “mobile theaters” for the first couple of years. Since then, gorgeous state-of-the-art theaters and even a brand new hotel have been created primarily for the fest. That’s how dedicated the town is and how much people show up for the yearly celebration.

Davis herself is an active presence every year, appearing at screenings and conversations. She also does a show every year, “Geena & Friends,” in which she and other known actors (this year included “Barbie” breakout Alexandra Shipp and “Orange is the New Black” star Alysa Reiner) recreate scenes from movies - but with the genders swapped. Last year the women played both the Avengers (retitled “The Aveng-Hers”) and the boys from “Stranger Things.” The latter had a particularly great moment where the female character of Nancy was played by Macauley Culkin in a surprise cameo.

This year I popped in to moderate a really fun discussion with the opening night film - “Family Movie.” And it lives up to its title; it’s co-directed by Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick and stars them and their children, Sosie Bacon (star of “Smile”) and composer Travis Bacon (who also did the soundtrack for the film.) It’s about a family that makes low-budget horror movies together and manages to be genuinely surprising, a warmhearted familial drama, and very, very funny. The whole family was there to speak about the film, which played to a super-responsive theater (actually, four theaters as overflow had to be put into extra rooms.)

The following morning I conducted a Coffee Talk with Chef Bobby Flay, which is still kind of absurd to me. I consider nachos fine dining and burn ramen and this is one of the biggest and best culinary names there is - the first chef to receive a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Flay has a line of pet food - Made by Nacho, named after his beloved late Maine coon cat - that recently partnered with I And Love and You pet food. I was intimidated largely because I feel like TV chefs have gotten a reputation for being tough (i.e., Gordon Ramsey) but Flay is actually very gregarious and self-effacing. He talked about how he “sucked” in his early days on the Food Network and his controversial food takes. (Apparently people were outraged he washes his chicken in the sink because you get germs in the sink? So I guess it’s better to have germs on your food?) When I kept talking about the trashy food I love, he invited me on “Beat Bobby Flay” to make either deviled eggs or corndogs, at which point I had to explain I don’t actually cook the food and the episode would last 2 minutes.

Finished out the day (after a lot of amazing food and a visit to the greatest museum I’ve ever seen, Crystal Bridges) with a powerful Q&A for “Miss Representation: Rise Up.” This is filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s follow-up to her acclaimed 2011 doc about how women are portrayed in media, this time focusing on how tech targets women and young girls and how they are discouraged from speaking up - especially when it comes to politics. Participating was one of the film’s subjects, Allie Phillips, who has an incredible and heartbreaking story about how she was prompted to run for office. Phillips was denied an abortion when her fetus was no longer viable and had to cross state lines to obtain one. This prompted her to run for office in TN, where she was targeted by her opponents, her daughter was mistreated by teachers, and she met with so much hostility. While she didn’t win, she managed 45% of the vote in a massively Republican district against a longtime incumbent. With her daughter’s encouragement, she is running again for House of Representatives in District 75 and she’s going to win this time.

For more information on the Bentonville Film Festival and the year-round activities of BFFoundation, visit https://bentonvillefilm.org/

June 21 updated with award winners:
Best Narrative
If I Go Will They Miss Me (Director/Writer: Walter Thompson-Hernández; Producers: Josh Peters, Saba Zerehi, Ben Stillman)

Special Jury Mention for Directorial Vision: The Musical (Director: Gisella Bonilla; Writer: Alexander Heller; Producers: Rob Lowe, Greg Lauritano, Alexander Heller, Findlay Brown, Jordan Backhus)

Special Jury Mention for Lead Performances: BRB (Director: Kate Cobb; Writers: Sydney Blackburn, Michael Waller; Producers: Kevin Bigley, Kelly Aisthorpe Waller, Mark Glassgow, Michele Girgis)

Best Documentary: Jane Elliott Against the World (Director/Producer: Judd Ehrlich; Producers: Max Powers, Elena Gaby)

Special Jury Mention (Documentary): Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story (Director/Writer/Producer: Ayden Mayeri; Writer/Producer: Barry Rothbart; Producer: Rachael Fung)

Best Homegrown: Baby/Girls (Directors: Jackie Jesko, Alyse Walsh; Producers: Melissa Leardi, Alex Waterfield, Kelly Rohrbach Walton)

Special Jury Mention (Homegrown): Filthy (Writer/Director/Producer: Lisa Cole; Producers: Paola Gadala-Maria, Barbara Lettieri)

Best Episodic: Too Romantic (Writer/Director/Producer: Talia Light Rake; Producers: Katherine Romans, Charlie Traisman, Adam Kinyon, Sarah Whelden)

Best Short Film: Find The Boy, France (Director, Paulin.e Goasmat)

Special Jury Mention (Short Film: Paper Daughter, USA (Director, Cami Kwan)

Special Jury Mention (Short Film): She Chose War, USA (Director, Sarah Moshman)