Athena Film Festival
The Athena Film Festival is an annual film festival held at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City. The festival takes place in February and focuses on films celebrating women and leadership. In addition to showing films, the festival hosts filmmaker workshops, master classes and panels on a variety of topics relevant to women in the film industry. The Athena Film Festival was co-founded by Kathryn Kolbert, Founding Director of the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College and Melissa Silverstein, founder of the Women and Hollywood initiative and the festival's Artistic Director.
The tenth annual Athena Film Festival was held from February 27-March 1, 2020.
Awards
Each year, awards are granted to individuals who have made a significant impact in their industry over the course of their career. In 2012, The Laura Ziskin Lifetime Achievement Award was created in honor of the late Laura Ziskin, a noted producer and breast cancer advocate.Winners
2011
- Leslie Bennetts, contributing editor at Vanity Fair
- Debra Martin Chase, producer
- Abigail Disney, documentary filmmaker
- Delia Ephron, screenwriter
- Greta Gerwig, actress
- Debra Granik, director
- Tanya Hamilton, director
- Chris Hegedus, documentary filmmaker
- Gini Reticker, documentary filmmaker
- Anne Rosellini, screenwriter and producer
- Nancy Schreiber, cinematographer
- Anne Thompson, writer
- Debra Zimmerman, executive director of Women Make Movies
2012
- Laura Ziskin, accepted by her daughter Julia Barry
- Nekisa Cooper, producer
- The Fempire: Diablo Cody, Dana Fox, Liz Meriwether, and Lorene Scafaria
- Rachael Horovitz, producer
- Theresa Rebeck, author and playwright
- Dee Rees, director
- Julie Taymor, film and Broadway director
2013
- Gale Anne Hurd, producer
- Ava DuVernay, director and distributor
- Molly Haskell, film critic
- Rose Kuo, executive director of Film Society of Lincoln Center
- Pat Mitchell, president of the Paley Center for Media
2014
- Sherry Lansing, former studio executive and philanthropist
- Callie Khouri, director and screenwriter
- Kasi Lemmons, director
- Keri Putnam, executive director of the Sundance Institute
2015
- Jodie Foster, actress and director
- Sheila Nevins, president of HBO Documentary Films
- Gina Prince-Bythewood, director
- Cathy Schulman, producer
2016
- Mira Nair, Laura Ziskin Lifetime Achievement Award
- Geralyn Dreyfous, Athena Award
- Karyn Kusama, Athena Award
- Jeanine Tesori, Athena Award
- Paul Feig, Leading Man Award
- Suffragette, Ensemble Award
- Kate McKinnon, presenter
2017
- Eve Ensler, playwright, activist, performer and author
- Patricia Riggen, director
- Regina K. Scully, producer
- David Oyelowo, actor, leading man award
Athena List
In 2014, the festival announced the first edition of the Athena List, created to highlight finished, unproduced screenplays featuring roles with female leaders. The list is based on the concept of the popular Hollywood Black List, with a gender-conscious angle.Selected scripts
2016
- "A Noble Affair" by Anil Baral and Kathryn Maughan
- "In the Land of Fire and Ice" by David MacGregor
- "Ride the Wind" by Denise Meyers
- "Virginia" by Bess Wohl
2017
- "Claude" by Hannah Patterson
- "Clemency" by Chinonye Chukwu
- "Mrs. Christie" by Jamie Dawson
- "Scott" by Anna Rose Moore