When Geena Davis launched the Bentonville Film Festival 11 years ago, it was a bold leap into uncharted territory. A festival in a town with no movie theaters? It sounded wild. But for Davis, it was about more than logistics — it was about shifting culture.

“My hope is that this festival can impact how commercial films are made. They can be created by people with voices that we typically don’t hear from and populated by characters that we typically don’t see, and broaden our perspectives,” Davis said in a recent interview with Blavity. “We already know that films with very diverse casts make more money and are incredibly popular, and the more diverse it is, the better off they are. We’re not [the industry] acting on that as much as we can, so we’re really trying to show through what we show here at the festival that this is an important thing to think about when you’re making something.”

From its earliest days, Bentonville has prioritized underrepresented storytellers, especially those behind the camera.

“Our directors are the most important people to us,” Davis said. “We really are about celebrating directors of tremendous diversity. We are so proud of them. Their stories are going to be unique, and they’re going to have a unique cast to expand on their story, and that is what we want to celebrate — broadening our perspective and reaching a bigger audience.”

Despite pushback against DEI initiatives in the industry, Davis stays focused on the long-term goal.

“It’s the way it’s gonna go. Whatever hiccups we are having, this is the way it is gonna go and needs to go,” she said. “We need to have people represented who are citizens of the world and who are all equally valuable. We cannot have this myopic view of what society should be and what should be presented to us as the way to be. We have to embrace what we have going on, and I think we will continue with that.”

She also emphasized the importance of institutions and educators in shaping the future.

“We have to keep up the momentum, and part of it is going to be in film schools,” Davis explained. “The last studies I read of people who are studying directing, 75% of first-time hires are males and 25% are women, whereas film schools are 50/50 men and women. They’re still finding a lot of unconscious bias in professors and the way courses are taught. There is so much work to do in so many areas to make change, but we have to do it and we will.”

And while Bentonville has become a national platform for inclusive storytelling, it’s the local community that’s meant the most to her.

“I have been thrilled over these eleven years with the local support we get here. It’s just amazing,” she said. “From the very first festival, we launched a movie festival in a town that had no movie theaters. We had to bring in these tractor-trailers that turned into movie theaters. We had to put screens in the high schools, too. The local community turned out, and they are so supportive and continue to be, and our audience just grows and grows. We have people coming in from all over. To have this local support and people that care about this festival, it’s thrilling to have this kind of support.”

Her dream for the future? Festivals like Bentonville become benchmarks for creative inclusivity.

“My secret dream about this festival is that eventually, when people are making films, they will make them more diverse to qualify for festivals like Bentonville.”

A legacy of impact

Davis’ legacy of inclusive storytelling goes beyond Bentonville. Her role in A League of Their Own continues to inspire new generations, and when Prime Video’s series adaptation dropped, it sparked a new wave of love.

“I didn’t know I was ever going to be in movies that last over 30 years and really still speak to people,” she said. “It has been thrilling to be a part of movies like that. I have women and girls who tell me they play sports because of that movie. It’s amazing people still recognize me, and it’s really wonderful.”

Davis said the series expanded on themes the original couldn’t fully explore. “The series expanded on ideas about the LGBTQ community and women of color not being able to play. They spoke to Penny Marshall before the series was written and were able to expand on things she couldn’t in just one movie, and really went there, which was a tremendous accomplishment.”

As for fans still mourning the show’s early cancellation, Davis had a cheeky response: “I already have the idea for a sequel. It’s gonna be called Little League of Their Own.”

What’s next: ‘The Boroughs’ on Netflix

Up next, Davis is headed to Netflix with The Boroughs, a new series from the Duffer Brothers (Stranger Things).

“It’s about a fancy retirement community, and something creepy and dangerous starts happening,” she said. “My character is a former manager for rock bands, but fell on hard times and moved in with her mom in the retirement community. She is really cool, and I get to have a young boyfriend. It’s fun and the Duffer brothers are so great.”

She’s also a part of an incredibly stacked cast.

“Great, incredible cast. Alfre and I 40 years ago co-starred in a sitcom, so we have known each other for most of our professional lives,” she said. “Alfred Molina, Bill Pullman, and I had the best time. Such an incredible cast. We had the best time and can’t wait to see if we get to do more of it.”