Among Barnard’s numerous programs and traditions, few showcase the College’s rich artistic legacy and commitment to women’s empowerment like the Athena Film Festival (AFF).
Co-sponsored by Barnard’s Athena Center for Leadership and Women and Hollywood, the annual festival — which runs from February 29 to March 3 on campus — has a wide variety of programming that includes narrative features, documentaries, short films, and conversations with filmmakers and leaders. This year’s lineup will explore women’s sports, Indigenous perspectives, reproductive justice, disability representation, and more.
“In curating this year’s programming, we kept coming back to the idea of narrative change,” said Melissa Silverstein, co-founder and artistic director of the Athena Film Festival and founder of Women and Hollywood. “Each of these films, in their own unique ways, frames stories in a way that, we believe, can move audiences, change perspectives, and spark lively and important conversations. Our impressive lineup — from filmmakers all over the world — reflects the unique moment in which we’re living.”
The Features
The festival begins with the New York premiere of the Opening Night selection, Copa 71, directed by Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine. The sports documentary — executive produced by Serena Williams, Venus Williams, and World Cup-winning soccer striker Alex Morgan — explores the “unsanctioned” 1971 Women’s World Cup in Mexico. The film uses both archival footage and interviews with soccer stars like Brandi Chastain to tell the story of a seminal moment in women’s sports that attracted 100,000 fans but has been nearly erased from history.
The festival continues with a diverse collection of nearly a dozen women-centric stories in different genres. Narrative features include Erica Tremblay’s powerful drama Fancy Dance, starring Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone. In December, Gladstone praised the film in an acceptance speech at the IndieWire Honors and called Tremblay “the greatest, most visionary, most committed director of my life.”
Additional features in the lineup include Maryam Keshavarz’s Iranian-American family comedy, The Persian Version; the supernatural Moroccan film Animalia, from director Sofia Alaoui; Savanah Leaf’s intimate debut, Earth Mama; Aurora Gossé’s coming-of-age story, Dancing Queen; Molly McGlynn’s Fitting In, starring Maddie Ziegler; the Scottish drama Girl, directed by Adura Onashile; Waitress: The Musical, starring Sara Bareilles; and Sophie Jarvis’s psychological drama Until Branches Bend, to name a few.
The Docs
This year’s AFF lineup includes 12 feature-length documentaries with major titles. Ruth Leitman’s road film, No One Asked You, highlights the collaboration between The Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead and the Abortion Access Front to support abortion clinic staff. Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster share a revelatory portrait of an iconic poet in Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project. Lin Alluna’s Twice Colonized is a powerful account of renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter. And Jeanie Finlay’s Your Fat Friend documents the rise of writer and activist Aubrey Gordon.
The festival also includes shorts programs, with international and U.S. premieres.
Beyond Films
Throughout the festival weekend, audiences can attend panels on abortion storytelling, Indigenous women’s voices in the film industry, disability representation and inclusion in filmmaking, as well as the intersection of data science and feminism. Programming that cultivates the voices of Barnard students and young film lovers include AFF’s Teen Immersive Program, in conjunction with Barnard’s Pre-College Program, and a showcase of student short films, in partnership with the College’s Sloate Media Center.
“The festival continues to be the creative embodiment of the Athena Center’s mission,” said Umbreen Bhatti ’00, the Constance Hess Williams ’66 Director of the Athena Center for Leadership at Barnard College. “It is a space where we can challenge tired and limiting narratives about women’s leadership and co-create a world that values collaboration, inclusion, and our stories.”
See the full festival lineup, visit here. For more information or to purchase festival tickets or passes, visit here.
Athena Film Festival 2024 Highlights
