As festivals have increasingly endeavored to showcase more diverse talent, benchmarks of inclusivity occasionally run the risk of feeling like a dutiful checklist.
The Bentonville Film Festival, though, has celebrated — and elevated — underrepresented voices since its inception. Returning for its 10th edition from June 10-16, the northwest Arkansas festival has always taken as its mission statement the centering of work from not only LGBTQ+ and BIPOC creators but also other historically marginalized groups.
That focus shouldn’t be surprising, given that the festival’s roots stretch back to the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, a nonprofit research organization the actor founded after noticing the disparity in female characters while watching TV series and movies with her daughter.
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