2021 Athena Film Festival: programming lineup announced

February 26, 2021

by Carla Hay

The 11th annual Athena Film Festival—which takes place from March 1 to March 31, 2021—has undergone a massive change this year. Not only is the festival an entirely virtual event for the first time (due to safety concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic), but the Athena Film Festival has also expanded to an entire month. The Athena Film Festival was previously a four-day event. Although the 2021 Athena Film Festival takes place during the entire month of March, the feature-length films are not available during all 31 days of March. Check the schedule for availability.

One thing hasn’t changed: The Athena Film Festival has a diverse selection of female-focused programming. This year’s feature-length movie lineup is dominated by documentary films, many which focus on social justice issues. Most of the feature-length films are those that have already been released in theaters or have premiered at other events, but the Athena Film Festival has such a unique focus that it’s worth supporting for people who haven’t seen these movies yet, want to see the movies again, and/or are interested in checking out the panel discussions or short films. In most cases, the directors of feature-length films are doing Q&As online as part of the festival.

The opening-night film is the U.S. premiere of director Tracey Deer’s “Beans,” which tells the story of a 12-year-old Mohawk Indian girl and her family’s involvement in Canada’s 1990 Oka crisis, which was a 78-day standoff in Quebec between Mohawk communities and the Canadian government. “Beans” came in third place for the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award. In addition, there are discussion panels and creative workshops.

Here is the programming lineup of feature-length movies at the 2021 Athena Film Festival. More information can be found at the official festival website. (All descriptions listed below are courtesy of the festival.)

NARRATIVE FEATURES

Ammonite

Director: Francis Lee

Writer: Francis Lee

In the 1840s, acclaimed self-taught palaeontologist Mary Anning (played by Kate Winslet) works alone on the wild and brutal Southern English coastline of Lyme Regis. The days of her famed discoveries behind her, she now hunts for common fossils to sell to rich tourists to support herself and her ailing widowed mother (played by Gemma Jones). When one such tourist, Roderick Murchison played by James McArdle), arrives in Lyme on the first leg of a European tour, he entrusts Mary with the care of his young wife Charlotte (played by Saoirse Ronan), who is recuperating from a personal tragedy. Mary, whose life is a daily struggle on the poverty line, cannot afford to turn him down but, proud and relentlessly passionate about her work, she clashes with her unwanted guest. They are two women from utterly different worlds. Yet despite the chasm between their social spheres and personalities, Mary and Charlotte discover they can each offer what the other has been searching for: the realization that they are not alone. It is the beginning of a passionate and all-consuming love affair that will defy all social bounds and alter the course of both lives irrevocably.

Beans

Director: Tracey Deer

Writer: Tracey Deer

Twelve-year-old Beans (played by Kiawentiio) is on the edge: torn between innocent childhood and delinquent adolescence; forced to grow up fast to become the tough Mohawk warrior she needs to be during the Indigenous uprising known as The Oka Crisis, which tore Quebec and Canada apart for 78 tense days in the summer of 1990.

My Name Is Baghdad

Director: Caru Alves de Souza

Writer: Caru Alves de Souza, Josefina Trotta

Baghdad (played by Grace Orsato) is a 17-year-old female skater, who lives in Freguesia do Ó, a working-class neighborhood in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. Baghdad skateboards with a group of male friends and spends a lot of time with her family and with her mother’s friends. Together, the women around her form a network of people who are out of the ordinary. When Baghdad meets a group of female skateboarders, her life suddenly changes.

Test Pattern

Director: Shatara Michelle Ford

Writers: Shatara Michelle Ford

“Test Pattern” is part psychological horror, part realist drama set against the backdrop of national discussions around inequitable health care & policing, the #MeToo movement, and race in America. The film follows an interracial couple (played by Brittany S. Hall and Will Brill) whose relationship is put to the test after a Black woman is sexually assaulted and her white boyfriend drives her from hospital to hospital in search of a rape kit. The film analyzes the effects of the systemic factors and social conditioning women face when navigating sex and consent within the American patriarchy, along with exploring institutional racism from a Black female point of view.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

The 8th

Director: Aideen Kane

“The 8th” traces Ireland’s campaign to remove the 8th Amendment: a constitutional ban on abortion. It shows a country’s transformation from a conservative state in thrall to the Catholic church to a more liberal secular society. “The 8th” includes voices from both sides of the debate, but its primary focus is on the dynamic female leaders of the pro-choice campaign. The film follows the veteran campaigner Ailbhe Smyth and self-described glitter-activist Andrea Horan as they chart a bold strategy of grassroots activism and engineer the impossible. This dramatic story is underscored by a vivid exploration of the wrenching failures that led to this defining moment in Irish history. An urgent narrative, a cautionary tale and a roadmap for progressive reforms in a modern era where authoritarianism is on the rise, “The 8th” shows a country forging a new progressive path at a time when reproductive rights are threatened around the world.

https://vimeo.com/458043180

Ahead of the Curve

Director: Jen Rainin

“Ahead of the Curve” is the story of one of the most influential women in lesbian history you’ve never heard of and the impact her work continues to have today. Growing up, Franco Stevens never saw any representation of queer women—she didn’t even know it was possible for a woman to be gay. When she realized she was a lesbian, it changed the course of her life. In 1990, Franco created a safe place for lesbians in the form of Curve magazine. Her approach to threats and erasure in the ‘90s was to lift all kinds of lesbians up and make them beautifully visible. The magazine helped build a foundation for many intersectional movements being led by today’s activists in the face of accelerating threats to the LGBTQ community. Decades later, as her legacy faces extinction and she reassesses her life after a disabling injury, she sets out to understand visibility work being led by an intersection of queer women today. Featuring Andrea Pino-Silva, Kim Katrin, Denice Frohman, Amber Hikes, Jewelle Gomez, Melissa Etheridge, and Lea DeLaria, and a score composed by the legendary Meshell Ndegeocello, “Ahead of the Curve” celebrates the legacy of a movement while considering the agenda of its future.

