BFF M&M’S® For All Funkind Grant

Mars Wrigley has announced a mentorship opportunity through the Bentonville Film Festival (BFF) to support up-and-coming, underrepresented diverse filmmakers and content creators. Through a multi-year partnership with Bentonville Film Festival, Mars Wrigley is dedicated to creating more inclusive entertainment and better moments by helping supporting a wide range of underrepresented storytellers, including BIPOC, people with a disability and people from the LGBTQIA+ communities. With this grant and mentorship, Mars Wrigley – with one of our largest global brands – M&M’S is working to help diverse content creators overcome barriers with funding and hands-on experience to create a world where the next generation of fans and creators feels they belong. The grant is part of a movement M&M’S to remind people everywhere that despite our differences, we all belong to a community of humans that have one simple and powerful thing in common: fun.
The mentorship includes a $20,000 grant, plus the opportunity to work with the M&M’S® team on a project for the iconic brand, focused on championing fun to help everyone feel included.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE

  • Bentonville Film Festival Alumni (2015-2021). We have a strong commitment to supporting directors, writers, producers, and actors who have come through BFF since 2015. Any submissions from past BFF alumni will be considered.
  • Inclusive Storytellers / Current Submitters to BFF 2022
  • It is our mission to amplify storytellers from historically underrepresented groups (artists identifying as black, indigenous, people of color, people with disabilities, people of underrepresented gender identities, and the LGBTQ+ community). Filmmakers who are submitting to BFF 2022 and fit the inclusion criteria for program submissions will be considered.

SUBMISSION CRITERIA

  • Filmmaker must be in development or production phase of their next project with a completion date for a premiere screening at the 2023 Bentonville Film Festival
  • Projects can be narrative or documentary short films (or episodics) – projects under 35 minutes according to regular BFF qualifications
  • Projects must meet the BFF Inclusion Criteria
  • All types of content and genres are eligible for consideration of this award


TO APPLY

  • Visit our Mars Wrigley + BFF page at the link below for this award category
  • You will need to provide a project description and bio (pdf), you will also be asked to provide links to streaming versions of your visual work samples or reels.
  • Finalists will be chosen in March 2022 and will live pitch their concepts. The award will be given at the 2022 Bentonville Film Festival.
TIMELINE
  • Submissions Open January 20, 2022
  • Submissions Deadline March 2, 2022
  • Finalists Notified April 5, 2022
  • Virtual Pitch and Interviews with Selection Committee May 2022
  • Recipient Awarded June 25, 2022
  • The 2022 award recipient will be announced prior to the 2022 Bentonville Film Festival and will be provided travel to attend the 8th annual festival taking place in person in Bentonville, Arkansas and virtually from June 22-July 3, 2022.
BFF ALumni apply here!

For questions about the application or the program, please contact: Director of Programming, Ashley Edwards at ashley@bentonvillefilm.org.