\n<\/p>\n
\n\tThe Bentonville Film Foundation, in collaboration with founding partner, Walmart, and presenting sponsor, Coca-Cola, announced the winners of its 11th Annual Bentonville Film Festival on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cRosemead,\u201d starring Lucy Liu, took the top prize, winning the best narrative award for a feature film. In addition, Liu was presented with the Rising to the Challenge Award, given to artists who support independent film and \u201cput their talent, passion and experience on the line in the service of empowering stories that are otherwise underrepresented.\u201d Directed by Eric Lin, \u201cRosemead\u201d premiered earlier this month at the Tribeca Film Festival and centers on a mother faced with an impossible choice. The film has received excellent reviews, particularly for Liu\u2019s transformative performance. In a statement, the jury that voted on the prize noted: \u201cDirector Eric Lin sparks real-world conversations about the society we\u2019re living in through an intimate, unflinching film based on true events in the San Gabriel Valley. The very essence of what great cinema can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other narrative awards presented included a special jury mention for ensemble cast to \u201cAdult Children,\u201d which held its world premiere on Thursday night at the fest. Written by Annika Marks and directed by Rich Newey, the comedy-drama centers on three adult siblings (Betsy Brandt, Thomas Sadoski and Aya Cash) and their teenage half-sister (Ella Rubin) who move in together to watch over their brother Josh (Sadoski), an addict. The film also stars Mimi Rogers as their mother and Olemich Tugas (in his film debut) as a young neighbor. Marks and Newey previously collaborated on the film \u201cKilling Eleanor,\u201d which won the top prize at the 2020 SCAD Savannah Film Festival. That film also balanced some serious topics with dark humor and humanity on display in \u201cAdult Children.\u201d<\/p>\n
A special jury mention for directorial vision was presented to \u201cColor Book,\u201d writer-director David Fortune\u2019s tale of a newly widowed father trying to get his son to a baseball game. The jury statement praised, \u201cthe film unearths profound themes about the world we live in with a consistent command of beautiful visuals, performances, and crisp storytelling. Fortune\u2019s vision speaks through a confident hand like he\u2019s done this many times before.\u201d Variety was also impressed, and awarded the film a Critic\u2019s Pick after its Palm Springs Film Festival premiere in January.<\/p>\n
On the documentary side, director-producer Kim A. Snyder\u2019s \u201cThe Librarians\u201d took the best documentary prize. Snyder, an Academy Award nominee for the short \u201cDeath By Numbers,\u201d is a compelling true tale of book banning and the heroic librarians who uncover the truth. A Special Jury Mention was awarded to \u201cHeightened Scrutiny\u201d from director-producer Sam Feder, which focuses on civil rights lawyer Chase Strangio advocating for trans rights.<\/p>\n
This year, the fest introduced a new category, Best Homegrown, which is awarded to films made in the Arkansas area. The Best Homegrown feature award was presented to \u201cSovereign\u201d from writer-director Christian Swegal. The film stars Nick Offerman, Dennis Quaid, Martha Plimpton and Jacob Tremblay. It follows a father and son in an extremist group facing off with the police. A Special Jury Mention (Homegrown) was given to \u201cBeyond the Ashes: An Adaptive Trail Story\u201d from director-producers Brock Wagner and Tim Johnson, a documentary about the Trailblazer, a trail development organization.<\/p>\n
\n\tOther awards presented included best episodic to \u201cBorn 2 Lose,\u201d a pilot from director Carlos Cardona about a 16-year-old Latino American punk rocker. The Best Short Film Award was given to \u201cLovin\u2019 Her,\u201d which depicts the struggles of a trans woman\u2019s life. Special Jury Mentions were also given to the animated short \u201cView From the Floor\u201d from directors Megan Griffiths and Mindie Lind, and the modern-day fable \u201cTender Thoughts\u201d from director Anndi Jinelle Liggett.<\/p>\n
The Bentonville Film Festival kicked off on June 16 and featured 28 competition films, including nine world premieres. It was presented by the BFFoundation, a non-profit focused on promoting underrepresented voices of diverse storytellers. It partners with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and Davis herself is a constant presence throughout the fest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Bentonville Film Foundation, in collaboration with founding partner, Walmart, and presenting sponsor, Coca-Cola, announced the winners of its 11th Annual Bentonville Film Festival on Saturday. \u201cRosemead,\u201d starring Lucy Liu, took the top prize, winning the best narrative award for a feature film. In addition, Liu was presented with the Rising to the Challenge Award,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[1170,1172,1171,1166,1165,1169,1163,1164,1167,1168],"class_list":{"0":"post-9198","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bentonville","9":"tag-fest","10":"tag-film","11":"tag-liu","12":"tag-lucy","13":"tag-prize","14":"tag-rosemead","15":"tag-starring","16":"tag-takes","17":"tag-top"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}