Award Winners Announced for Bentonville Film Festival

The films and filmmakers taking home the top prizes at  the inaugural Bentonville Film Festival (BFF), celebrating women and diversity, were revealed this evening at a gala awards ceremony that drew Courteney Cox, Nick Cannon, Bruce Dern, Rosie O’Donnell, Melissa Joan Hart, Catherine Hardwicke, Joey Lauren Adams, Brian Yang, Alysia Reiner, Khandi Alexander, Sara Evans, and of course, Geena Davis, among many others. The event was hosted by Nick Cannon and Soledad O’Brien.

2015 Bentonville Film Festival Award Winners:

Jury Award

Winner:      Janet Grillo “Jack of The Red Hearts”

Best Documentary

Winner:    Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg  “In My Father's House”

Best Family Feature

Winner:        Morgan Matthews  “A Brilliant Young Mind”

Highest Diversity

Winner:       Geeta V. Patel and Ravi V. Patel   “Meet the Patels”

Best Ensemble

Winner:               Adriana Trigiani   “Big Stone Gap”

Best Protagonist

Winner:                      Stephanie Linus in “Dry”

Audience Award

Winner:                  “Thao’s Library” (Documentary)

Dernsie Award

Winner:                  Ani Simon-Kelly (“The Short History of the Long Road”)

BFF Spirit Award

Winner:                  Lizzie Valasquez (“A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story”)

*BFF is the only film festival in the world to offer guaranteed distribution to winning films. As such, Jury Award winner “Jack of the Red Hearts”;  Best Documentary winner “In My Father’s House”; and Best Family Feature “A Brilliant Young Mind” will receive distribution offers from AMC Theaters (theatrical release), Vubiquity (VOD), Vudu (digital) and Walmart (DVD,  in store).

Gil Robertson, President of the African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) served as BFF’s Jury President.

For more information please visit www.bentonvillefilmfestival.com