Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick to Attend Opening Night Film “Family Movie” at the 12th Annual Bentonville Film Festival Led by Geena Davis

BENTONVILLE, AR (May 14, 2026) — Today, BFFoundation (BFF), in collaboration with founding partner Walmart and presenting partner Coca-Cola, is thrilled to announce the narrative, documentary, homegrown, short film, and episodic selections premiering in person at the 2026 Bentonville Film Festival (BFF) competition program set for June 15-21, 2026, Bentonville, Arkansas.  This year’s festival will showcase 34 feature competition films, including 5 World Premieres.

 

BFF 2026 will open on Tuesday, June 16 with Family Movie with directors, producers and stars Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick in attendance for a moderated conversation following the film. The film follows a filmmaking family who finds themselves in a real-life horror movie when a body turns up on the set of their low-budget slasher and chaos ensues to keep the production on track.

The closing event on Sunday, June 21 will feature a special screening of the first episode of Netflix’s Little House on the Prairie with showrunner/Executive Producer/writer Rebecca Sonnenshine and stars Crosby Fitzgerald and Alyssa Wapanatâhk participating in a Q&A following the screening.  Little House on the Prairie is part hopeful family drama, part epic survival tale, and part origin story of the American West. This fresh adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s iconic semi-autobiographical Little House books offers a kaleidoscopic view of the struggles and triumphs of those who shaped the frontier.

In addition to the screening, Rebecca Sonnenshine will be honored with the Rising to the Challenge Award at BFF’s annual Festival Award Ceremony on Saturday, June 20.The award recognizes visionary artists whose work expands opportunity, challenges convention, and helps shape a more dynamic and inclusive future for storytelling.

“Rebecca Sonnenshine’s work reflects the very spirit of the Rising to the Challenge Award,” said Academy Award winner and Bentonville Film Festival Chair Geena Davis. “She creates stories with emotional depth, strength, and imagination while opening doors for broader perspectives to be seen and celebrated on screen. We’re honored to recognize her contributions to storytelling and her commitment to creating work that resonates across generations. As we enter our twelfth year, I’m incredibly proud of how Bentonville continues to grow as a place where artists, audiences, and industry leaders come together to champion bold creativity, meaningful connection, and stories that reflect the richness of the world around us.”

“We’re excited to kick off this year’s festival with Family Movie, a classic summer thriller that captures the excitement, escapism, and communal experience that make going to the movies so special,” said Wendy Guerrero, President and CEO of the Bentonville Film Festival and BFFoundation. “Closing the festival with Little House on the Prairie;  a timeless story generations of families have cherished. Together, these projects celebrate imagination, resilience, and the power of storytelling to bring people together, spark new perspectives, and inspire growth through shared experiences.”

The Festival will also screen the World Premiere of Street Smart on Thursday, June 18 as their Centerpiece film with director Catherine Hardwicke in attendance for a Q&A following the film. Street Smarts follows a lively group of street kids in Venice Beach help each other chase their dreams – with humor, street-smarts, and Robin Hood larceny and stars Isabelle Fuhrman, Yara Shahidi, Michael Cimino and Marcia Gay Harden. 

 

This year’s Spotlight and Competition programs feature a lineup of industry icons, including the World Premieres of the IVF-rights documentary Show Me the Line and the road trip comedy Welcome to the Fishbowl. Audiences will be treated to personal narratives from global figures in The Brittney Griner Story and the Billie Jean King documentary Give Me the Ball! produced by Liz Garbus. Combined with the “Coffee Talk” sessions with Bobby Flay, Ree Drummond and Chef JJ Johnson, the narrative and documentary slates showcase appearances and contributions from Jessica Alba, Danielle Brooks, Hillary Clinton, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Frances Fisher, Gillian Jacobs, Rob Lowe, Isbael Sandoval, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Tony Shalhoub, Lily Tomlin, and many others. 

OPENING FILM

 

Family Movie

(Directors/Producers: Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick; Writer: Dan Beers, Producers: Sosie Bacon, Travis Bacon, Vince Jolivette, Casey Durant, Greg Lauritano, Russell Wayne Groves)

A filmmaking family’s low-budget horror movie turns into a real-life slasher when a dead body shows up on set. Chaos ensues as the Smiths fight to keep the production on track. After all – the show must go on!

