Premier Consumer Financial Services Company to Sponsor Theater Village at Growing Festival Co-Founded By Academy Award Winner Geena Davis

The agreement features the pioneering consumer financial services company’s official sponsorship of BFF’s Theater Village. The city of Bentonville doesn’t have movie theaters to accommodate the Festival’s more than 50 feature-length and short films, so the Festival builds its innovative Theater Village, which includes three cinetransformers that completely recreate a theater viewing experience. 

“We are very excited to have a partner like Synchrony Financial !  Their passion for the communities they serve and their alignment to BFF’s mission with their Banking On Women program supporting female entrepreneurs is well aligned with our desire to elevate diverse voices and provide opportunities for the underserved.” 

“The organizers and participants of the Bentonville Film Festival bring to life our company’s philosophy of working forward to achieve a unique ambition,” said Bart Schaller, chief marketing officer of Synchrony Financial. “Just like we celebrate the accomplishments of our customers and partners, we are thrilled to see the efforts of this diverse, passionate and creative group of filmmakers on the big screens at Theater Village.” 

Co-founded by Academy Award® winner Geena Davis & ARC Entertainment CEO Trevor Drinkwater, BFF champions women and diverse voices in all forms of media. It is the only film competition in the world to guarantee theatrical, television, digital and retail home entertainment distribution for its winners in the following categories: Best Family Film, Audience Award and Best Narrative Selected by Jury. 

For 2017, BFF expanded its slate of films and activities after experiencing significant growth in its second year, including a 70 percent increase in attendance, approximately 63,000 seats filled and a 300 percent increase in earned media for sponsors. Notable guests included Meg Ryan, Soledad O’Brien, Nia Vardalos, Kathy Najimy, Bruce Dern, Constance Wu, African American Film Critics Association President Gil Robertson, Robert Townsend & musicians Joe Walsh and Darius Rucker. 

For more information about BFF, visit www.BentonvilleFilmFestival.com. For more information about the services provided by Synchrony Financial, visit www.SynchronyFinancial.com.

About Synchrony Financial

Synchrony Financial (NYSE: SYF) is one of the nation’s premier consumer financial services companies. Our roots in consumer finance trace back to 1932, and today we are the largest provider of private label credit cards in the United States based on purchase volume and receivables.^* We provide a range of credit products through programs we have established with a diverse group of national and regional retailers, local merchants, manufacturers, buying groups, industry associations and healthcare service providers to help generate growth for our partners and offer financial flexibility to our customers. Through our partners’ over 350,000 locations across the United States and Canada, and their websites and mobile applications, we offer our customers a variety of credit products to finance the purchase of goods and services. Synchrony Financial offers private label and co-branded Dual Card^™ credit cards, promotional financing and installment lending, loyalty programs and FDIC-insured savings products through Synchrony Bank. More information can be found at www.synchronyfinancial.com, facebook.com/SynchronyFinancial, www.linkedin.com/company/synchrony-financial and twitter.com/SYFNews.

About Bentonville Film Festival

Co-founded in 2015 by Academy Award Winner® Geena Davis, founder and chair of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and Trevor Drinkwater, President and CEO of ARC Entertainment, the Bentonville Film Festival is a commercially focused, research based platform with a mission to champion women and diverse voices in media and proactively supports content creation that inspires young minds to do great things. BFF is the only film competition in the world to award guaranteed theatrical, international, digital, retail home entertainment distribution for its winners in partnership with AMC, Walmart and American International Cinema. The festival takes place during the first week of May in Bentonville, Ark. 

About BFF Foundation

Bentonville Film Festival Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on promoting women and diverse voices in the entertainment industry through research, education, mentoring and industry partnerships. The primary partner of the Foundation is the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. To learn how you can support the BFF Foundation go to our website www.bentonvillefilmfestival.com or contact Grace Chong at grace@bentonvillefilmfestival.com.