Location | New York City, New York, U.S. |
---|---|
Founded | 2011 |
Website | http://athenafilmfestival.com/ |
The Athena Film Festival is an annual film festival held at Barnard College 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, Director of the Athena Center for Leadership Studies and Melissa Silverstein, founder of the Women and Hollywood blog and the festival's Artistic Director.
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.
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.