Belly of the Beast

Director: Erika Cohn

The pastoral farmlands surrounding the Central California Women’s Facility the world’s largest women’s prison, help conceal the reproductive and human rights violations transpiring inside its walls. A courageous young woman who was involuntarily sterilized at the age of 24 while incarcerated at the facility, teams up with a radical lawyer to stop these violations. They spearhead investigations that uncover a series of statewide crimes, primarily targeting women of color, from inadequate access to healthcare to sexual assault to illegal sterilization. Together, with a team of tenacious heroines, both in and out of prison, they take to the courtroom to fight for reparations. But no one believes them. As additional damning evidence is uncovered by the Center for Investigative Reporting, a media frenzy and series of hearings provide hope for some semblance of justice. Yet, doctors and prison officials contend that the procedures were in each person’s best interest and of an overall social benefit. Invoking the weight of the historic stain and legacy of eugenics, “Belly of the Beast” presents a decade-long, infuriating contemporary legal drama.

Coded Bias

Director: Shalini Kantayya

When MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini discovers that most facial-recognition software misidentifies women and darker-skinned faces, she is compelled to investigate further. It turns out that artificial intelligence, which was defined by a homogeneous group of men, is not neutral. What Buolamwini learns about widespread bias in algorithms drives her to push the U.S. government to create the first-ever legislation to counter the far-reaching dangers of bias in a technology that is steadily encroaching on our lives. Centering on the voices of women leading the charge to ensure our civil rights are protected, “Coded Bias” asks two key questions: what is the impact of Artificial Intelligence’s increasing role in governing our liberties? And what are the consequences for people stuck in the crosshairs due to their race, color, and gender?

Denise Ho – Becoming the Song

Director: Sue Williams

“Denise Ho – Becoming the Song” profiles the openly gay Hong Kong singer and human rights activist Denise Ho. Drawing on unprecedented, years-long access, the film explores her remarkable journey from commercial Cantopop superstar to outspoken political activist, an artist who has put her life and career on the line to support the determined struggle of Hong Kong citizens to maintain their identity and freedom. Denise’s story mirrors almost perfectly the last three decades of Hong Kong’s uneasy relationship with China. A top international recording artist in Hong Kong and across China and other Asian nations, the turning point in her career came during the seminal moment of change for Hong Kong, the Umbrella Movement of 2014. Her public support of students who demanded free elections and occupied central Hong Kong for nearly three months had immediate and lasting consequences: she was arrested and then blacklisted by China.

https://vimeo.com/325699154

The Dilemma of Desire

Director: Maria Finitzo

How much do you know about the clitoris? Chances are, not enough. The vast internal structure tasked with sexual pleasure for over half of the population has been largely ignored by a long history of western medical science written by men. With humor and candor in equal measure, “The Dilemma of Desire” follows a quartet of remarkable women whose work in science, academia, industrial design, and art has paved the way for a better understanding of women’s sexual desire, anatomy, and health in an era when women’s rights are once again under fire. Biologist Dr. Stacey Dutton dispels age-old myths about women’s pleasure for her students, while University of Utah academic Dr. Lisa Diamond dismantles outdated notions about women’s arousal. Industrial designer Ti Chang is designing and manufacturing elegant vibrators for women and artist Sophia Wallace has set out to make the world culturally cliterate. Providing the embodiment of their work are the personal stories of five young women claiming agency over their sexuality. In this timely and radical film about female desire, gender politics, and sexuality, filmmaker Maria Finitzo invites us to share intimate conversations with women on a mission to reverse a patriarchal legacy that denies female empowerment through omissions and distortions. The Dilemma of Desire reminds us that true equality will come once we all arrive at a place of understanding and acknowledgement that all human beings are sexual beings, entitled to live their lives fully within the expression of their desire.

End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock

Director: Shannon Kring

“End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock” is the incredible story of a small group of indigenous women who risk their lives to stop the $3.8 billion Dakota Access oil pipeline construction that desecrated their ancient burial and prayer sites and threatens their land, water, and very existence. When the population of their peaceful protest camp exceeds 10,000, the women unwittingly find themselves the leaders of a global movement. Featuring exclusive footage including never-before-seen evidence of police brutality surrendered to the filmmakers by a disgraced law enforcement officer, “End of the Line” is both an exploration of the rise of indigenous and feminine power in the areas of social and environmental justice, and a searing and deeply personal story of four brave women. Together, they must face the personal costs of leadership, even as their own lives and identities are left transformed by one of the great political and cultural events of the early 21st century.

How It Feels to Be Free

Director: Yoruba Richen

“How It Feels to Be Free” takes an unprecedented look at the intersection of African American women artists, politics, and entertainment and tells the story of how six trailblazing performers, Lena Horne, Abbey Lincoln, Diahann Carroll, Nina Simone, Cicely Tyson and Pam Grier changed American culture through their films, fashion, their music and their politics. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Yoruba Richen and based on of the book “How It Feels to Be Free: Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement” by Ruth Feldstein, the film examines the lives of these women and how they used their ground-breaking careers as platforms to advocate for change and reshape representation of Black women on stage and screen. The film includes archival footage of the six women, as well as original interviews from contemporary scholars and entertainers, including Diahann Carroll, Pam Grier, Alicia Keys, Lena Waithe, Halle Berry, Yolonda Ross, Samuel and LaTanya Jackson, and Lena Horne’s daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley. The first documentary to focus on the crucial role Black female entertainers played in the ongoing struggle over inclusion and representation in American mass media, “How It Feels to Be Free” provides important context for the highly-charged contemporary debate over race and gender in Hollywood and shows how these women laid the path for the renaissance in Black entertainment that we see today.

Jacinta

Director: Jessica Earnshaw

Filmed for over three years, “Jacinta” begins at the Maine Correctional Center where Jacinta, 26, and her mother Rosemary, 46, are incarcerated together, both recovering from drug addiction. As a child, Jacinta became entangled in her mother’s world of drugs and crime and has followed her in and out of the system since she was a teenager. This time, as Jacinta is released from prison, she hopes to maintain her sobriety and reconnect with her own daughter, Caylynn, 10, who lives with her paternal grandparents. Despite her desire to rebuild her life for her daughter, Jacinta continually struggles against the forces that first led to her addiction. With unparalleled access and a gripping vérité approach, director Jessica Earnshaw paints a deeply intimate portrait of mothers and daughters and the effects of trauma over generations.