Cast: Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Sosie Bacon, Travis Bacon, Liza Koshy, John Carroll Lynch, Jackie Earle Haley, Andrea Savage, Austin Amelio, Scoot McNairy

 

CLOSING EVENT

 

Little House on the Prairie

(Showrunner/Executive Producer/Writer: Rebecca Sonnenshine; Executive Producers: Joy Gorman Wettels for Joy Coalition, Trip Friendly for Friendly Family Productions, Dana Fox; Director: Sarah Adina Smith (101)

Part hopeful family drama, part epic survival tale, and part origin story of the American West, this fresh adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s iconic semi-autobiographical Little House books offers a kaleidoscopic view of the struggles and triumphs of those who shaped the frontier. 

Cast: Luke Bracey, Crosby Fitzgerald, Alice Halsey, Skywalker Hughes, Warren Christie, Jocko Sims, Meegwun Fairbrother, Alyssa Wapanatâhk, Wren Zahewenim Gotts

Studio: Produced by CBS Studios and Anonymous Content

 

CENTERPIECE FILM

 

Street Smart – WORLD PREMIERE

(Director/Writer/Producer: Catherine Hardwicke; Writer: Nic Sheff; Producers: Natalie Marciano, Jamie R Thompson)

A lively group of street kids in Venice Beach help each other chase their dreams – with humor, street-smarts, and Robin Hood larceny. When our crew finds out their camp will shut down and a new girl pressures them into bending (or breaking) their moral code, it threatens to tear apart this makeshift family. The group forges unbreakable bonds and redefines what it means to be a family.

Cast: Isabelle Fuhrman, Yara Shahidi, Michael Cimino, Daniel Zovatto, Kaitlyn Kemp, Miles McKenna, Isaiah Hilt, Skeet Ulrich, Marcia Gay Harden, Sally Struthers, Tyson Ritter, Skylar Astin, Paris Jackson, Harvey Guillen

 

COFFEE TALKS

 

The Best Stories are Homemade

A conversation with Ree Drummond exploring how storytelling lives at the intersection of food, family, and community. From building The Pioneer Woman into a beloved brand to sharing everyday moments that resonate far beyond the ranch, Ree reflects on creating connection through authenticity, humor, and heart — and why the simplest stories are often the ones that stay with us.

 

Curiosity Is the Secret Ingredient

Bobby Flay has never been satisfied with a single lane. From Iron Chef to entrepreneur, restaurateur to brand builder, he has spent three decades following his curiosity wherever it leads — most recently to the pet food aisle with his beloved cat food brand Nacho. This conversation explores how a commitment to creative instinct has driven Bobby’s evolution as a storyteller and lifestyle entrepreneur.

The Story is in the Rice

Chef JJ Johnson explores how cuisine becomes a living narrative, connecting communities across continents and generations. From his work championing rice as a global heritage grain to building spaces that celebrate culture through food, JJ shares how storytelling can exist far beyond the screen — on the plate, in the kitchen, and within the community. Drawing from his acclaimed cookbookThe Simple Art of Rice and his journey through kitchens from New York to Ghana and beyond, JJ reflects on the power of food to preserve culture, inspire creativity, and bring people together.

BOOK EVENT

Read Along with The Cat in the Hat

Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat will be in attendance, celebrating the launch of a newly discovered book by Dr. Seuss, SING THE 50 UNITED STATES! Come sing and read along with us and get a special picture with the Cat in the Hat!

2026 Competition Statistics

BFF’s 2026 competition programming reflects its ongoing commitment to inclusion and authentic representation across all communities. Of this year’s selected competition films:

 

●      More than 80% from creators identifying as female or gender non-conforming

●      53% identify as BIPOC, Asian, or Pacific Islander

●      40% identify as LGBTQIA+

●      21% are filmmakers over the age of 50

●      15% identify as a person with a disability

 

On-screen representation is equally strong:

 

●      73% feature leads who identify as women or gender non-conforming

●      44% are BIPOC

●      14% represent people with disabilities

 

Behind the camera, 75% of films include female or gender non-conforming background cast and crews, and 48% represent BIPOC, AAPI, or Indigenous identities.

