Bentonville Film Festival – Regional Shorts Showcase

By: Jennifer Vintzileos

The Regional Shorts Showcase features work that was filmed regionally or created by filmmakers and/or actors from the area. The films themselves are beautifully crafted and cover a variety of topics from domesticity to loss, vengeance, and redemption. Here are this year’s regional shorts:

Self-Portrait – Directed by Connor Allen Smith

A day in the life of a young couple during quarantine, Connor Allen Smith and Tania Gordova take us through the mundane of domesticity and how beautiful that can be. As the couple works around one another during the day in an almost silent dance, their love and affection shines through in those intimate moments. From television to chatting about friends to just trying to make it through another day, Smith and Gordova paint the portrait of a quintessential couple—even down to the bedtime snuggles.

Bossbabes – Written and Directed by Corey Clifford and Ryan Lagod

A take on the dark-side of MLM (Multi-Level Marketing), scorned MLM entrepreneur Lacey (Corey Clifford) goes to confront the head honcho Laura (Monica Sherer) when she is ready to get out of the business and reclaim her life. Though told with humor and wit, Bossbabes shows the absurdity of MLM and how it can take over your life—even when all you want to do is escape. Clifford and Lagod dabble in the idea of power and how that power can control you in the end despite the desire to change the outcome.

Ride or Die – Directed by Josalynn Smith

Ready to confront her father, Jamie (McKenzie Moser) convinces Paula (Kazia Steele) to come with her to Thebes, Kentucky. During the trip Jamie and Paula explore their relationship while Paula tries to convince Jamie to let go of her anger towards her father. The film examines the idea of choices and whether those choices are still good ones as we grow and evolve. Smith tries to have Paula temper Jamie’s feelings so that she doesn’t do something she regrets—but for Jamie, it may be too late.

Lullaby – Directed by Claire Barnett

Told with Tom Waits’s “Please Wake Me Up” as the recurring musical theme in the background, the story of Lucy (Sophie Barnes) and David (James Basham) plays out in domestic bliss—until suddenly it doesn’t. Lucy shows signs of struggle in her daily life as while trying to get over the loss of David, even though we are not privy to how she has lost him. In danger of losing her home Lucy’s sister (Celeste Barnes) tries to pull Lucy out of her funk, but Lucy is reluctant to listen as she struggles with her own sanity and start hallucinating images of David still in her home. Eventually, Lucy does realize that she may never reclaim what she has lost yet strives to push forward and find her voice in music just once more.

These Flowers – Written and Directed by Rebecca Lowman

Elizabeth (Rebecca Harris) hears a gunshot from inside her house. As her daughter Libby (Finola Weller) emerges from the home and is considered the murderer of her father, Elizabeth does everything within her power to get Libby away from the scene and hide out in the woods. But we wonder whether Libby really did kill her father or did Elizabeth pull the trigger and imagine the whole scenario in her mind? Yet no matter what, Elizabeth is determined to do whatever it takes to make sure Libby comes out safe and sound.