Founded 2015 (2015) | ||
Website bentonvillefilmfestival.com | ||
The Bentonville Film Festival is an American film festival in Bentonville, Arkansas that focuses on diversity. It was founded by actress Geena Davis and ARC Entertainment executive Trevor Drinkwater. Bentonville was chosen as the location after Walmart, the founding sponsor, suggested it. After Drinkwater learned Walmart was interested in supporting diversity initiatives, he brought in Davis, who he knew would be interested because of her work with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Films that win the Audience, Jury, and Best Family Film awards receive guaranteed theatrical distribution from AMC Theatres, are shown on Lifetime, and get a DVD or video-on-demand release from Walmart. In 2015, 87% of the films shown were distributed in some way.