Bentonville Film Festival announced the winning filmmakers, actors and content creators across its competition categories at the Awards Ceremony on Saturday, August 7 at the outdoor Geena Davis Theatre. Award Recipients included the Best Documentary for World Premiere film Kili Big and Best Narrative Feature to 7 Days.

Narrative jury included Marginal Mediaworks Founder & CEO, Sanjay Sharma, and Michelle Sugihara, who serves as Executive Director of CAPE. Marginal MediaWorks’s Head of Film Milan Chakraborty was a documentary juror alongside Head of Whistle Studios, Melanie Johnson. Tom Hoehn, EVP of Digital and Social at 4 Media, and Alexander Shekarchian, attorney at ASManagement, oversaw the episodic and short categories.

In addition to the awards for the competition film categories, we also had the honor to award Marlee Matlin with the Rising to the Challenge Award, which is an inaugural award for BFF meant to encompass a filmmaker or producer that got a project made “against all odds”. Lisa Lu was also given the See It, Be It Award for their years of trailblazing and influential work in the industry, opening doors for women like them on and off the screen

AWARD RECIPIENTS

BFF Honors:
The Rising to the Challenge Award, Marlee Matlin
See It, Be It Award, Lisa Lu

Narrative Competition Film:
Jury Award for Best Competition Narrative Feature Film: 7 DAYS from Director Roshan Sethi
Honorable Mention Jury Award for Competition Narrative Feature Film: WAIKIKI from Director Christopher Kahunahana

Documentary Competition Film:
Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature: KILI BIG, World Premiere, from Director Ida Rodríguez Joglar
Honorable Mention Jury Award for Competition Documentary Feature Film: YOUTH V GOV, from Director Christi Cooper

Shorts Competition Film:

Jury Award for Best Short Film: AMERICANIZED, from Director Erica Eng
Honorable Mention Jury Award for Competition Short Film: NAHJUM, from Directors Manuel Del Valle and Sebastian Torres Greene

Episodic Competition Film:
Jury Award for Best Episodic Film: NOW WITH FIONA, from Director Fiona Dawson

Be sure to follow us on our socials below and check out our website for more recap information and what to expect for the 8th Annual Bentonville Film Festival in 2022!