Julia Scotti: Funny That Way

Director: Susan Sandler

In the comedy boom of the late 1980’s Rick Scotti was a busy guy—appearing in clubs across the country, on bills with Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld, when he came to the deadly realization that nothing felt right. At a time when the words gender dysphoria and gender reassignment surgery were rarely heard, Rick’s true awakening at age forty-seven led to hormonal treatments, surgery, and a new identity as Julia Scotti. And then the doors shut tight. Everyone turned away—former wives, friends, family, comedy world buddies, and most painfully Julia was shut out from any contact with her children. She reinvented herself, spent a decade teaching, and then several years ago, stepped back on stage at an open mic and began her journey back to the world she loves. And just as she returned to comedy, her children reached out to her after 15 years of silence. Shot over a period of five years, “Julia Scotti: Funny That Way” tracks Julia’s triumphant comeback, the rough life on the road, and the complex process of reuniting with her children, as comedy becomes the shared language of identity, healing, and joy.

La Madrina: The Savage Life of Lorine Padilla

Director: Raquel Cepeda

“La Madrina: The Savage Life of Lorine Padilla” is a feature-length documentary about a beloved South Bronx matriarch and former “First Lady” of the Savage Skulls gang struggling to remain visible in a rapidly gentrifying community she helped rebuild in the 1980s. With one foot firmly grounded in the outlaw life and the other as an activist and spiritual advisor, Lorine straddles the complexities of multiple worlds. Employing rich never-before-seen archives of the borough that gifted the world both salsa and hip-hop culture, we will go on a complicated and, at times, surreal journey through five decades of Bronx history and resilience in La Madrina’s own words.

https://vimeo.com/515802393

Mama Gloria

Director: Luchina Fisher

Meet Mama Gloria. Chicago’s Black transgender icon Gloria Allen, now in her 70s, blazed a trail for trans people like few others before her. Emerging from Chicago’s South Side drag ball culture in the 1960s, Gloria overcame traumatic violence to become a proud leader in her community. Most famously, she pioneered a charm school for young transgender people that served as inspiration for the hit play Charm. Luchina Fisher’s empathic and engaging documentary is not only a portrait of a groundbreaking legend, but also a celebration of unconditional love, the love Gloria received from her own mother and that she now gives to her chosen children. And it is driven by the love the director has for her teenage transgender daughter.

https://vimeo.com/405966332

Picture a Scientist

Director: Sharon Shattuck

“Picture a Scientist” is a feature-length documentary film chronicling the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists. A biologist, a chemist and a geologist lead viewers on a journey deep into their own experiences in the sciences, overcoming brutal harassment, institutional discrimination, and years of subtle slights to revolutionize the culture of science. From cramped laboratories to spectacular field sites, we also encounter scientific luminaries who provide new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse, equitable, and open to all.

Through the Night

Director: Loria Limbal

To make ends meet, people in the U.S. are working longer hours across multiple jobs. This modern reality of non-stop work has resulted in an unexpected phenomenon: the flourishing of 24-hour daycare centers. “Through the Night” is a verité documentary that explores the personal cost of our modern economy through the stories of two working mothers and a childcare provider—whose lives intersect at a 24-hour daycare center. The film follows a mother who works the overnight shift at a hospital; another holding down three jobs to support her family; and a woman who for two decades has cared for children of parents with nowhere else to turn. Over the span of two years, across working holidays, seven-day work weeks, and around-the-clock shifts, the film reveals the personal cost of rising wealth inequality in the U.S and the close bonds forged between parents, children, and caregivers.

Unapologetic

Director: Ashley O’Shay

“Unapologetic” captures a tense and polarizing moment in Chicago’s fight for the livelihood of its Black residents. The film follows Janaé and Bella, two young abolitionist organizers, as they work within the Movement for Black Lives to seek justice for Rekia Boyd and Laquan McDonald, two young Black people killed by Chicago police. They aim to elevate a progressive platform for criminal justice to a police board led by Lori Lightfoot and a complicit city administration, while also elevating leadership by women and femmes.

Underplayed

Director: Stacey Lee

Filmed over the summer festival season, “Underplayed” presents a portrait of the current status of the gender, ethnic, and sexuality equality issues in dance music.

2020 Athena Film Festival: movie reviews and recaps

March 5, 2020

by Carla Hay

Athena Film Festival

Pictured  from left to right at the 2020 Athena Film Festival Awards, held February 26 at Barnard College in New York City: filmmaker Effie T. Brown, Athena Film Festival co-founder/artistic director Melissa Silverstein, filmmaker Unjoo Moon, actress Beanie Feldstein, Athena Film Festival co-founder Kathryn Kolbert and Barnard College president Sian Beilock. (Photo by Lars Niki/Getty Images for the Athena Film Awards)

The 10th annual Athena Film Festival—which took place at New York City’s Barnard College from February 27 to March 1, 2020—once again had an impressive presentation of female-oriented movies, panels and networking events.

The festival was preceded on February 26 by the annual Athena Film Festival Awards, which honored actress Beanie Feldstein, filmmaker Jennifer Kaytin Robinson and producer Effie T. Brown with Athena Awards, while filmmaker Unjoo Moon received the event’s first Breakthrough Award. Moon’s Helen Reddy biopic “I Am Woman” was the opening-night film at the festival, where the movie had its New York premiere. Gloria Steinem, filmmaker Greta Gerwig (a 2006 Barnard graduate), director Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids”), actress Lorraine Toussaint and Oscar-winning filmmaker Dan Cogan (“Icarus”) were among the presenters at the award show, while singer Arianna Afsar performed at the event. Also in attendance were actress Andrea Riseborough, filmmaker Liz Garbus (“What Happened, Miss Simone?”) and author/public speaker Verna Myers.

One of the changes to Athena Film Festival this year was that it became more environmentally conscious by not having pamphlets, which were provided at previous Athena Film Festivals. (People who still needed to see a schedule on paper could go to the information area, which had a paper schedule on display.) Saving paper by not having pamphlets and encouraging people to go online for information are steps in the right direction for helping the environment. Kudos to the Athena Film Festival producers for being forward-thinking about this important issue.

Almost all of the movies had their world premieres at other festivals, but there were several that had their New York premieres at the Athena Film Festival. (Full reviews will be posted later and can be found at Culture Mix’s Movie & TV Reviews section.)

