The Bentonville Film Festival has announced the jury prize winners for their seventh annual film festival. The week-long festival, led by Academy Award-winning actor and Festival Chair Geena Davis, is known for its dedication to championing female, nonbinary, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and people with disabilities’ voices in entertainment.

The 2021 BFF Jury included six experts across three categories: Narrative judges included Founder & CEO of Marginal Mediaworks, Sanjay Sharma, and Executive Director of CAPE, Michelle Sugihara; Documentary judges included Head of Film at Marginal MediaWorks Milan Chakraborty, and Head of Whistle Studios, Melanie Johnson; Episodic and Short judges included EVP of Digital and Social at 4 Media, Tom Hoehn, and Attorney at ASManagement, Alexander Shekarchian.

In the BFF 2021 juried competition program, 71 percent are directed by women, 75 percent by people that are BIPOC or API, and 33 percent by people of the LGBTQIA+ community. Seventy percent of these films are written by women, 70 percent by people that are BIPOC or API, 32 percent  by people of the LGBTQIA+ community and 87 percent feature a female lead, 81 percent a BIPOC or API lead, and 30 percent an LGBTQIA+ lead. Ninety-six percent of these films have a cast and crew that was made up of more than half of people from these same communities.

Kili Big world premiered at the Festival and was awarded Best Documentary, where director Ida Joglar and subjects were in attendance. Roshan Sethi’s 7 Days, took home the jury award for Best Narrative Feature. Americanized, by Erica Eng, was selected for Best Short Film and NOW with Fiona, by Fiona Dawson, won for Best Episodic.

The full list of 2021 Bentonville Film Festival award winners and honorees are below:

Jury Award Winners:
Narrative Film Award: 7 DAYS, Director: Roshan Sethi
Documentary Film Award: KILI BIG, Director: Ida Joglar
Short Film Narrative Award: AMERICANIZED, Director: Erica Eng
Episodic Award: NOW WITH FIONA, Director: Fiona Dawson

Special Recognition Awards:
Honorary Mention, Narrative Feature: WAIKIKI, Director: Christopher Kahunahana
Honorary Mention, Documentary Feature: YOUTH V GOV, Director: Christi Cooper
Honorary Mention, Short Film: NAHJUM, Director: Sebastian Torres Greene

For more information about the 2021 Bentonville Film Festival, visit bentonvillefilm.org and follow Bentonville Film Festival across social media channels.