You have just one week left to apply to the 2025-2026 Athena Film Festival Writers Lab! Deadline is July 7. Learn more and apply: athenafilmfestival.com/submit-to-th...

The future of film is female and nonbinary! Athena Film Festival is proud to support Future of Film is Female and their call for submissions for the third annual FOFIF Shorts Program! Submit now: filmfreeway.com/TheFutureofF...

Submissions for the 2025 Athena Film Festival Writers Lab are open! You’ll get:
Story development + fundamentals
1:1 feedback from industry pros
Guided rewrite period
Pitch practice + writers room experience Phase One kicks off Sept. 18–19. Apply by July 7. filmfreeway.com/AFFWritersLab

Short film submissions for the 2026 Athena Film Festival are now OPEN!!! We are looking short films that center women or girls in leadership roles—on screen and off. Submit and learn more: athenafilmfestival.com/submit-your-...

SAVE THE DATE: The Athena Film Festival is back at Barnard College March 5-8, 2026 for another year of stories by and about fierce and fearless women leaders. We can’t wait to celebrate 16 years with you. What do you hope to see at our 2026 event?

Earlier this month, members of our team attended the 2025 Sloan Film Summit in Los Angeles, where several Athena-supported films and scripts were featured alongside a powerful lineup of science-driven storytelling. We’re proud to be part of a community bridging the gap between science and cinema!

HAPPY NATIONAL STREAMING DAY! Looking for something bold? Revisit four of the most compelling films from this year’s Athena Film Festival. 🎬 Black Box Diaries (Oscar-nominated; Hulu, Paramount+) 🎬 Empire Waist (Apple TV, Prime Video)
 🎬 Home Court (Prime Video)
 🎬 Black Snow (Prime Video)

We’re thrilled to see THIRSTY—a film from our very first Athena List—heading to global audiences! Catch the NYC premiere May 15 at the Big Apple Film Festival , followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Em! Details at www.thirstythemovie.com ✨

To all the moms and strong women who support us, love us, teach us, and remind us that we can do anything we set our minds to—Happy Mother’s Day! We’re especially grateful to see mothers like Renée Elise Goldsberry in SATISFIED setting a powerful example of leadership, both on and off the screen.

LILLY opens today at a theatre near you! We enjoyed watching LILLY and hearing from filmmaker Rachel Feldman and actress Patricia Clarkson at the 15th annual Athena Film Festival. Now we’re excited to celebrate the film’s legacy on the big screen! www.lillymovie.com

🎬 Calling all emerging filmmakers and film lovers: the Athena Film Festival Programming Fellowship is now accepting applications!
 If you care about storytelling, representation, and creating space for underrepresented voices—this is for you. Apply by June 11: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Phase Three of The 2024-2025 Athena Film Festival Writers Lab wrapped at the end of April, and we’re still thinking about the magic that happened. We’re so proud of the growth, the grit, and the stories taking shape!

Continuing the celebration—We’re thrilled to see the world premiere of AFF Doc Pitch Program participant STEAL THIS STORY, PLEASE! happening at the third annual DC/DOX Film Festival. Congrats to the entire team behind this urgent and timely story. dcdoxfest.com/films/steal-...

We’re thrilled to celebrate the world premiere of Widow Champion at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival! Directed /Produced by Zippy Kimundu and produced by Heather Courtney, Widow Champion was part of our 2024 Documentary Pitch Program. Want to see the film? tribecafilm.com/films/widow-...

The 2025 Athena Film Festival may be over, but there’s still plenty going on behind the scenes 🎬 Stay up to date with the Festival, our filmmakers, creative programs, and updates on our 2026 event by subscribing to our newsletter 📲 Information is just a click away: mailchi.mp/barnard/athe...

If you’re looking for something to binge this weekend, you’ve still got a few days left to catch Future of Film: Athena Rising Stars on AMC+ This powerful short film collection—available through April 14—celebrates women’s leadership and champions inclusion in film. Stream it while you still can!

Can’t get enough women empowerment after Athena Film Festival? The National Women’s History Museum kicked off Women’s History Month with the launch of “She is Not a Footnote*.” This new campaign addresses the underrepresentation of women in history. Visit www.sheisnotafootnote.org to get involved.

Thanks for a great screening @athenafilmfest.bsky.social 🌱 Great crowd full of friends (& strangers!) & an honor to show with so many other beautiful women filmmakers like @sharonshattuck.bsky.social Grateful to Journei for being my collaborator in this film!💐

MJ's Daniel Pecoraro shares two films he caught @athenafilmfest.bsky.social and recommends adding them to your watchlist post haste! #Satisfied #WeAreDangerous #AthenaFilmFest

Did you like what you just read? Consider supporting Daniel Pecoraro's coverage of @athenafilmfest.bsky.social via a donation. All monies go directly to the writer. Support

It’s so important to uplift women scientists, researchers, and space experts in this moment. That’s why I was so excited to attend “SPACEWOMAN” a film by Hannah Berryman about astronaut #EileenCollins @athenafilmfest.bsky.social. With an amazing panel featuring the brilliant @nolahaynes.bsky.social

We’re letting this energy carry us through the week—our 15th anniversary party was definitely a highlight of the 2025 Athena Film Festival. We heard stories from festival-goers old and new, founders, filmmakers, and everyone between. Cheers to 15 years, and here’s to 15+ more 🥂

Day 4 of the 15th annual Athena Film Festival rocked our world! 🤯 2025 was definitely a year for the books, and we can’t wait to REALLY look back on all of the amazing things that happened at the 15th annual festival in the coming days 💙

Awesome is all I can say.

