The Seven Faces of Jane, a feature with eight short films produced by Roman Coppola, is set to open the competitive program for Geena Davis’ Bentonville Film Festival, running June 22 to 26.
The film has shorts directed by Julian Acosta, Xan Cassavetes, Gia Coppola, Ryan Heffington, Boma Lluma, Gillian Jacobs, Ken Jeong and Alex Takacs, and will have a world premiere during Bentonville’s eighth edition. As the event retains a hybrid model, a virtual run for the festival will open on June 22 and run through July 3.
Booked into the competitive lineup are three Spotlight films — Renee Webster’s How To Please a Woman, which stars Sally Phillips and Alexander England; director Isabel Castro’s documentary Mija; and Mixtape Trilogy: Stories of the Power of Music, by director Kathleen Ermitage.
The Competition Narrative Features sidebar has titles like Julian Higgins’ God’s Country, Megan Griffiths’ I’ll Show You Mine, A Love Song, directed by Max Walker-Silverman, and a world bow for Smile or Hug, directed by Paul Sprangers and starring Chelsea Javier and Danny Trejo.
The festival also programmed in its Competition Documentary Features section David Siev’s Bad Axe, Mye Hoang’s Cat Daddies, Exposure, by Holly Morris and So Yun Um’s Liquor Store Dreams.
Since 2015, the Bentonville Film Festival has offered a platform that amplifies the creative voices of female, non-binary, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC and people with disabilities in entertainment.
“We are proud to be back for the 8th year to bring audiences, both in-person and virtually, an inspiring selection of films celebrating diversity and inclusion on screen and behind the camera,” Geena Davis, Bentonville Film Festival chair, said in a statement.
For the 2022 edition, Bentonville has programmed over 82 percent of its competitive section with films by directors who are female or gender non-conforming, and 65 percent of the lineup is by those who identify as BIPOC, Asian or Pacific Islander.
“This year’s filmmakers are absolutely unmatched in their refreshing narratives,” Wendy Guerrero, president of Bentonville Film Festival and Foundation, said in her own statement.