The New York premieres at the Athena Film Festival included these movies:

The narrative centerpiece film was “Lost Girls,” a mystery thriller directed by Liz Garbus and starring Amy Ryan as a mother searching for her missing 24-year-old daughter. The movie is based on the true story of Mari Gilbert’s quest to find justice for her daughter Shannan Gilbert, who was among the victims of the Gilbo Beach Murders on New York’s Long Island. The story includes how Mari and other family members of the murder victims joined forces to try find out who murdered their loved ones. Netflix will begin streaming “Lost Girls” on March 13, 2020.

If you liked Netflix’s 2019 “Unbelievable” limited series (which was based on a true crime story about the hunt for a serial rapist), you’ll also like “Lost Girls.” The movie’s screenplay, written by Michael Werwie, is based on Robert Kolker’s book “Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery.”

“Lost Girls” team members at the Athena Film Festival premiere of the movie at Barnard College in New York City on February 29, 2020. Pictured from left to right: producer Anne Carey, actress Molly Brown, actress Amy Ryan, actress Miriam Shor, actress Lola Kirke, actress Oona Laurence and director Liz Garbus. (Photo by Carla Hay)

At the Q&A after the “Lost Girls” screening, which was attended by many of the real-life people who are portrayed in the film, Garbus said that she wanted to direct this movie: “I fell in love with the story. I felt if I could be part of telling and elevate the story again and appreciating the incredible work by these women in keeping their loved ones’ stories alive, then it would be a great honor.”

Ryan, who plays Mari Gilbert in “Lost Girls,” was visibly moved when she spoke to Mari’s daughter Sherre Gilbert, who was in the front row of the audience.  “I am so grateful to use my voice to help to keep this story going …This story matters. it was really an honor to play your mom.” Ryan added that the actresses who portrayed the grieving allies shared a real-life friendship on the movie set. “Our connection to each other was an amazing reflection of that … I just think when you get a group of women together in a room, it can be very powerful.”

“Never Rarely Sometimes Always” was another standout film at the Athena Film Festival. This drama, written and directed by Eliza Hittman, follows the emotionally harrowing journey of a 17-year-old named Autumn Gallagher (played by Sidney Flanigan), who has to travel from her hometown in rural Pennsylvania to New York City to get an abortion for an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. The movie realistically shows the obstacles she faces, as well as the toll that her abortion decision takes on her physically and psychologically. Hittman had been scheduled to do a post-premiere Q&A at the Athena Film Festival, but she had to bow out to attend the Berlin International Film Festival, where “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” won the Silver Bear Award (second-place prize). Focus Features will release “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” in select U.S. cinemas on March 13, 2020.

The dramatic film “The Perfect Candidate,” directed and co-written by Haifaa al-Mansour, is about a woman named Maryam (played by Mila Al Zahrani), who’s facing a different type of obstacle. She’s a Saudi Arabian female doctor who running for her local city council, in a culture where women rarely try to be political leaders because it’s considered unladylike and almost taboo. Not surprisingly, she faces a lot of sexism and degrading reactions to her campaign. It’s a well-acted film that provides further insight into how far some countries need to go before they won’t place a stigma on gender-equality opportunities that women in other countries take for granted. Music Box Films will release “The Perfect Candidate” in U.S. cinemas, on a date to be announced. The movie was already released in Saudi Arabia, which selected “The Perfect Candidate” as the country’s official 2019 Academy Awards submission for Best International Feature Film.

Perhaps the best underrated gem of the festival was the Canadian drama “Kuessipan,” directed and co-written by Myriam Verreault and Naomi Fontaine, based on Fontaine’s novel of the same time. The mostly French-language movie tells the story of two teenage girls in Québec who’ve been best friends since childhood, but their lives are going in different directions. Mikuan (played by Sharon Ishpatao Fontaine) comes from a stable family and is headed to college, while Shaniss (played by Yamie Grégoire) comes from a troubled broken home and is an unwed teenage mother who’s dropped out of school. What makes this story different from others with a similar concept is that the girls happen to be from the Innu tribe. Their racial identity and issues related to their culture are rarely seen in movies, so it’s refreshing that this film does it in a very authentic way. The movie is engaging and very well-made, from beginning to end. “Kuessipan” is highly recommended for anyone who likes coming-of-age stories that ring true.

The only feature film to have its world premiere at the festival was the documentary “Dying Doesn’t Feel Like What I’m Doing,” directed by Paula Weiman-Kelman, about female rabbi/activist Rachel Cowan and how she lived with terminal brain cancer before her death in 2018. The movie played to a sold-out audience. It’s an intimate and starkly made film that treats Cowan with dignity and respect. At the Q&A that was held after the screening, Weiman-Kelman said that she started filming the documentary before Cowan was diagnosed with brain cancer, but Cowan graciously wanted her to keep filming after the diagnosis.

The inspiring documentary “Woman in Motion” (directed by Todd Thompson) tells the story of “Star Trek” actress Nichelle Nicholas’ 1970s campaign to recruit more women and people of color to join NASA and become astronauts. This movie would make a great companion piece to the 2016 Oscar-nominated hit drama “Hidden Figures,” which told the story of three African American women who were underappreciated pioneers at NASA in the 1960s. “Woman in Motion” also takes a look at how “Star Trek” also played a role in opening up people’s minds to the idea that a diverse group of people could be in outer space.

The Irish horror flick “Sea Fever” (written and directed by Neasa Hardiman) is definitely influenced by the 1979 classic film “Alien,” since it’s about a group of people trapped on board with a parasitic creature that can multiply easily, infect humans, and then kill them. And the smartest one in the group is a scientific-minded woman, who’s the best chance that they have of survival. But instead of being a gun-toting warrior like Sigourney Weaver’s “Alien” character Ripley, the heroine of “Sea Fever” is a marine-biology student Siobhán (played by Hermione Corfield), who’s the youngest person on an isolated ship that’s under attack by a mysterious sea creature. Even though the movie has some predictable tropes, what makes “Sea Fever” different from other horror films of this type is that Siobhán has to deal with ageism, as well as the expected sexism. For most of the story, the other people on board don’t take her seriously. And there are dire consequences when her warnings go unheeded. Gunpowder & Sky will release “Sea Fever” in U.S. cinemas on a date to be announced.

