What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1471106
guests can look forward to many giveaways for food, popcorn, drinks, a bicycle and other things. Near the festival village will be an outdoor theater that will feature a free screening area called the Geena Davis Movie Series. Cartoons, animated films and other family favorites will be shown there. Movies at Thaden's main stage will start at noon daily and go throughout the evening. Don't stay out too late, though, because the celebrity-driven coffee talks begin at 9 a.m., also at Thaden. Guests can grab a cup of coffee and listen to the backstory of a different celebrity each day. A panel discussion will take place at Thaden daily at 11 a.m. Many are focused on body positivity. "When women or men are auditioning for a role, they ask for a size card," Guerrero says. "This card has size details, and if it's given to the casting director, they might think that person is not good for the role based on size. We have a lot of stories … to dig deep on this subject." The incredibly popular Geena and Friends event, a panel consisting of Geena Davis and other big name celebrities, will take place at the Thaden Theater this year. Previous events were a table read at the Record and a panel at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Meteor Guitar Gallery will be BFF headquarters and hence the site of a lot of activity between filmmakers and passholders. A BFF pass has a variety of levels to lend exclusive access there for happy hours and takeover events, such as one by the Cherokee Film Nation. Guerrero says this year's programming includes a lot of Indigenous representation. A takeover on June 24 will center on the launch of the Bentonville Film Festival's first NFT, a $50 nonfungible token that can be purchased as a commemorative object or as a membership that unlocks benefits, such as meet-and-greets with Davis, getting behind the scenes at Geena and Friends and other special offers. "Raising money for films is hard," Guerrero says about the decision to offer NFTs. "It's hard to raise money for any type of art, but especially for women and underrepresented communities, it's even more important to talk about nontraditional funding like (this.)" A couple of filmmakers will discuss their experiences raising funds by way of NFT at the takeover. Three films were selected as BFF spotlight films, which means they represent the festival in a unique way. "How to Please a Woman" is a film by an Australian director about a woman in her 50s who starts an all-male cleaning service. As the business grows out of control, she has to decide if she's going to make a new life for herself. The comedy has dramatic moments, Guerrero says, and is "a really fun film." "MixTape Trilogy" is a documentary featuring stories about the power of music by way of three bands, all entirely from the fans'/groupies' perspective. "Nija" is also a documentary about a musical artist. "It made a big splash at Sundance, but I love it because of the Mexican representation," Guerrero says. Audiences can look forward to other world premieres in addition to "The Seven Faces of Jane," including "Good Egg" and "Smile or Hug." "Having filmmakers trusting us to premiere (their film) in Bentonville, we hold that special," Guerrero says. "That's where its first audience will be." What's Up! is a publication of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. PRESIDENT Brent A. Powers EDITOR Becca Martin-Brown 479-872-5054 bmartin@nwadg.com Twitter: NWAbecca REPORTERS Monica Hooper mhooper@nwadg.com April Wallace awallace@nwadg.com (479) 770-3746 DESIGNER Deb Harvell ON THE COVER One of the world premieres at the 2022 Bentonville Film Festival, "Smile or Hug" tells the story of an art teacher who, after getting dumped on her 30th birthday, works through her loneliness with the help of her online students, her two best friends, and a box of homemade self-help tapes given to her by the mysterious "mind painter," Doc Garcia. (Courtesy Photo/BFF) JUNE 19-25, 2022 WHAT'S UP! 37 BFF Preview Continued From Page 9 COVER STORY In "Good Egg," a high school drama teacher finds herself in an unconventional and sometimes dangerous quest for an egg donor. (Courtesy Photo/BFF) An incarcerated artist labors over a number of years on a secret masterpiece, finding a way to survive in the act of creativity, in "Art & Krimes By Krimes," a documentary directed by Alysa Nahmias and included in this year's BFF. (Courtesy Photo/BFF)