BENTONVILLE -- There will be some changes in the Bentonville Film Festival's sophomore year.
For one thing, it won't be so spread out.
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Trevor Drinkwater, president and chief executive of ARC Entertainment, said that was probably the biggest mistake last year. Films were shown at venues all over town, with shuttle buses ferrying festivalgoers back and forth.
This year, the entire festival will take place around the downtown square, with films being shown in three mobile theaters called Cinetransformers.
"This year, we want to get the engine running well," Drinkwater said. "Last year, it came together so quickly. So, this year, we're saying, 'OK, let's settle down, compress the footprint and get really good at putting this on.'"
The Bentonville Film Festival was founded last year by Drinkwater and the actress Geena Davis. The festival's mission is to "champion women and diverse voices in media," according to its website, bentonvillefilmfestival.com.
Davis is the founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, which seeks to "dramatically improve gender balance" and reduce stereotyping in the entertainment industry.
This year's festival will be held Tuesday through May 8.
Afterward, the Cinetransformers will hit the road, taking the winning films to venues across America -- from colleges to Wal-Mart parking lots. Each Cinetransformer provides stadium seating for 91 people.
The films will also play in many AMC theaters across the country. The Bentonville Film Festival is the only festival that offers winning films guaranteed distribution, according to a news release.
The festival drew about 37,000 people last year. Davis has predicted 100,000 will attend this year. Drinkwater wouldn't commit to that number, but he's expecting a substantial increase and ticket sales reflect that so far.
Drinkwater said 70 films will be shown at the festival, with 34 of those as part of the competition.
There are no movie theaters in Bentonville, so films were shown last year in alternative venues, including Northwest Arkansas Community College. That's not unusual, Drinkwater said, noting that films are shown in high school auditoriums and at businesses during the Sundance Film Festival, which is held every January in Utah.
Plans are in the works to build a theater in Bentonville, and it should be ready by the time the festival is held in 2017.
Drinkwater said the festival's overall economic impact last year was $1.3 million. The festival's direct economic impact was between $300,000 and $400,000, according to the Bentonville Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Tiffany Norwood said she's expecting more festival customers this year at her shop, Bleachers, on the square. She said it's the only store in town that sells Bentonville souvenirs, including engraved glassware, refrigerator magnets made of Bentonville barn wood, and T-shirts that proclaim it "Small town USA."
"We're super excited," she said. "They've worked a lot more this year with local businesses."
The number of visitors to the Walmart Museum, also on the square, almost doubled during the first film festival, when compared with nonfestival attendance. This year, they're expecting even more tourists, said Kwinn Woodell, an employee of the museum. During the festival last year, the museum had about 1,100 visitors a day, up from the usual 600, he said.
This year, more Northwest Arkansas people will work at the festival, Drinkwater said. Last year, many came from elsewhere to help.
Drinkwater has been a vendor to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for more than 20 years, first as a salesman for Nestle, then Warner Bros.
"The idea for the film festival came out of a meeting I had with Wal-Mart to amplify their initiative on women and minorities," he said.
A Boston native who lives in Los Angeles, Drinkwater said he recently bought a house just off the square.
"I come here so often that I thought it would be nice to have a place to hang my hat," he said.
Some festival events are free, but tickets are required for most events and can be purchased through the website bentonvillefilmfestival.com. If seats are available, tickets can also be purchased at the venue door, Drinkwater said.
Prices for passes -- which are good for multiple events -- start at $75 and go up to $5,000 for people who want to become a festival patron. The most expensive passes include a $2,700 tax-deductible donation, a prescreening of the film Captain America: Civil War and a "Bloody Mary Brunch with Bruce Dern." Dern is an actor who has appeared in more than 80 films, in which he often portrayed a villain.
Other stars expected in Bentonville for the festival include Meg Ryan, Laurence Fishburne and Harry Connick Jr.
Tickets for screenings of individual films cost $10, with panel-discussion tickets priced at $15, Drinkwater said. There's a discount for senior citizens.
This year, a "virtual festival pass" will be offered for those who can't make it to Bentonville. The $20 pass will allow attendees to access select movies from the festival.
The Bentonville Film Festival will host encore screenings of the winning films in the Cinetransformers the last day of the festival. The festival will include a short film competition in partnership with ESPNW and a script-writing contest in partnership with Lifetime Networks.
Vendors will be set up at various places around the downtown square, and music will be held nightly at The Meteor Guitar Gallery. On Saturday night, Joe Walsh, former guitarist for The Eagles, will perform at the gallery. Tickets are $25 per night and can only be purchased at the door, which opens at 9 p.m.
Two events associated with the festival will be held in Rogers and Springdale.
Darius Rucker will perform at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion in Rogers on Wednesday night. Rucker was lead singer and rhythm guitarist for Hootie & the Blowfish. Tickets for the concert range from $34.50 to $60.50 and are available at arkansasmusicpavilion.com. Cassadee Pope and Barrett Baber will join Rucker on stage.
On May 8, six former castmates will join Davis for the second annual A League of Their Own reunion softball game at Arvest Ballpark in Springdale. Davis starred in the 1992 movie about an all-women's professional baseball league in the Midwest during World War II.
The game will start at 2 p.m., but the stadium opens at noon with "KidsFest activities" in and around the ballpark. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the ballpark box office.
Three days after the Bentonville Film Festival ends, the most prestigious film festival in the world begins in Cannes, France, running May 11 to May 22.
Drinkwater said he doesn't think close proximity of the festivals on the calendar will affect the Bentonville event. He said artistic films predominate at the Cannes festival; the Bentonville festival focuses on family films.
"Our mission is very focused," Drinkwater said. "Our objective is to have the films viewed at our festival be viewed by a wide audience."
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Coca-Cola are major sponsors of the festival.
Metro on 05/01/2016