“Rocks,” a drama directed by Sarah Gavron, was the festival’s closing-night film. “The movie (written by Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson) is about a London teenager nicknamed Rocks (played by Bukky Bakray), who comes home to find her single mother missing, and she has to take care of her younger brother Emmanuel (played by D’angelou Osei Kissiedu) by herself. With the help of her female friends, Rocks tries to hide her situation from child protective services, which would separate the siblings in foster care. Overall, the movie is good, although some people might have an issue with one aspect of the movie’s conclusion that ends up being vague and open to interpretation. (It has to do with a decision that Rocks makes about Emmanuel.) However, the movie’s greatest strength is that it doesn’t sugarcoat the problems that Rocks encounters as an unexpected underage guardian of her brother.  Film4 will release “Rocks” in the U.K. and Ireland on April 24 , 2020. The movie’s U.S. release date is undetermined, as of this writing.

Other movies that had their New York City premieres at the festival included the Marie Curie biopic “Radioactive”; the lesbian cop drama “The Long Shadow”; the Papua New Guinea women’s rugby documentary “Power Meri”; the British drama “Military Wives”; the Israeli political documentary “Objector”; the French coming-of-age drama “Stars by the Pound”; the Spanish lesbian drama “Carmen & Lola”; and the Italian female boxing documentary “Butterfly.”

The festival had some movies that were originally released in 2019 and have won prizes and Oscar nominations. They included the Syrian war documentary “For Sama” (co-directed by and starring Waad al-Kateab); Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-nominated version of “Little Women,” based on the classic Louisa May Alcott novel; the Disney animated sequel “Frozen 2” (co-directed by Jennifer Lee); and the Harriet Tubman biopic “Harriet,” directed by Kasi Lemmons.

There were also networking events (most were invitation-only), discussion panels and creative workshops.

The Athena Film Festival’s “The Silence Breakers” panel at Barnard College in New York City on February 29, 2020. Pictured from left to right: Sarah Anne Masse, Jasmine Lobe, Drew Dixon and Sheri Sher. (Photo Carla Hay)

The most-talked about panel, which also packed the room with about 250 people, was “The Silence Breakers,” featuring #MeToo accusers of disgraced entertainment moguls Harvey Weinstein and Russell Simmons. The panel, which took place on February 29, was moderated by The Hollywood Reporter executive film editor Tatiana Siegel, who has covered several #MeToo stories in the entertainment industry. The panelists shared their thoughts on the February 24 verdict that convicted Weinstein of a first-degree criminal sexual act and a third-degree count of rape. A New York City jury of seven men and five women delivered the verdict, which acquitted Weinstein of the most serious charges: two counts of predatory sexual assault and one count of first-degree rape.

The panelists shared their thoughts on the verdict. “I was really relieved. It felt like a weight I’d been carrying on my shoulders for 12 years had been lifted,” commented actress Sarah Ann Masse, who claims that Weinstein sexually harassed her during a job interview in 2008. “I was expecting him to get away with it, like he had for decades.”

Jasmine Lobe, an writer/actress who says that Weinstein sexually assaulted her in 2006, had this to say about Weinstein being convicted of sex crimes: “There was a tremendous sense of victory. We were all preparing for the worst.” Weinstein continues to deny all sexual-misconduct allegations against him. He will receive his prison sentence on March 11, 2020.

Drew Dixon (a former A&R executive at Def Jam Records and Arista Records) and Sheri Sher (a founding member of the all-female hip-hop group Mercedes Ladies) each claim that they were raped by Simmons, who founded the companies Def Jam and Rush Communications. He stepped down from his businesses in 2017, after several women went public with similar allegations. Dixon says her assault happened in 1995, while Sher claims that Simmons sexually violated her in 1983. Simmons has denied all the accusations against him. As of this writing, he has not been arrested for any alleged sex crimes that still fall under the statute of limitations, but he’s being sued in California by an unnamed woman who claims he raped her in 1988.

“It is a game-changer, a watershed moment,” Dixon said of the Weinstein rape conviction. “Also, the fact that a majority-male jury understood the nuance of remaining in touch with your perpetrator.” Simmons accuser Sher added that since the resurgence of the #Me Too movement and now that Weinstein has been convicted of rape, there’s a “sense that it’s a new era. It’s time to change. It’s real.”

Dixon and Sher are among the Simmons accusers featured in the documentary “On the Record,” directed by Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick. The movie was publicly protested by Simmons and some of his supporters. Executive producer Oprah Winfrey and Apple TV+ then dropped out of the project. HBO Max then picked up the documentary, which will begin streaming on a date to be announced. Dixon mentioned that when black women accuse black men of abuse, the situation is more complicated because of the racial injustices that black men face in the legal system.

Meanwhile, the panelists said that although organizations such as Time’s Up have been helpful for many #MeToo survivors, a lot more progress needs to be made in order to change the culture where sexual harassers and predators can still thrive. The panelists advocate for laws that extend or suspend statutes of limitations for sex crimes. They also think there should be more policies that won’t allow non-disclosure agreements for settlements involving sexual misconduct.

Masse and Dixon also noted that more industry people in power who say they care about this issue need to practice what they preach and hire #MeToo silence breakers who’ve been victims of career retaliation. Because the #MeToo issue is not limited to the entertainment industry, Dixon commented that it’s everyone’s responsibility to do their part to stop the cycle of abuse: “If you see something, say something. You call it out. You don’t laugh it off.”

2020 Athena Film Festival: programming lineup announced

February 10, 2020

by Carla Hay

Athena Film Festival

The 10th annual Athena Film Festival—which takes place at New York City’s Barnard College from February 27 to March 1, 2020—is once again presenting a diverse and international selection of female-focused programming. This year, there’s an unusually high number of female-empowerment films about women who are involved in the legal system, war or politics. Most of the feature-length films are those that have already been released in theaters or have premiered at other events, but the Athena Film Festival has such a unique focus that it’s worth attending for people who haven’t seen these movies yet, want to see the movies again, and/or are interested in checking out the panel discussions or short films. In most cases, the films’ directors attend the festival and do intros or Q&As at the screenings.