 

SPOTLIGHT FILMS

 

ARIA: Opera on the Edge – in partnership with Opera in the Ozarks

(Director/Writer/Producer: Karen Day)

A fresh spin on the ancient and mysterious art of opera, following four young, diverse singers striving to find their place on the world’s greatest stages despite racism and prejudice in the industry created by dead, white European males in the 17th century. Loss, sacrifice, discrimination, and failure test their personal commitment. Despite challenges, each singer finds solace and strength by literally lifting their voice.

Cast: Cecilia Violletta Lopez, Ben Gulley, Brain Major, Tahanee Aluwihare, David Miller IL DIVO, Will Liverman, King Rico

 

The Brittney Griner Story

(Director/Producer: Alexandria Stapleton; Producers: Stacy Scripter, Funmi Akinyode, Megan Goedewaagen, Carolyn Hepburn)

This personal and profound odyssey follows basketball star Brittney Griner from her playing career and harrowing imprisonment in Russia through the extraordinary geopolitical battle to secure her freedom.

Cast: Brittney Griner, Cherelle Griner, Former U.S. President Joe Biden

 

The Ebony Canal

(Director: Emmai Alaquiva; Producer: Ya Momz House, Inc.)

A cinematic poem examining the HERstoric portal between the disparities of infant mortality and the current state of maternal health orbiting Black and Brown women. With collaborative insight of Former VP, Kamala Harris, Lamman Rucker, Kimberly Seal Allers, Charles Johnson and some of the top experts, we reveal the hurt, healing and hope of this voyage. Despite the undercurrents, the mission aims to foster a new wave of solution-driven practices. 

Cast: Viola Davis (Narrator), Larissa Lane, Mariah Peoples, Alana Yzola-Daly, Rachel Strader

 

Give Me the Ball!

(Directors/Producers: Liz Garbus, Elizabeth Wolff; Producers: Dominic Crossley-Holland, Dan Cogan, Chris James, Gentry Kirby)

This uniquely intimate portrayal of tennis legend and trailblazer Billie Jean King reveals the inner turmoil behind the immense sacrifices she made to transform her sport and the world.

 

Left Behind

(Director/Producer: Anna Toomey; Writer: Karen K.H. Sim; Producers: David Beal, Sian Edwards-Beal, Chris Farrell, Larry Mullen Jr., Mari Keiko Gonzalez)

The powerful story of a group of passionate mothers who unite to create the first public dyslexic school in New York City, the largest school district in the country. 

 

Maddie’s Secret

(Director/Writer/Producer: John Early; Producers: Harris Mayersohn, Luca Intili)

Comedian, writer, and actor John Early’s directorial debut starring himself as Maddie, a plucky dishwasher who leaps to viral superstardom at a trendy food content creation company. While her life seems picturesque — complete with an adoring husband, ride-or-die best friend and a cupboard full of woman-owned ethically-sourced chili crisp to boot — mounting professional pressures threaten to reawaken a hidden secret from her troubled past.

Cast: Kate Berlant, Eric Rahill, John Early, Claudia O’Doherty, Conner O’Malley,Vanessa Bayer, Chris Bauer, Kristen Johnston

Miss Representation: Rise Up 

(Director/Writer: Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Writers/Producers: Camille Servan-Schreiber, Gretchen Miller)

A deep dive into the cultural backlash against women’s mental health, agency, and political power with technology exacerbating sexism and misogyny towards women and girls.

Cast: Hillary Clinton, Safiya Noble, Frances Haugen, Reshma Saujani, Jameela Jamil, Jim Steyer, Gretchen Carlson, Nancy Pelosi, Amy Klobuchar

 

Personal Courage

(Director: Lucian Read; Producer: Samuel Kahn)

The intimate story of Army veteran Jeffrey Derma and his wife, Rebecca Cristina. Beginning in the final days of Jeff’s military service and continuing through the next two and a half years, the film captures their relationship as they work to reestablish what it means to live life together, as a family.