We’re hearing from HOME COURT star Ashley Chea, Princeton Women's Basketball head coach Carla Berube, the film's director Erica Tanamachi and Pam Wheeler, trustee emeritus of the Women's Sports Foundation for our post-closing night discussion on leadership development in sports.

Experts, director of SPACE WOMAN for Women in Space Panel: “We have to keep making sure that there is room for everyone in space. For me, space is about hope. It’s about research. It’s about international coordination. So I hope we continue to bring in more voices… all in the vision of hope.”

“Because of the Athena Film Festival, we will be able to get distribution.” - WE STRANGERS Director Anu Valia on receiving the $25,000 Netflix Breakthrough Award Grant. Congratulations Anu!

Did you know our friends at Girl Scouts of Greater New York are selling their delicious cookies in the Diana Center for the last day of the Athena Film Festival? Now you do! Stop by, say hi, and grab some cookies—free shipping through the evening!

It’s been a busy hour at the Athena Film Festival! We also heard from Black Snow director Alina Simone following the screening of her film about the discovery of an old Soviet mine in Siberia.

Friends, script readers, Athena Staff, and supporters showering A BRIDGE BETWEEN US writer Gina Hacket with love after her screenplay reading and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation award presentation.

We just watched the powerful screening of POWER ALLEY, now hearing from panelists Sydney Johnson, Ella Knorz, and Alison Leiby for a community conversation on Gen Z and abortion. Moderated by Ana Barreto,the group discussed accessibility to abortions in the U.S., Central, South America, and Germany.

A script reading of Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Athena List Development Grant recipient A BRIDGE BETWEEN US, by Gina Hackett, is underway!

Taking photos at @athenafilmfest.bsky.social

Last day of @athenafilmfest.bsky.social where did the time go?

Starting day 4 with the voices of our youth for the WE HAVE THE TOOLS forum on telling important stories, building community, and pursuing justice. We’ve heard stories of resilience, stories about helping others, stories about resourcefulness, and stories about using art as your tool for justice.

It's our 4th and final day of the 15th annual Athena Film Festival! Today's schedule is packed with engaging stories like our Sloan STEM feature SPACEWOMAN, a staged-reading of A BRIDGE BETWEEN US, and our Closing Night Film HOME COURT. Get your tickets: aff25.eventive.org/welcome

As Day 3 of the Athena Film Festival comes to a close, we reflect on the stories that move us most—that make us laugh,cry, and the images that make us FEEL something we have to confront. We are so grateful for this community of people supporting the mission of Athena—15 years strong.

In our final Q&A of the evening, with filmmakers from our WOMEN’S WORK shorts block, audience members wanted to know if the filmmakers stuck to their plan while filming and how long production took (A:1-5 years).

We are so excited to welcome LILLY Director and first ever Athena List winner Rachel Feldman and film star Patricia Clarkson to have a conversation with film critic Thelma Adams on 10 Years of the Athena List: From Screenplay to Screening #AFF2025

We’ve got a full house for our Athena List 10-Year Anniversary screening of LILLY, Dir. by 2014 Athena List winner Rachel Feldman. Congratulations to 2025 winners Melody Cooper, Zara Symes, and Charlotte Scott-Wilson & Roelof Jan Minneboo. Your scripts deserve to been seen by the world!

“It was a lot of conversations but it was also the shared experience as women of color.” - Soraya Sélène, Co-Director, Who In the Hell Is Regina Jones? on the importance of collaboration in creating the film for the Documenting Black History: Preserving the Past for the Future panel.

“Tremendous joy and tremendous grief co-exist… particularly if you’re a member of a marginalized community.” - filmmaker and Jaya Award recipient Jalena Keane-Lee on balancing a generational story of joy vs. grief in Standing Above The Clouds.

We’re hearing from @barnard-college.bsky.social student filmmakers in the Emerging Filmmaker Mentorship Program following the 2025 Student Film Showcase in partnership with Sloate Media Center! Congratulations for the hard work these young filmmakers have put into their projects!

Filmmaker (STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS) Jalena Keane-Lee just accepted the JAYA AWARD! Congratulations Jalena! “I want to dedicated this award to Indigenous women from around the world who are standing to protect their homeland.”

Some highlights from our Barnard Alumni brunch today! One of our favorite parts of Athena is taking time to thank and catch up with the @barnard-college.bsky.social alumni who proudly support the mission of the festival. We are so lucky to have a community like this one!

We’re starting Day 3 of AFF with a presentation on Film As Advocacy for our Teen Immersive cohort! Filmmaker Sekiya Dorsett leads the program with a lesson on the power of IMAGES—the picture superiority effect—pictures can communicate concepts better than words.

The women of three Native Hawaiian families stood to protect the sacred mouth of Mauna Kea, and no one could predict just how much everyone's lives would change. Join them in bearing witness to the struggle with STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS today at @athenafilmfest.bsky.social. #HarnischSupports

Experience Day 3 of Athena Film Festival! Today is all about compelling storytelling, including our student showcase, our 2014 Athena List winner LILLY, and other ways of celebrating stories by women, for women. It’s not too late to join us – grab your tickets here: aff25.eventive.org/welcome

Day 2 of the 15th Annual Athena Film Festival left us deep in though. We stepped inside the creative minds of two shorts filmmakers, grappled with the complexities of ethical documentary filmmaking, and heard from women driving urgent conversations about climate change through film #AFF2025

Stories shape how we see the world—and when it comes to the climate crisis, they’re more important than ever. We’re hearing from Athena filmmakers Jalena Keane-Lee, Stephanie Falkeis, and Alina Simone for our panel on climate storytelling following MRS. ROBINSON.