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The Bentonville Film Festival has an audience size rivaling those of Tribeca and Sundance after only three years of operation. "In terms of attendance, we're already in the top," said Trevor Drinkwater, festival co-founder. "Sundance had 40,000 attend, and we had 75,000. Over time, we'd like people to recognize our festival as a place to come and get content in front of people who get a wider au - dience." Frank Scheide, a professor of film history and criticism in the department of communications at the University of Arkansas, said the Bentonville Film Festival is compa - rable to the Cambridge Film Festi- val in the United Kingdom in size, type of content and involvement. The Cambridge Film Festival is the third longest running film festival in the United Kingdom. The eight- day festival drew 11,078 visitors and 223 films in 2017, according to its website. Comparing the Bentonville Film Festival to these iconic events gives some context for the level it can have, but the local festival doesn't strive to be their competition, Drinkwater said. It has a different role and aspiration to level the play - ing field for women and diversity in filmmaking, both on screen and behind the scenes. "We have a great relationship with Tribeca and Sundance," Drink- water said. "We help each other out. We love to play films from those two at our festival, and we had events at both Sundance and Tribeca. It's a collaboration." Tribeca and Sundance screen in- dependent films that may not reach many people beyond the festival. The Bentonville Film Festival, how- ever, wants to be a stepping stone for inclusive films to be widely dis- tributed. "The type of content and the way it's distributed is different," Drinkwater said. "With our spon- sors, Walmart, AMC and Lifetime, we have the ability to get them in front of a wide audience and to find storytellers a platform." Filmmakers seem to understand the value of this unique festival trait. Submissions to the festival have in- creased exponentially. About 700 films were submitted this year, which is 100 more than 2017 and more than double the submissions of 2016. Drinkwater said the increase is in part because film agents in Holly- wood are now aware of the festival. ABOUT CONNECTIONS Drinkwater hopes the Benton- ville Film Festival will gain a repu- tation as an ideal place for filmmak- ers and storytellers to network with major broadcasters and eventually get films produced because of those connections. Bonne Bartron, a film writer and director who screened her doc- umentary Unbridled at last year's festival, said it has already helped her make valuable connections. "You can meet people at BFF who can make things happen," Bartron said. "I got to talk to plenty of other filmmakers, writers and producers. I met the producer of my multimil- lion dollar feature film there." Bartron's feature film Abduct- ed? is a mixed-genre. It begins as a comedy about what it's like to be a young woman in the modern world, but the storyline goes to a scary, dark place. She had pitched the idea to other producers and was discour- aged. They all suggested changing the main characters to men, which would have changed the entire premise. The producer she met in Bentonville understood the film would be more powerful the way she originally intended it. "I stuck with female characters, and I would usually have to drag people to my perspective (on that), but not here," she said. Scheide said access to visiting filmmakers, producers, writers and celebrities is a unique quality of a film festival. "One of the great things that BFF does is bring in personalities and makes them accessible, that's par- ticularly nice," he said. "You're able to meet them, talk about the craft and get a perspective that fans are interested in." The festival's programming, which includes many panel discus- sions and question and answer ses- sions, contributes to that environ- ment as a great place to exchange ideas, Scheide said. Creating those opportunities for the community to enjoy and learn about what's going on in entertain- ment is exactly the intention, Drink- water said. People can "buy tickets to a mov- ie, a panel discussion, live music and, while they're there, we bring decision-makers from the entertain- ment industry to talk about how we can improve the world we live in, with the hope that NBC, Warner and other big studios make a change and the shows we see start to reflect the world we live in," he said. STAND OUT VENUES Bartron, who has attended film festivals throughout California and Colorado, said the best time she had was at the Bentonville Film Festival. It had the most supportive atmo- sphere, made filmmakers feel like the red carpet was rolled out for them, and had an unusual screen- ing venue. "The trailers for watching movies is cool, I haven't seen that before," Bartron said. "Other festivals just APRIL WALLACE NWA DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE After three years in operation, event's growth shows no signs of stopping NWA Democrat-Gazette File Photo/BEN GOFF • @NWABENGOFF Nia Vardalos (left) tells a humorous story about singing while driving as fellow panelist Kimberly Williams-Paisley lis- tens during the 2017 Bentonville Film Festival's "In Control of Her Destiny" panel discussion in the Great Hall at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. 'ALREADY IN THE TOP' BENTONVILLE FILM FESTIVAL Festival dates The Bentonville Film Festival an- nounced the dates for the fourth annual festival to return to Bentonville May 1-6, 2018. Films accepted into the festival will be announced this month. Source: Staff report See FESTIVAL, Page 6U ∂ ∂ SUNDAY, MARCH 18, 2018 v 5U Live & Play *Limited time offer. APY=Annual Percentage Yield. APY is accurate as of March 5, 2018. Rate may change after account opening. Interest paid monthly. Northwest Arkansas Offi ces 2592 N. Gregg, Ste. 22, Fayetteville • (479) 316-4700 Mon. - Fri. 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. 3210 S. Walton Blvd., Bentonville • (479) 802-7200 Mon. - Fri. 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. www.goifb.com Beyond Ordinary… Bringing award-winning shows and world-class artists to Northwest Arkansas. 495 W. Dickson St. | Fayetteville, AR 72701 waltonartscenter.org | 479.443.5600