 

 

HOMEGROWN COMPETITION

 

Films created by filmmakers from Arkansas and/or filmed in Arkansas.

 

Baby/Girls

(Directors: Jackie Jesko, Alyse Walsh; Producers: Melissa Leardi, Alex Waterfield, Kelly Rohrbach Walton)

Teen birth rates in America’s Heartland are among the highest in the nation. Against this backdrop, a maternity home for teenagers becomes a crossroads in the lives of Olivia, Grace, and Ariana. Filmed over two years with intimate vérité access, Baby/Girls follows them as they give birth and fight to break the generational cycles that marked their own childhoods.

Cast: Grace Dulaney, Olivia Malott, Ariana Green, Crystal Widger, Audra Dulaney, Brian Rivera

 

Welcome to the Fishbowl – WORLD PREMIERE

(Director/Writer/Producer: Cheryl Glubok; Writer: Donald Rae; Producer: Iana Dontcheva) 

With 40 receding in the rearview mirror, Elizabeth Ford, a Denver mother of two and an aspiring writer, gets a sudden career-making opportunity. All she has to do is chaperone a narcissistic, literary legend by the name of Storm Grandquist across the Rocky Mountains to an awards ceremony in Telluride. What could possibly go wrong?

Cast: Natalie Gold, Jeremy Swift, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Marin Hinkle

 

HOMEGROWN SHORT FILMS:

Cycling Without Age, USA (Director, Isaac Seigel-Boettner)

Filthy, USA (Director, Lisa Cole) – WORLD PREMIERE

IAKWE: Hello, Goodbye, USA (Director, Nathan Fitch)

Project NEO: Building a New Way to Work (Director, Allyson de la Houssaye)

We Are Cyclists: The All Bodies on Bikes Story, USA (Director, Robin Sansom)

 

NARRATIVE COMPETITION

 

BRB

(Director: Kate Cobb; Writers: Sydney Blackburn, Michael Waller; Producers: Kevin Bigley, Kelly Aisthorpe Waller, Mark Glassgow, Michele Girgis)

Set in the era of dial-up and AIM away messages, a love-sick teenage girl and her older sister embark on a road trip to meet her online boyfriend, but what begins as a fun, sisterly quest quickly devolves into chaos as each girls’ ulterior motives are revealed and the lies pile up faster than the miles.

Cast: Autumn Best, Zoe Coletti, Beth Lacke, Keith Kupferer, Richard David, Daniel Haller

 

Dead Deer High

(Director: Jo Rochelle; Writer/Producer: Joshua Roark; Producer: Scott Segal, Jim Bellinson, Randy Weiss, Michelle Segal, Carolyn Bellinson)

A team of high school slam poets and their English teacher prepare for a national poetry competition one year after a tragedy changed their lives forever.

Cast: Zack Kozlow, Holden Goyette, Kyla Brown, Christian Cruz, Ayanna Berkshire, Joseph Bertót

Hot Water

(Director/Writer: Ramzi Bashour; Producers: Jesse Hope, Max Walker-Silverman, Josh Peters)

In this unconventional and comedic road odyssey, a Lebanese mother and her American son drive across the United States, revealing the fractures and bonds between them. 

Cast: Lubna Azabal, Daniel Zolghadri, Dale Dickey

If I Go Will They Miss Me

(Director/Writer: Walter Thompson-Hernández; Producers: Josh Peters, Saba Zerehi, Ben Stillman)

Twelve-year-old Lil Ant transforms his working-class neighborhood beneath the LAX flight path into a living mythology, where family members become gods and the sky is crowded with endless departures. As he searches for connection with his god-like yet conflicted father, he finds support in his close-knit community that helps him reconcile myth and reality.

Cast: Danielle Brooks, J. Alphonse Nicholson

Jersey Boy

(Director/Writer/Producer: Jaskaran Singh; Producer: Pulkit Datta; Co-Producer: Eman Pathan) 

Shattered by a family tragedy in the wake of 9/11, a young Sikh boy struggles to hold onto love, family, and identity as he grows up in a country feeling like he doesn’t belong.

