Bentonville Film Festival 2026 Lineup: Family Focus

The Bentonville Film Festival returns June 15–21 with family-forward premieres, award honors, and a diverse slate across films and episodics.

A new Bentonville Film Festival vibe is taking shape. with the 2026 lineup leaning hard into family stories while still cutting across the wide range of voices and genres the event is known for.. The focus_keyphrase—Bentonville Film Festival 2026—is built into everything from opening-night buzz to world premieres. with the Geena Davis-founded BFFoundation and its partners highlighting stories for film lovers. TV viewers. and entertainment fans alike.

The twelfth annual Bentonville Film Festival (BFF) will run June 15–21 in Bentonville, Arkansas.. The report stated that BFFoundation (BFF). working with founding partner Walmart and presenting partner Coca-Cola. announced the narrative. documentary. homegrown. short film. and episodic selections premiering at the festival.. Among the competition slate are 34 feature competition films, including five world premieres.

Long associated with diversity and inclusion, the festival’s programming extends that commitment into the way the lineup is assembled.. The 2026 lineup also includes programming designed to reach many kinds of audiences. and several of the featured events in particular bring a family-centered energy to the schedule.

The festival’s opening night selection is “Family Movie,” with directors, producers, and stars set to attend.. The report stated that Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick—part of a long-running Hollywood power couple—will be in attendance. alongside a moderated conversation after the screening.. The film itself is described as following a filmmaking family whose low-budget slasher project turns into a real-life horror when a body is discovered on set. forcing the Smiths to keep production moving even as chaos takes over.

Meanwhile, the festival’s closing event circles back to a beloved family franchise.. It will include a special screening of the first episode of Netflix’s “Little House on the Prairie. ” with showrunner/executive producer/writer Rebecca Sonnenshine and stars Crosby Fitzgerald and Alyssa Wapanatâhk attending.. A Q&A follows the screening.. The series is billed as a fresh adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s iconic semi-autobiographical “Little House” books. offering what the festival describes as a kaleidoscopic view of the struggles and triumphs of the people who shaped the frontier.

Sonnenshine’s presence won’t be limited to the closing-night screening—she’s also set to be recognized at the festival’s annual Festival Award Ceremony on Saturday. June 20.. The report stated she will receive the Rising to the Challenge Award. an honor recognizing visionary artists whose work expands opportunity. challenges convention. and helps shape a more dynamic and inclusive future for storytelling.. Geena Davis—who chairs the Bentonville Film Festival—offered praise for Sonnenshine in an official statement. noting the depth. strength. and imagination she brings while also creating doors for broader perspectives on screen.

The festival’s centerpiece film takes that emphasis on attention-worthy stories and puts it front and center with another major screen moment.. “Street Smart” premieres as the Centerpiece film on Thursday. June 18. with director Catherine Hardwicke in attendance for a Q&A afterward.. The film follows a lively group of street kids in Venice Beach who help one another chase their dreams using humor and street-smarts. along with a “Robin Hood larceny” edge.. Its story also centers on the pressure that threatens the makeshift family when a new girl pushes them toward bending or breaking their moral code.. The cast includes Isabelle Fuhrman, Yara Shahidi, Michael Cimino, and Marcia Gay Harden, among others.

Alongside the big-ticket events. the festival’s competition programming is positioned as a showcase of inclusion and authentic representation across communities.. The report stated that more than 80 percent of the creators behind the selected competition films identify as female or gender non-conforming.. It also noted that 53 percent identify as BIPOC. Asian. or Pacific Islander. 40 percent identify as LGBTQIA+. 21 percent are filmmakers over the age of 50. and 15 percent identify as a person with a disability.

Several titles in the competition lineup also carry notable industry momentum. The report pointed to standout picks that include John Early’s “Maddie’s Secret,” Liz Sargent’s “Take Me Home,” Ayden Mayeri’s “Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story,” and many more.

The full lineup also shows how wide the festival’s lens is. reaching from conversation series to book events and multiple categories of films.. “Coffee Talks” includes “The Best Stories are Homemade. ” a conversation with Ree Drummond exploring storytelling at the intersection of food. family. and community. including her work building “The Pioneer Woman” into a brand and sharing everyday moments that resonate beyond a ranch setting.. The program also includes “Curiosity Is the Secret Ingredient. ” featuring Bobby Flay. and “The Story is in the Rice. ” with chef JJ Johnson reflecting on how cuisine can serve as a narrative that connects communities across continents and generations.

There’s also a book event built into the schedule: “Read Along with The Cat in the Hat.” Dr.. Seuss’s “The Cat in the Hat” will be in attendance to celebrate the launch of a newly discovered Dr.. Seuss book. “SING THE 50 UNITED STATES!” The event invites audiences to sing and read along. including a chance to get a special picture with the Cat in the Hat.