The opening-night film is the Helen Reddy biopic “I Am Woman,” directed by Unjoo Moon and starring Tilda Cobham-Hervey as the Australian songstress. The narrative centerpiece film is the mystery thriller “Lost Girls,” directed by Liz Garbus and starring Amy Ryan as a mother searching for her missing 24-year-old daughter. The documentary centerpiece film is the Oscar-nominated “For Sama,” directed by Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts, which chronicles al-Kateab and her family’s life in war-torn Syria. The international centerpiece film is “The Perfect Candidate,” directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, a drama about a Saudi Arabian female doctor who ends up running for her local city council. The closing-night film is “Rocks,” a drama directed by Sarah Gavron, about a London teenager who comes home to find her mother missing.

The only feature film to have its world premiere at the festival is the documentary “Dying Doesn’t Feel Like What I’m Doing,” directed by Paula Weiman-Kelman, about female rabbi/activist Rachel Cowan and how she lived with terminal brain cancer before her death in 2018.

The festival has some movies that were originally released in 2019 and have been winning prizes and getting Oscar nominations. In addition to “For Sama,” there is also writer/director Greta Gerwig’s Oscar-nominated version of “Little Women,” based on the classic Louisa May Alcott novel. Other films that received Oscar nominations are the animated sequel “Frozen 2” and the Harriet Tubman biopic “Harriet.”

In addition, there are networking events (most are invitation-only), discussion panels and creative workshops.

Here is the programming lineup for feature-length the 2020 Athena Film Festival. More information can be found at the official festival website. (All descriptions listed below are courtesy of the festival.)

NARRATIVE FEATURES

Antigone

Director: Sophie Deraspe

Writer: Sophie Deraspe

Inspired by the Greek tragedy of the same title, multi-award-winning filmmaker Sophie Deraspe centers her adaptation around a brilliant teenage girl who chooses to live by her own standards of justice, love and loyalty rather than society’s.

Black Christmas

Director: Sophia Takal

Writers: Sophia Takal and April Wolfe

As Hawthorne College is quieting down for the holidays, sorority girls on campus are being killed by a stalker. In this loose remake of the 1974 Canadian “slasher” classic, the killer is about to discover that today’s generation of fearless women are not willing to become hapless victims.

Carmen & Lola – NEW YORK PREMIERE

Director: Arantxa Echevarria

Writer: Arantxa Echevarría

The love story of two Roma women: bride-to-be Carmen and street artist Lola find themselves in a secret love affair, having to hide it from their families and their community.

Clemency

Director: Chinonye Chukwu

Writer: Chinonye Chukwu

Chinonye Chukwu’s sophomore feature is an enthralling story of Bernadine (Alfre Woodard), a prison warden whose years working on death row takes a psychic toll. After a harrowing botched execution, her growing investment in the next prisoner to be executed encourages her to look more closely at her motivations and relationships and offers a tough-minded inquiry into the morality of capital punishment. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and a 2017 Athena List Winner.

Frozen 2

Directors: Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck

Writer: Jennifer Lee

Why was Elsa born with magical powers? What truths about the past await Elsa as she ventures into the unknown to the enchanted forests and dark seas beyond Arendelle? The answers are calling her but also threatening her kingdom. Together with Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven, she’ll face a dangerous but remarkable journey. In “Frozen,” Elsa feared her powers were too much for the world. In “Frozen 2,” she must hope they are enough. From the Academy Award®-winning team—directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, producer Peter Del Vecho and songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez— “Frozen 2” features the voices of Idina Menzel, Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad.

Harriet

Director: Kasi Lemmons

Writer: Kasi Lemmons and Gregory Allen Howard

Directed and co-written by 2014 Athena Award-winner Kasi Lemmons, “Harriet” tells the extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman’s escape from slavery and transformation into one of America’s greatest heroes, whose courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.

I Am Woman OPENING NIGHT FILM AND NEW YORK PREMIERE

Director: Unjoo Moon

Writer: Emma Jenson

For the first time on screen, “I Am Woman” tells the inspiring story of singer Helen Reddy, who wrote and sang the song “I Am Woman” that became the anthem for the women’s movement in the 1970s. The film is a story of fearless ambition and passion, of a woman who smashed through the patriarchal norms of her time to become the international singing superstar she always dreamed of being.

Kuesippan

Director: Myriam Verreault

Writers: Naomi Fontaine and Myriam Verreault

Mikuan and Shaniss grew up as best friends in their Innu community. While Mikuan has a loving family, Shaniss is picking up the pieces of her shattered childhood. As children, they promised to stick together no matter what, but at 17 their friendship is shaken when Mikuan falls for a white boy, and starts dreaming of leaving the reserve that’s now too small for her dreams.

Little Women

Director: Greta Gerwig

Writer: Greta Gerwig

Writer-director Greta Gerwig ‘06 (“Lady Bird”), winner of a 2011 Athena Award, has crafted a “Little Women” that draws on both the classic novel and the writings of Louisa May Alcott, and unfolds as the author’s alter ego, Jo March, reflects back and forth on her fictional life with her three sisters.

The Long Shadow – NEW YORK PREMIERE

Director: Daniel Lafrentz

Writers: Daniel Lafrentz and Stephen Peltier

A Sheriff’s deputy takes on her Louisiana town’s old-money establishment when the woman she loves – an attorney fighting a corporate land grab that will displace the poor – is found murdered.

Lost Girls – NARRATIVE CENTERPIECE AND NEW YORK PREMIERE

Director: Liz Garbus

Writer: Michael Werwie

When 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert mysteriously disappears one night, her mother Mari embarks on a dark journey that finds her face to face with hard truths about her daughter, herself, and police bias. Determined to find her daughter at all costs, Mari Gilbert retraces Shannan’s last known steps and her discoveries force law enforcement and the media to uncover more than a dozen unsolved murders of sex workers, young lives Mari will not let the world forget.

Military Wives

Director: Peter Cattaneo

Writers: Rosanne Flynn and Rachel Tunnard

With their partners serving in Afghanistan, a band of women form a choir on the military base and quickly discover that they can rely on each other for more than beautiful harmonies. The women, who must confront the challenges of having a partner at war, find themselves at the center of a media sensation and global movement.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always – NEW YORK PREMIERE

Director: Eliza Hittman

Writer: Eliza Hittman

Written and directed by Eliza Hittman, “Never Rarely Sometimes Always” is an intimate portrayal of two teenage girls in rural Pennsylvania. Faced with an unintended pregnancy and a lack of local support, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan) and her cousin Skylar (Talia Ryder) embark across state lines to New York City on a fraught journey of friendship, bravery and compassion.