Cast: Praneet Akilla, Sara Garcia, Grace Grewal, Surjun Lail, Rayaan Singh Sahni, Amit Aujila 

Moonglow

(Director/Writer: Isabel Sandoval; Producer: Alemberg Ang)

Manila, 1979. Dahlia, a disillusioned police aide, breaks into the mansion of the corrupt police chief Bernal and steals the money from his safe, unloading the funds to slum dwellers whose settlement Bernal razed down. Commencing an investigation, Bernal unwittingly assigns Dahlia and his nephew Charlie, an ex-cop and Dahlia’s ex-lover, leading to a fraught reunion. 

Cast: Isabel Sandoval, Arjo Atayde, Janina Lorelei, Jhoanna San Juan

The Musical

(Director: Gisella Bonilla; Writer: Alexander Heller; Producers: Rob Lowe, Greg Lauritano, Alexander Heller, Findlay Brown, Jordan Backhus)

When a frustrated playwright/middle school theater teacher finds out his ex-girlfriend has started dating his nemesis, the school’s principal, he decides to ruin the principal’s chances of winning the Blue Ribbon of Academic Excellence.

Cast: Will Brill, Gillian Jacobs, Rob Lowe

Our Bodies & Other Shames

(Director: Jenny Lester; Writer/Producer: Malka Wallick; Producers: Monica Arsenault, Alysia Reiner, Tony Castle, Roxy Hunt)

Growing up in their tight-knit Modern Orthodox community, Sheva, Sarah, and Tali were best friends in an inseparable girl gang until Sheva and Sarah stopped talking to each other. Now, a decade later, they’re estranged, living lives both within and outside of the community. When a devastating cancer diagnosis forces them back together, all three gather in Sheva’s childhood home, where they are confronted — quite literally — by their younger selves.

Cast: Gideon Adlon, Micaela Diamond, Malka Wallick, Pearl Scarlett Gold, Aria Kane, Josephine Bilmes

Out of the Woods – US PREMIERE

(Director/Writer/Producer: Sal Bardo; Producers: Tommy Anderson, Laura Maccabee)

Max is slowly losing her memory. When she reunites with an old friend, Diana, a long-buried part of herself is reawakened and she’s forced to choose between spending the precious time she has left with the woman she’s always loved or remaining faithful to her husband.

Cast: Frances Fisher, Mimi Kennedy, Bruce Davison, Stefanie Estes

Road to L’Etape du Tour

(Director/Writer: Julia Coulter; Producers: Julian Higgins, Luis Augusto Figueroa, Vickie Soulier, Daniel Zambrano, Andrew Koenigsberg)

Facing a turning point in her life, a woman with a congenital heart defect embarks on a journey to train for a stage of the Tour de France.

Cast: Julia Coulter, Brian Muller, Luis Augusto Figueroa, Reed Diamond, Gab Safa, Nico Greetham

Take Me Home

(Director/Writer/Producer: Liz Sargent; Producers: Apoorva Guru Charan, Minos Papas)

Anna, a 38-year-old Korean adoptee, cares for her aging parents in a fragile balance of meeting each others’ needs. When a Florida heat wave shatters their family and Anna’s routine, her future is uncertain until she creates a world where she can thrive.

Cast: Anna Sargent, Victor Slezak, Ali Ahn, Marceline Hugot, Shane Harper

Valentina

(Director/Writer: Tatti Ribeiro; Writer/Producer: Noelle Forougi; Producers: Jack Pearkes, Tracey Nyberg, Jessica Alba)

A series of bureaucratic mishaps plagues Valentina as she tries to tackle a simple to-do list at the El Paso-Juarez border.

Cast: Keyla Monterroso Mejia

 

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

 

Acting Like Women

(Director/Writer/Producer: Cheri Gaulke; Writer: Anne Gauldin; Producers: Cheryl Bookout, Anne Gauldin, Meg Linton, Liz Yale Marsh)

Revisiting the groundbreaking feminist performance art movement in 1970s Los Angeles, one artist spotlights the inspirational, transformational, radical community exploding the narrative and status quo.

