Geena Davis's Bentonville Film Festival 2020 Begins

Written by: Nikoleta Morales

The Bentonville Film Festival kicked off with a ‘hybrid’ event scheduled to run August 10-16, 2020.

The Bentonville Film Festival is an event that champions inclusion in all forms of media. Academy Award winner Geena Davis spearheaded the launch of the first festival in 2015.

The year-long platform culminates with the festival, in partnership with founding sponsor Walmart and presenting sponsor Coca-Cola. The annual event draws an attendance of more than 80,000 with an economic impact of $8 million for the region.

Bentonville Film Festival 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.

The BFF is the only film festival in the world to offer guaranteed multi-platform distribution to its winners. Films that win the Audience, Jury, and Best Family Film awards receive theatrical distribution from AMC Theatres, are shown on Lifetime television, and get a DVD or video-on-demand release from Walmart and Vudu. In 2015, 87% of the films shown were distributed in some way.

For viewing this year’s selections, visit www.bentonvillefilm.org