Four-day event in Bentonville, Ark., to screen some 75 films; winning entries to gain theatrical release
By Sandy Cohen, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --With help from a slew of corporate sponsors, Geena Davis and filmmakers focused on women and diversity have taken over Bentonville, Arkansas, a city of 40,000 best known as Wal-Mart's home base.
While it's not the first film festival to specialize in diversity, Davis said it's the only film competition to promise theatrical releases for winning entries.
"It's unheard of in the world, actually," the Oscar-winner said in a telephone interview before opening the festival Tuesday. "It's the only festival offering distribution across theatrical, digital and on TV and on DVD. … That's just part of our push to show how commercial diverse films can be."
About 75 films will be screened over the four-day festival, which will also include panel discussions and a celebratory "A League of Their Own" baseball game, featuring appearances by Rosie O'Donnell and two original members of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League.
Davis plans to expand the festival beyond Bentonville to include educational outreach and events throughout the year. Founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media in 2007, the actress plans to bring the research amassed by her organization to film schools and colleges around the country.
"It's very important to educate the next generation of content creators before they even start their professional careers," she said. "Once it's brought to (filmmakers') attention, once they hear the numbers, they're just stunned and horrified… how much gender bias there is and lack of diversity."
For example, research funded by Davis' institute and conducted by the University of Southern California found that women — who constitute more than half of the U.S. population — typically comprise just 17 percent of on-screen crowd scenes.
"That is one of the most shocking things when people hear it," Davis said. "And one of the things very often they'll say is, 'Let's just change that immediately.'"
A favorite catch-phrase of the Geena Davis Institute is "If she can see it, she can be it."
"In pretty much every sector of society, female leadership has stalled out in about the same range — interestingly, also around 17 percent," Davis said. "It's going to take a long time no matter how hard we work. We can't snap our fingers and tomorrow Congress is 50 percent women.
"But the one area of gross imbalance that can be changed overnight is on screen, because they very next movie somebody makes can be gender balanced."
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More