Bentonville Film Festival Announces 2024 Winners: ‘Suze’ and ‘Daughters’ Take Top Honors

variety.com:

Katcy Stephan The Bentonville Film Foundation, in collaboration with founding partner Walmart and presenting sponsor Coca-Cola, have announced the winners of their narrative, documentary, short film and episodic categories from this year’s competition program.

The festival, which ran from June 10-16 in Bentonville, Ark., aims to amplify female, non-binary, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC and people with disabilities’ voices in entertainment. “Suze” from Linsey Stewart and Dane Clark won the award for best narrative feature, and “Daughters,” directed by Natalie Rae and Angela Patton, took home the prize for best documentary feature.

Additionally, The See It, Be It Award, was presented to Phoebe-Rae Taylor, star of “Out of My Mind.” This award, which has been presented every year since the beginning of the festival, is given to someone who has opened doors for people like them through their work and influenced the entertainment industry and pop culture through the creation of content that empowers stories that are otherwise underrepresented. “Our 10th anniversary meant so much to us,” said festival chair Geena Davis. “I’m so grateful to all of the filmmakers in this year’s slate for their incredible work and the beautiful energy they brought to the festival.

I am so excited to see the growth of diverse story telling since the beginning of the festival. From launching a film festival in a town with no movie theaters to becoming one of the fastest growing film festivals in the country the support of the Bentonville community has meant so much to me.” See the full list of winners: Narrative FeatureJury: Sejin Croninger, Amber Sealey, Lisa Ann Walter Best Narrative Feature: “Suze” Canada (Directors/Writers, Linsey Stewart, Dane Clark)Jury.