Cast: Cheri Gaulke, Lily Tomlin, Barbara T. Smith, Suzanne Lacy, Senga Nengudi, Anne Gauldin, Phranc

American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez

(Director/Producer: David Alvarado; Producers: Lauren DeFilippo, Everett Katigbak, Amanda Pollak)

Against political resistance and industry skepticism, Luis Valdez pushes Chicano storytelling from the fields to the film screen with Zoot Suit and La Bamba, crafting iconic works that challenge, celebrate, and expand America’s story.

Cast: Luis Valdez, Lupe Trujillo-Valdez, Edward James Olmos, Cheech Marin, Lou Diamond Phillips, Dolores Huerta, Linda Ronstadt, Jorge A. Huerta, Luis C. Garza, Taylor Hackford, Rose Portillo, Sal Lopez, Phil Esparza, Socorro Valdez, Daniel Valdez

Ceremony

(Director/Producer: Banchi Hanuse)

In the remote village of Bella Coola, where a milky-green river winds beneath towering mountains, the ooligan run has not returned in 26 years. Through crackling airwaves, watercolour-animated ancestral lore, rare archives, and collective testimony, we are immersed in the luminous world of the Nuxalk, an Indigenous Nation who believes they must become the current that calls the fish home.

Cookie Queens

(Director/Writer/Producer: Alysa Nahmias; Producers: Gregory Kershaw, Michael Dweck, Jennifer Sims)

A coming-of-age story about the joys, pressures, and pain points woven into one of America’s most cherished rituals: Girl Scout Cookie season. Captivating, candid, and full of heart, the film follows four girls ages five to twelve and their families as they navigate the annual whirlwind of selling, striving, and succeeding.

Cast: Nikki B., Olive G., Shannon Elizabeth S., Ara E.

The Dads

(Director/Producer: Luchina Fisher; Producer: Stephen Chukumba)

As anti-trans legislation and hostility escalate in the United States, a group of dads, building a nascent movement to support their trans and gender expansive kids, are forced to make an impossible choice: stay and fight or flee the country.

Cast: Stephen Chukumba, Wayne Maines, David Parr, Frank Gonzales, Ed Diaz, Christoph Heinzer

Ghost in the Machine

(Director/Producer: Valerie Veatch)

A gripping and urgently relevant investigative documentary that exposes the buried history of artificial intelligence, not as a neutral system of algorithms, but as a technology shaped by racism, misogyny, eugenics, and entrenched structures of power long before it entered everyday life.

Jane Elliott Against the World

(Director/Producer: Judd Ehrlich; Producers: Max Powers, Elena Gaby)

A rural Iowa schoolteacher becomes a national voice against racism after leading a controversial 1968 lesson in discrimination with her all-white third-grade class. Now nearly 90, she refuses to hold back amid today’s fights about race, history, and power after a lifetime of speaking out.

Cast: Jane Elliott, Killer Mike, Ibram X. Kendi

Kids Like Me

(Directors/Producers: Cynthia Lowen, Jon Cohrs)

Meet Oliver, a 12-year-old murder-mystery buff with a boundless imagination, who is growing up with a rare genetic condition. Together with his family, they reframe what it means to live with disabilities and embark on an exciting adventure to create a murder-mystery caper.

Cast: Tony Shalhoub, Oliver Odwazny-Beebe, Casey Beebe, Chad Odwazny

 

Seized

(Director/Producer: Sharon Liese; Producers: Sasha Alpert, Paul Matyasovsky)

A gripping, stranger-than-fiction investigative thriller that plunges audiences inside the troubling police raid on the Marion County Record. What begins as a shocking small-town incident quickly spirals into a national story, exposing how corruption, politics, and decades-long tensions turned a quaint Kansas community into a battleground over the First and Fourth Amendments.

