The 12th Bentonville Film Festival wrapped today, closing a multiday program that crowned winners across fiction, documentary and episodic categories after Saturday night’s awards. The festival — founded to amplify underrepresented voices and now led by Geena Davis — announced films and filmmakers likely to gain traction with distributors and audiences this year.
If I Go Will They Miss Me, directed by Walter Thompson‑Hernández, took the festival’s top narrative prize. The film follows a boy who begins seeing spectral figures of neighborhood youths while wrestling with emotional distance from his father; those apparitions reveal buried ties that reshape family memory and identity. The narrative jury, which included Sian Edwards‑Beal, Kate Mason and Ron Najor, praised the film’s meticulous visual approach and its humane treatment of fatherhood and Black family life.
Directing, acting and standout storytelling
A Special Jury Mention for directorial voice was awarded to The Musical, from director Gisella Bonilla. Jurors highlighted Bonilla’s clarity of vision and tight control over tone — rare strengths in a comedy — and noted the chemistry between Will Brill and Rob Lowe as a key asset.
In another nod to performance, the jury singled out BRB, directed by Kate Cobb, for a Special Mention for Lead Performances. They credited Zoe Colletti and Autumn Best with delivering layered, believable portrayals that anchor the film’s emotional balance between humor and heartbreak.
The documentary award went to Judd Ehrlich’s Jane Elliott Against the World, which chronicles the educator behind the notorious “blue eyes/brown eyes” classroom exercise and the furor and dialogue it provoked over decades. Documentary jurors Billy Ray Brewton, Sav Rodgers and Brittany Shyne commended the film for its rigorous storytelling and its insistence that confronting racial bias can be transformative.
A Special Jury Mention in the documentary slate went to Ayden Mayeri’s Summer 2000: The X‑Cetra Story, described by jurors as a tender, archival-rich coming‑of‑age portrait about friendship and artistic influence.
What the winners mean now
For programmers, streamers and cinephiles, these selections signal projects that blend audience appeal with awards‑season sensibilities. Several winners here — especially the documentaries — are likely to generate discussion beyond festival screens because of their social themes and accessibility.
- Best Narrative: If I Go Will They Miss Me — Walter Thompson‑Hernández
- Special Jury Mention (Directorial Vision): The Musical — Gisella Bonilla
- Special Mention (Lead Performances): BRB — Kate Cobb (Zoe Colletti, Autumn Best)
- Best Documentary: Jane Elliott Against the World — Judd Ehrlich
- Documentary Special Mention: Summer 2000: The X‑Cetra Story — Ayden Mayeri
- Best Homegrown: Baby/Girls — Jackie Jesko, Alyse Walsh
- Homegrown Special Mention: Filthy — Lisa Cole
- Best Episodic: Too Romantic — Talia Light Rake
- Best Short Film: Find The Boy — Paulin.e Goasmat (France)
- Short Film Mentions: Paper Daughter; She Chose War
- Crayola Development Pitch (inaugural): ImagINN by Nicole Graves — $10,000 + development deal
Festival chair Geena Davis and organizers emphasized the event’s mission to present diverse voices. Wendy Guerrero, Bentonville’s president, framed the gathering as a seasonal celebration: the program blended lighter fare, like a summer thriller that opened the festival, with hard‑edged documentaries that linger in viewers’ minds. Guerrero pointed to the communal effect of screening nonfiction films in a small city setting — audiences often left conversations unsettled and engaged, she said, an outcome filmmakers and programmers prize.
Presenters at the awards included Katherine LaNasa, Toks Olagundoye and actors from Netflix’s upcoming Little House on the Prairie reboot. Rebecca Sonnenshine, the series’ showrunner, received the festival’s Rising to the Challenge Award, and Netflix will host a special screening of the series at Bentonville.
Who served on juries
Jury panels drew industry practitioners across categories: the narrative jury featured Sian Edwards‑Beal, Kate Mason and Ron Najor; the documentary jury included Billy Ray Brewton, Sav Rodgers and Brittany Shyne; and the episodic/homegrown juries were led by Mary Pat Bentel, Carlos Cardona and Winnie Kemp. Their selections reflect a preference for work that pairs craft with social relevance.
Local and national partners remain central to the festival’s operations: Walmart, headquartered in Bentonville, is the founding partner, with Coca‑Cola as presenting sponsor.
Beyond prizes, the festival functions as a marketplace and a conversation hub — a place where filmmakers can find distribution, collaborators and an audience. Several award recipients here are likely to secure deals or expanded visibility in the months ahead, making Bentonville’s 2026 slate worth watching for programmers, critics and audiences interested in films that combine craft with cultural urgency.
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Hello, I’m Declan. I share my film reviews and discoveries with you to enrich your moviegoing experience.