The Perfect Candidate – INTERNATIONAL CENTERPIECE AND NEW YORK PREMIERE

Director: Haifaa al-Mansour

Writers: Haifaa al-Mansour, Brad Niemann

Maryam is an ambitious young doctor working in a small town clinic in Saudi Arabia. After she is prevented from traveling to Dubai in search of a better job, a bureaucratic mix-up leads her to stumble on the application for her local city elections and she decides to run. She enlists her two younger sisters and while they face the restriction of women’s traditional roles in the Kingdom at every turn, Maryam’s audacious candidacy starts to build momentum and challenges her conservative community.

Radioactive  **UPDATE/NEWLY ADDED FILM**

Director: Marjane Satrapi

Writer: Jack Throne

From the 1870s through our 21st century, “Radioactive” tells the story of pioneering scientist  Marie Curie (Rosamund Pike) through her extraordinary life and her enduring legacies – the passionate partnerships, her shining scientific breakthroughs, and the darker consequences that followed.

A Regular Woman

Director: Sherry Hormann

Writer: Florian Öller

“A Regular Woman” tells the story of 23-year-old Hatun Ayhrun Sürücü, a Turkish-Kurdish woman living in Germany who in February 2005, was shot dead at a Berlin bus stop in an “honor killing” by her youngest brother. This film gives Ayhrun the opportunity to narrate her own story as she leaves her abusive marriage and struggles for a free, self-determined life in the face of her family’s opposition.

Rocks – CLOSING NIGHT FILM

Director: Sarah Gavron

Writer: Theresa Ikoko and Claire Wilson

In East London, teenager Shola is known as “Rocks” after protecting her childhood friend from bullies. Rocks has big dreams but one day she returns home from school to discover her life is radically altered: her troubled, single mother has disappeared, leaving her responsible for her younger brother.

Sea Fever – NEW YORK PREMIERE

Director: Neasa Hardiman

Writer: Neasa Hardiman

Siobhán’s a marine biology student who prefers spending her days alone in a lab. She has to endure a week on a ragged fishing trawler, where she’s miserably at odds with the close-knit crew. But out in the deep Atlantic, an unfathomable life form ensnares the boat. When members of the crew succumb to a strange infection, Siobhán must overcome her alienation and anxiety to win the crew’s trust, before everyone is lost.

Sister Aimee

Directors: Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann

Writers: Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann

In 1926, the world’s most famous evangelist, Sister Aimee Semple McPherson, fakes her own death in order to run away to Mexico with her married lover. Once on the road, and equipped with new identities, they find themselves chased by the very persona Aimee so desperately tried to kill. They hire Rey, a former Mexican Soldadera turned smuggler, to help them cross the border, as detectives, the world, and Aimee herself all pose the question, “Who is Sister Aimee Semple McPherson?”

Stars by the Pound

Director: Marie-Sophie Chambon

Writers: Marie-Sophie Chambon and Anaïs Carpita

In this heart-warming story of friendship, acceptance, and the importance of loving yourself, Lois, 16, dreams of becoming an astronaut. Although gifted in physics, she has a big problem: she weighs over 200 pounds. When all seems lost, Lois meets three other teens who, like her, are shattered by life’s tough breaks yet ready for anything in order to leave with her for outer space.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURES

Butterfly

Director: Alessandro Cassigoli and Casey Kauffman

Irma “The Butterfly” Testa, a talented 18-year-old, is the first female Italian boxer to be selected for the Olympic Games. Butterfly is an intimate portrait of this determined athlete in the run-up to the games and thereafter, when she has more time to be with her best friend and family.

Dying Doesn’t Feel Like What I’m Doing

– WORLD PREMIERE

Director: Paula Weiman-Kelman

Rachel Cowan was a civil rights activist, community organizer, the first female Jew by choice ordained as a Rabbi, a beloved and influential mindfulness teacher, a grandmother and wise elder. And then she was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Living each day fully, she turned dying into an opportunity to experience gratitude.

For Sama – DOCUMENTARY CENTERPIECE

Directors: Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts

“For Sama” is the incredible story of Waad al-Kateab, a journalist/filmmaker who filmed her life for over five years during the conflict in Aleppo, Syria. Waad documented her personal journey as she married a doctor who operated the only functioning hospital in their besieged area, gave birth to a daughter (Sama), and continued filming the cataclysmic events unfolding around her. At its core, this documentary serves as a love letter from a mother to her daughter, as Waad captures deeply moving scenes of love, laughter, loss, sacrifice and survival.

https://vimeo.com/330097421

Objector – NEW YORK PREMIERE

Director: Molly Stuart

Like all Israeli youth, Atalya is obligated to become a soldier. Unlike most, she questions the practices of her country’s military, and becomes determined to challenge this rite of passage. Despite her family’s political disagreements and personal concerns, she refuses military duty and is imprisoned for her dissent.

Power Meri – NEW YORK PREMIERE

Director: Joanna Lester

“Power Meri” follows the PNG Orchids, Papua New Guinea’s first national women’s rugby team, on their journey to the 2017 World Cup in Australia. These trailblazers not only must win on the field but also beat intense sexism, a lack of funding, and national prejudice to reach their biggest stage yet.

Queering the Script

Director: Gabrielle Zilkha

Giving queer fandom a voice in the conversation about LGBTQ+ representation, from Showtime’s “The L Word” to FX’s “Pose,” “Queering the Script” examines the rising power of the fans and audience shaping representation on TV, the relationship between fandom and activism, and what lies ahead for visibility and inclusiveness.

Sanctuary

Director: Andrea Cordoba

Amanda Morales, a Guatemalan mother of three U.S.-born children is the first immigrant to claim sanctuary in New York since President Trump took office, publicly resisting her deportation by taking refuge in a church. “Sanctuary” gains rare and intimate access to Amanda and her family as they fight to remain together and adapt to their daily life of resistance.

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am

Director: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders

An artful and intimate meditation on the life and works of the legendary storyteller and Nobel prize-winning author Toni Morrison. From her childhood in the steel town of Lorain, Ohio, to book tours with Muhammad Ali, the front lines with Angela Davis, and her own writing room—Morrison explores race, America, history and the human condition.

