--- title: Geena Davis Starts Bentonville Film Festival to Boost Female Filmmakers description: Award winners will get guaranteed theatrical release canonical: https://time.com/3657373/geena-davis-launches-film-festival-to-boost-female-filmmakers-with-help-from-natalie-portman-and-shailene-woodley/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-07T15:34:44.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:56:32.398Z og:title: Geena Davis Starts Bentonville Film Festival to Boost Female Filmmakers og:description: Award winners will get guaranteed theatrical release og:url: https://time.com/3657373/geena-davis-launches-film-festival-to-boost-female-filmmakers-with-help-from-natalie-portman-and-shailene-woodley/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8070dcf96b0bacbb/6987787e0b72e363a16dcfb9/454029730.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2736 og:image:height: 1539 og:image:alt: National Women's History Museum's 3rd Annual Women Making History Event og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Geena Davis Starts Bentonville Film Festival to Boost Female Filmmakers twitter:description: Award winners will get guaranteed theatrical release twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8070dcf96b0bacbb/6987787e0b72e363a16dcfb9/454029730.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Geena Davis Launches Film Festival to Boost Female Filmmakers, With Help From Natalie Portman and Shailene Woodley > Sponsored content. 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It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=24b5acf8-3d01-4a22-91f2-61ff2d6c4e05&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1)  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jan 7, 2015 3:34 PM UTC  Actress Geena Davis arrives at the National Women's History Museum's 3rd Annual Women Making History event at Skirball Cultural Center on Aug. 23, 2014 in Los Angeles. Actress Geena Davis arrives at the National Women's History Museum's 3rd Annual Women Making History event at Skirball Cultural Center on Aug. 23, 2014 in Los Angeles. Gregg DeGuire—WireImage  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent Jan 7, 2015 3:34 PM UTC Geena Davis is starting the Bentonville Film Festival, a festival designed to promote women and minority filmmakers that will be the only competition in the world to guarantee theatrical distribution for the winners. The BFF is being co-hosted by WalMart, AMC, Coca-Cola, and ARC Entertainment, and the advisory board contains big names like Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Angela Bassett, Samuel L. Jackson, and Shailene Woodley. The festival will screen about 75 films in competition, and the films that win the Audience, Jury Selection and Best Family Film Awards will get a distribution agreement with a guaranteed theatrical release in at least 25 AMC theaters. “I have been an advocate for women for most of my adult life,” Geena Davis said in a [statement. ](http://seejane.org/gender-in-media-news-release/academy-award-winning-actor-geena-davis-arc-entertainment-launch-bentonville-film-festival-founding-sponsor-walmart-presenting-sponsor-coca-cola/)“The Bentonville Film Festival is a critical component of how we can directly impact the quantity and quality of females and minorities on screen and behind-the scenes.” Submissions will be accepted starting Jan 15, and the selected films will be announced in March. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3657373/geena-davis-launches-film-festival-to-boost-female-filmmakers-with-help-from-natalie-portman-and-shailene-woodley/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3657373/geena-davis-launches-film-festival-to-boost-female-filmmakers-with-help-from-natalie-portman-and-shailene-woodley/"},"headline":"Geena Davis Launches Film Festival to Boost Female Filmmakers, With Help From Natalie Portman and Shailene Woodley","datePublished":"2015-01-07T15:34:44.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:56:32.398Z","description":"Award winners will get guaranteed theatrical release","url":"https://time.com/3657373/geena-davis-launches-film-festival-to-boost-female-filmmakers-with-help-from-natalie-portman-and-shailene-woodley/","keywords":["Living","feminism","women","Television","movies","Walmart","AMC","Samuel L. 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