‘If I Go Will They Miss Me’ & Extra

The 12^th annual Bentonville Movie Competition wraps at this time after presenting awards in a number of classes Saturday night time.

If I Go Will They Miss Me, directed by Walter Thompson-Hernández, received the Finest Narrative Award on the competition in Northwest Arkansas led by Geena Davis. Danielle Brooks, J. Alphonse Nicholson, and Bodhi Dell star within the drama that revolves round a boy who sees “ghostly figures of different boys in his neighborhood whereas grappling together with his father’s distance. These visions uncover hidden connections between them and their shared heritage.”

Sian Edwards-Beal, Kate Mason, Ron Najor served on the Narrative jury.

“If I Go Will They Miss Me is a considerate, poetic, and beautiful cinematic expertise,” the jurors wrote. “We marveled on the visible language, which rendered a methodical strategy with out sacrificing a way of improvisation and coronary heart. Director Walter Thompson-Hernandez masterfully asks us to think about every character with understanding by marrying their inside struggles with the mythological standing they characterize to their family members. The result’s an outline of black familial love and fatherhood that’s not elevated however relatively lastly honored.”

Within the Narrative class, a Particular Jury Point out for Directorial Imaginative and prescient went to The Musical, directed by Gisella Bonilla and starring Will Brill and Rob Lowe. The jury wrote, “From impressed casting and standout performances to professional pacing and shot choice, Bonilla demonstrates exceptional command of each facet of filmmaking. Comedy is among the hardest genres to grasp, but from the primary moments, we knew we had been in succesful palms. The movie commits absolutely to the style with spectacular precision… That confidence is mirrored in performances from Will Brill and Rob Lowe, who play off one another fantastically.”

Narrative class jurors additionally awarded a Particular Point out for Lead Performances to BRB, directed by Kate Cobb. “Zoe Colletti and Autumn Finest convey BRB to life by performances crammed with heat, vulnerability, and plain charisma,” they wrote. “Navigating the highs and lows of sisterhood with exceptional honesty, they assist to create characters who really feel wholly genuine and deeply human. Their chemistry grounds each emotional flip of the movie, balancing comedy, heartbreak, and tenderness with confidence and precision. Collectively, they remind us of the facility of connection and ship performances that announce two thrilling skills to look at.”

Jane Elliott Towards the World, the documentary directed by Judd Ehrlich, added to its spectacular complete of competition wins in 2026 by taking the Finest Documentary Award at BFF. The movie facilities on the titular Elliott who as a major faculty instructor in Iowa developed what got here to be often known as the “blue eyes/brown eyes” train, which helped kids grasp the arbitrary and merciless nature of racism. Over the course of many a long time, Elliott would conduct the train with kids and adults throughout the U.S., incomes intense enmity from some adults outraged at having to confront their racial biases absorbed from American society.

Billy Ray Brewton, Sav Rodgers, Brittany Shyne served on the documentary jury. They saluted Jane Elliott Towards the World “for its impeccable execution and its insistence that a greater world is feasible… This movie is a uncooked and unflinching glimpse into the life and profession of a legendary educator who has devoted her life to anti-racism, the prices of her radical and undeniably impactful approaches, and a celebration of dwelling life to its fullest potential, for so long as your physique and thoughts permit.”

A Particular Jury Point out within the documentary class went to Summer time 2000: The X-Cetra Story, directed by Ayden Mayeri.

The jury wrote, “A young coming-of-age story that spans a long time, with an exceptionally inventive use of deep private archives, this documentary is a captivating, humorous, transferring movie concerning the energy of friendship and the way artwork can form the lives of our youngsters.”

“These awards mirror the eagerness and drive of storytellers, whose work will proceed to broaden views and interact audiences all year long,” stated Bentonville Movie Competition Chair Geena Davis. “We congratulate our BFF award winners and we’re so grateful to each filmmaker right here for his or her contributions to the success of this 12 months’s BFF!”

Walmart, headquartered in Bentonville, is the competition’s founding companion. Coca-Cola is the presenting sponsor. Wendy Guerrero serves as president of the Bentonville Movie Competition.

Chatting with Deadline simply earlier than the awards ceremony started, Guerrero described the mid-June cinematic occasion as “a summer season competition. We kicked it off with a summer season thriller, Household Film, with Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon. And I assumed that set the tone that we’re embracing that concept of being a summer season competition and it’s actually enjoyable.”