For spotlight programming. the festival includes “ARIA: Opera on the Edge. ” presented in partnership with Opera in the Ozarks. which follows four young. diverse singers seeking their place on the world’s greatest stages while facing racism and prejudice in an industry framed by dead. white European males in the 17th century.. It also includes “The Brittney Griner Story. ” tracing Brittney Griner’s playing career and harrowing imprisonment in Russia and how that becomes part

of a larger geopolitical battle to secure her freedom. with Brittney Griner and others listed among the cast.. “The Ebony Canal” is described as a cinematic poem focused on the “HERstoric portal” between disparities of infant mortality and the state of maternal health affecting Black and Brown women. with narration by Viola Davis.. The Spotlight Films lineup further includes “Give Me the Ball!”—an intimate look at Billie Jean King—along with “Left Behind. ” about mothers

who unite to create the first public dyslexic school in New York City.

The spotlight slate continues with “Miss Representation: Rise Up. ” described as a deep dive into cultural backlash against women’s mental health. agency. and political power. and “Personal Courage. ” which centers on Army veteran Jeffrey Derma and his wife Rebecca Cristina as they work to rebuild what life together means after his military service.. The festival also includes “Acting Like Women. ” revisiting the groundbreaking feminist performance art movement in 1970s Los Angeles and highlighting a transformational radical community. as well as “American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez. ” documenting Luis Valdez’s push to bring Chicano storytelling from fields to film screen.

Other featured spotlight selections add urgency and wide-ranging storytelling styles. from “Ceremony. ” which immerses audiences in Nuxalk ancestral lore and collective testimony around a long-ago absence of the ooligan run. to “Cookie Queens. ” a coming-of-age story built around Girl Scout Cookie season.. “The Dads” is described as responding to escalating anti-trans legislation and hostility. following dads trying to support trans and gender expansive kids while facing a forced choice about staying and fighting or fleeing.. Documentaries also include “Ghost in the Machine. ” an investigative look at artificial intelligence’s history as shaped by racism. misogyny. eugenics. and entrenched power structures.

The documentary and narrative programming also extends into stories that look at race, history, power, disability, and family future.. “Jane Elliott Against the World” follows a rural Iowa schoolteacher who became a national voice against racism after a controversial 1968 lesson. continuing her activism into modern debates about race and power.. “Kids Like Me” follows Oliver. a 12-year-old murder-mystery fan growing up with a rare genetic condition. reframing what it means to live with disabilities..

“Seized” is described as an investigative thriller that delves into a police raid on the Marion County Record. focusing on how corruption. politics. and long-standing tensions turned a Kansas community into a battleground over the First and Fourth Amendments.. “Show Me the Line” is a world premiere that follows artist Abbey Crain as an Alabama court jeopardizes access to IVF and her embryos. leading her and a group of fertility patients to “unearth hope” amid

a shifting legal landscape.

The narrative and episodics sections of the 2026 slate include a range of stories—from “Summer 2000: The X-Cetra Story. ” about four tween friends forming a band whose album resurfaces online decades later. to “When a Witness Recants. ” which revisits a case involving Ta-Nehisi Coates and explores how false testimony affected three convicted teenagers sentenced to life.. Episodics competition selections include “Blood Sugar. ” “Committed. ” “CVNT. ” “The F*ckboy Diaries. ” and “Too Romantic. ” each listed with their respective directors and. in some cases. world premiere status.

Homegrown programming and shorts also carry a strong sense of rooted storytelling. with homegrown competition films created by filmmakers from Arkansas and/or filmed in Arkansas.. “Baby/Girls” follows teens in America’s Heartland as a maternity home becomes a crossroads. captured over two years with intimate vérité access.. “Welcome to the Fishbowl” is a world premiere that follows Elizabeth Ford. a Denver mother of two and aspiring writer. who gets a career-making opportunity that turns complicated when she has to chaperone a narcissistic literary legend across the Rocky Mountains to an awards ceremony.

The festival’s short film competition lineup features a long roster of titles. including “Buried Under Years of Dust. ” “Cecilia Is Only 8 Years Old. ” “Cindy Sherman: Picture This. ” “El Tiguere. ” “Find The Boy. ” “For Niko. ” “Hatchlings. ” “Howl. ” “I Hate Helen. ” “Into The Chutes. ” “Irish Farmers: A Love Story. ” “Julie Takes A Walk. ” “Long’s Long Lost & Mini Mart. ” “More Than Dust. ” “Paper Daughter. ” “Peanut. ” “She Chose War. ” “The Sisters of Scott County. ” “Smoked. ” “Sorry I Missed Your Call. ” “Surprise. ” “TAGA. ” and “Veronica.”

For festival-goers following the family thread. the opening and closing selections bookend the schedule with two different kinds of emotional momentum—chaos on a slasher set and a frontier saga adaptation—while the rest of the lineup stretches across documentaries. homegrown films. shorts. and episodics with world premieres and award recognition running through the week.. Misryoum will continue to watch how the 2026 Bentonville Film Festival lineup plays out in the theater. on panels. and across the conversations it sparks.

Bentonville Film Festival 2026 Kevin Bacon Kyra Sedgwick Little House on the Prairie Netflix Street Smart world premiere Rebecca Sonnenshine Rising to the Challenge Catherine Hardwicke Q&A