The 11th annual Athena Film Festival (AFF) at Barnard College, a joint partnership between Barnard’s Athena Center for Leadership and the initiative Women and Hollywood, will take place virtually from March 1st through March 31st 2021. This year’s virtual lineup includes film screenings, in-depth conversations with filmmakers and industry experts, a series of programs that support the pipeline of women creatives, and events focused on celebrating and amplifying the stories of bold, courageous women leaders.
The full festival lineup has been announced and includes a number of LGBTQ+ related features including the New York premiere of Luchina Fisher’s Mama Gloria, a loving portrait of Chicago’s Black transgender icon Gloria Allen, plus Susan Sandler’s Julia Scotti: Funny That Way, Stacey Lee’s Underplayed, and Jen Rainin and Rivkah Beth Medow’s Ahead of the Curve. Shorts include the New York premiere of Jessie Auritt and Jessica Wolfson’s The Paint Wizzard, Rosanagh Griffiths’s Cindy, Agustina Comedi’s Playback, Kimi Howl Lee’s Kama’āina – Child of the Land, Rachel Fleit’s Ava & Bianca, and Theola Ross’s êmîcêtôcêt – Many Bloodlines.
“While planning this year’s festival, we wanted to prioritize relevant and timely films that spoke to the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the myriad ways we’ve experienced our world shift this year. We were also focused on inclusion, building on our history of featuring new and diverse voices and challenging the status quo to lead the industry forward”, said Melissa Silverstein, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of AFF and founder of Women and Hollywood. “I think we’ve done that. The films and conversations at this year’s festival will tackle complex, emotional, and diverse subjects with voices from across the industry. While this year’s festival will feel very different, I could not be more proud of the incredible slate of programming which is 90% women and nonbinary directors and 51% women and non binary directors of color that we will bring to our audiences across the United States for the 11th annual edition.”
Passes and tickets are now on sale. Additional programming and 2021 honorees will be announced in the coming weeks. Visit the Athena Film Festival website for regular updates and more information.