Show Me the Line – WORLD PREMIERE

(Director/Writer/Producer: Kelsey Ianuzzi; Writer/Producer: Stacey Davis; Producer: Abbey Crain)

When an Alabama court jeopardizes access to IVF and her own embryos, artist Abbey Crain refuses to surrender her creative power. In this triumphant tour de force, Crain and a group of fertility patients reckon with the threats to their family future, unearthing hope from an unsettled legal landscape.

Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story

(Director/Writer/Producer: Ayden Mayeri; Writer/Producer: Barry Rothbart; Producer: Rachael Fung)

In the summer of 2000, four tween friends formed a band called X-Cetra and burned an album onto a few CDs. Consumed by adolescent concerns, their labor of love was quickly forgotten… Until 20 years later, when someone uploaded it online. With their dreams of pop-stardom coming true, X-Cetra reunites to see if they can rekindle the unselfconscious girlhood they’d captured in the album those many years ago.

Cast: Ayden Mayeri, Jessica Hall, Janet Kariuki, Mary Washburn, Robin O’Brien

When a Witness Recants

(Director/Producer: Dawn Porter; Producers: Jennifer Oko, Miriam Weintraub

In 1983, noted author Ta-Nehisi Coates remembers learning that a 14-year old boy was murdered in the corridor of his Baltimore middle school. Revisiting the case as an adult, he learns the truth about the three innocent teenagers who were convicted and sentenced to life. After 36 years in prison, it was revealed that false testimony led to their imprisonment. 

 

EPISODICS COMPETITION

 

Blood Sugar, USA (Director, Marissa Diaz) – World Premiere

Committed, USA, (Director, Monica Raymund)

CVNT, USA – (Director, Nicole Higgins) – World Premiere

The F*ckboy Diaries, USA  (Director, Misha Calvert)  – World Premiere

Too Romantic, USA (Director, Talia Light Rake)

 

SHORT FILM COMPETITION

 

Buried Under Years of Dust, USA (Director, Sophie Sartain)

Cecilia Is Only 8 Years Old, USA (Director, Soojeong Son)

Cindy Sherman: Picture This, USA (Director, Sophie Chahinian)

El Tiguere, USA (Director, Andrew J. Rodriguez)

Find The Boy, France (Director, Paulin.e Goasmat)

For Niko, USA (Director, Alexandra Shipp)

Hatchlings, USA (Director, Jahmil Eady)

Howl, USA (Director, Sara Crow)

I Hate Helen, UK (Director, Katie Lambert)

Into The Chutes, USA (Director, Jenna Avriel Rice)

Irish Farmers: A Love Story, Ireland (Director, Haven Worley)

Julie Takes A Walk, USA (Directors, Frankie Pedersen, Shea Vassar)

Long’s Long Lost & Mini Mart, USA (Director, Julian Doan)

More Than Dust, USA (Director, Julia Weisber-Cortes)

Paper Daughter, USA (Director, Cami Kwan)

Peanut, USA (Director, Sheila Sawhny)

She Chose War, USA (Director, Sarah Moshman)

The Sisters of Scott County, USA (Director, Courtney Hoffman)

Smoked, USA (Director, Alice Gu)

Sorry I Missed Your Call, USA (Hae Ji Cho)

Surprise, USA (Director, Kendall Goldberg)

TAGA

Veronica, USA (Director, Brett Dos Santos)

ABOUT BFFOUNDATION:

BFFoundation is a non-profit organization focused on promoting underrepresented voices of diverse storytellers. The core mission is to champion female, non-binary, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, API, and persons with disabilities’ voices in entertainment and media, through research, education, and supporting the production and distribution of inclusive content.

 

The foundation believes that by taking real action with content creators, talent, influencers, advertisers, and content distributors, we can accurately reflect the gender balance and diversity of our country. Our goal is to create a seismic change in how media inspires young minds to do great things.

 

Along with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, the foundation also partners with schools and community institutions to educate the challenging effects of stereotyping, unconscious bias, and representation imbalance of gender, ethnicity, sexuality, and persons with disabilities. We also utilize media-based tools and content to build positive association and equality-based learning models.

BFFoundation is focused on working with its partners to foster inclusivity in media and entertainment to produce a positive influence in the community at large.

 

For more information, visit bentonvillefilm.org.