BFF applications fiction and nonfiction, shorts and episodic work. Concerning documentaries being a part of the competition, Guerrero famous, “There’s not numerous alternative for communities like this to return collectively and watch documentaries collectively. I believe there’s an enormous ripple impact. I used to be speaking to one among our viewers members that went and noticed three documentaries in sooner or later and he or she was like, ‘I went house and I couldn’t sleep as a result of I used to be fascinated with all of those necessary subjects and each documentary was so completely different.’ However they had been all extraordinarily necessary tales that she hadn’t heard about… She will come and watch the docs, hear the filmmakers talk about why they made it, their journey in making it. And I believe that has a extremely massive affect.”

Presenters on the awards present included Katherine LaNasa, star of The Pitt, Toks Olagundoye (Fortress), and two stars of Netflix’s soon-to-debut collection Little Home on the Prairie: Crosby Fitzgerald and Alyssa Wapanatâhk.  

Rebecca Sonnenshine, showrunner of the Little Home on the Prairie collection, acquired the competition’s Rising to the Problem Award. Netflix presents a particular screening of the collection on the Bentonville Movie Competition on Sunday.

These are further awards introduced Saturday night time at BFF:

Finest Homegrown

Jury: Mary Pat Bentel, Carlos Cardona, Winnie Kemp (additionally Episodic Jury)

Finest Homegrown: Child/Ladies 

(Administrators: Jackie Jesko, Alyse Walsh; Producers: Melissa Leardi, Alex Waterfield, Kelly Rohrbach Walton)

Jury Assertion: Administrators Alyse Walsh and Jackie Jesko convey exceptional sensitivity, humor, and magnificence to a topic that would simply have felt heavy-handed or exploitative. By way of two years of extraordinary entry, they illuminate sweeping systemic failures by an intimate, deeply human lens — one which honors the vulnerability and braveness of their topics in equal measure. The result’s documentary filmmaking at its most pressing and compassionate.

Particular Jury Point out (Homegrown): Filthy

(Author/Director/Producer: Lisa Cole; Producers: Paola Gadala-Maria, Barbara Lettieri)

Jury Assertion: Author-director Lisa Cole crafts a contemporary and exhilarating act of liberation with “Filthy.” The quick movie’s evolution from a muted, constrained world into one much more primal, blazing with colour and motion – embodies the very awakening it depicts. Lisa handles the emotional stakes with masterful precision, weaving the politics of purity tradition, non secular management, and the mother-daughter bond right into a climax that could be a revolt and a reconciliation.

Finest Episodic

Jury: Mary Pat Bentel, Carlos Cardona, Winnie Kemp (additionally Homegrown Jury)

Finest Episodic: Too Romantic

(Author/Director/Producer: Talia Mild Rake; Producers: Katherine Romans, Charlie Traisman, Adam Kinyon, Sarah Whelden)

Jury Assertion: Director & Author Talia Mild Rake faucets into the present zeitgeist with a marvelously executed pilot that brings collectively fashionable web/social media humor with traditional rom-com construction. The charismatic leads and vibrant writing make for a pleasant watch and present important potential for future episodes and a totally realized tv collection.

Finest Brief Movie

Jury: Amber Benson, Toks Olagundoye, Joi Tribble

Finest Brief Movie: Discover The Boy, France (Director, Paulin.e Goasmat)

Jury Assertion: Discover the Boy is a bittersweet exploration of id, love, and the lasting affect of acceptance and rejection; a fantastically crafted reminder that respect for an individual’s id doesn’t finish with their life.

Particular Jury Point out Brief Movie: Paper Daughter, USA (Director, Cami Kwan)

Jury Assertion: Paper Daughter combines a inventive visible premise with excellent animation to current a eager story of id and desperation that refuses a easy interpretation or straightforward dismissal.

Particular Jury Point out Brief Movie: She Selected Battle, USA (Director, Sarah Moshman)

Jury Assertion: You simply can’t look away from this compelling documentary quick concerning the life and instances of a hopeful, younger Ukrainian girl who has chosen the entrance strains of battle – with all its horror and degradation – as an alternative of ending her diploma within the dramatic arts.

The inaugural Crayola Improvement Pitch award, which comes with a $10,000 prize and a improvement deal, went to Nicole Graves, the creator behind ImagINN, “an Animated SEL-Centered Storyworld for Children.”