We Are the Radical Monarchs

Director: Linda Goldstein Knowlton

Set in Oakland, California, this film introduces the Radical Monarchs, an alternative to the Scout movement for girls of color, and its founders, two fierce queer women of color, who have inspired a new generation of social justice activists. The film follows the first troop and its co-founders as they respond to a viral explosion of interest in the troop’s mission while the girls complete programs on the environment, disability justice, and Black Lives Matter.

Woman in Motion **UPDATE/NEWLY ADDED FILM**

Director: Todd Thompson

In 1977, with just four months left, NASA struggles to recruit scientists, engineers and astronauts for their new Space Shuttle Program. That is when Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek’s Lt. Uhura, challenges them by asking the question: Where are my people?. She embarks on a national blitz, recruiting 8,000 of the nation’s best and brightest, including the trailblazing astronauts who became the first African American, Asian, and Latino men and women to fly in space.

A Woman’s Work: The NFL’s Cheerleader Problem

Director: Yu Gu

Football and feminism collide in this documentary that follows former NFL cheerleaders who are battling the league to end wage theft and illegal employment practices that have persisted for 50 years.

2019 Athena Film Festival: movie reviews and recaps

March 4, 2019

by Carla Hay

Athena Film Festival

The ninth annual Athena Film Festival—which took place at New York City’s Barnard College from February 28 to March 3, 2019—had another banner year for its female-centric programming. Most of the feature-length films at the festival have already been released in theaters or premiered at other events, but most of the films’ directors attend the Athena Film Festival to do intros or Q&As at the screenings. There’s also the Athena Film Festival Awards, which honor prominent people in the film industry. This year’s honorees were filmmaker Marielle Heller (director of “Can You Ever Forgive Me?”), attorney (and Barnard grad) Nina Shaw, filmmaker/actress Desiree Akhavan (director and co-writer of “The Miseducation of Cameron Post”) and Toronto International Film Festival co-head/artistic director Cameron Bailey.

The festival’s hottest ticket was for the closing-night film: director Rachel Lears’ “Knock Down the House,” a documentary about four very different female candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2018 mid-term elections. One of the candidates in the film is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who made history by becoming the youngest woman (at age 29)  to serve in Congress. After having its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival in January, “Knock Dock Down the House” was picked up for distribution by Netflix, which will premiere the movie on a date to be announced. At the Athena Film Festival, “Knock Down the House” sold out soon after tickets went on sale about two months before the screening, and the movie was so popular that it was the only film screening at the festival that couldn’t be accessed with a press pass.

Another movie that had its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival before going to the Athena Film Festival was the Athena Film Festival’s documentary centerpiece film “This Is Personal” (directed by Amy Berg), which takes an inside look at the people behind the annual Women’s March that began in 2017. Although four women—Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory, Carmen Perez and Bob Bland—are credited with being the chief organizers of the Women’s March (which also spawned the Women’s Convention), Mallory and Perez (and their personal lives) get the most of the screen time in the documentary. The movie doesn’t sugarcoat the problems in the group, namely the anti-Semitism accusations against most of the group’s leaders. Mallory, Sarsour and Perez have all been accused of making anti-Semitic remarks at private meetings (accusations which they have all denied), but the movie makes it look like Mallory is the only one who’s accused of anti-Semitism. It’s an accusation she finds difficult to defend because of her refusal to disassociate herself from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who openly expresses hate speech toward Jews.

One of the most riveting scenes in “This is Personal” is when Mallory and a Jewish colleague meet with a lesbian rabbi named Rachel Timoner to discuss the anti-Semitism accusations. It’s an uncomfortable conversation that gets emotional, but it’s effective for showing that bigotry from people who consider themselves to be progressive liberals is a deep-rooted problem that undermines the credibility of those who claim to be fighting for justice for all. Mallory (who is African American) tries to understand Timoner’s perspective, but in the end, she still defends Farrakhan because she says he’s done a lot to help the black community, and if she condemns Farrakhan, she’ll alienate too many of her black allies.

When watching “This Is Personal,” there’s a sense that the Women’s March leaders, who didn’t expect their work to become such a massive, international business, are susceptible to being corrupted by the fame and power that have come their way. The movie doesn’t adequately address how all the media attention and money made from their activism have affected these women. When Perez’s mother is close to being deported, Perez uses her media connections to draw attention to her mother’s immigration case, and her mother ends up being allowed to stay in the United States. Unfortunately, the movie glosses over how much Perez’s fame played a role in this outcome. Undocumented immigrants who are in danger of deportation and who have no influential connections aren’t as lucky, and they usually do get deported.

“This Is Personal” was completed before the Women’s March further imploded in 2019, when several women’s groups disassociated from the Women’s March and organized their own marches because of the anti-Semitism accusations against the Women’s March leaders. The Women’s March leaders have also faced questions about how they are handling the group’s funds, which is an issue that “This Is Personal” did not cover. Because the Women’s March controversy is an ongoing and ever-evolving story, “This Is Personal” is unfortunately already outdated. It might have been better-served as an ongoing docuseries (much like Showtime’s “The Circus”) instead of trying to condense this complex, changing situation into a 97-minute movie.

The 2019 Athena Film Festival’s narrative centerpiece film was the crime thriller “Out of Blue,” directed by Carol Morley and starring Patricia Clarkson. Clarkson is a very talented actress who does the best with what she’s given, but this movie’s often-incoherent screenplay is the film’s weakest link. The supernatural element of the story is an unnecessary flaw, and the movie has an unbelievable premise that Clarkson’s police detective character is the only person doing the legwork on a high-profile murder case in New Orleans. And this is a bad sign for “Out of Blue”: Out of all the movie screenings that I attended at the festival, “Out of Blue” was the only one where no one applauded at the end of the movie. IFC Films’ “Out of Blue,” which had its world premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, will be released in select theaters and on VOD on March 22, 2019.

“Ask for Jane,” which had its world premiere at the 2018 Hamptons Film Festival, is based on a true story of the Jane Collective, a Chicago-based underground abortion network that was run by female college students during 1969 and 1973, when abortion was illegal. The movie—directed by Rachel Carey—stars Cody Horn (“Magic Mike”) and Sarah Ramos (“Midnight, Texas”) as two of the founders of the Jane Collective.

One of the criticisms that “Ask for Jane” is bound to get is that it follows a “white savior” trope: All of the Jane Collective members in the movie are white, while many of the women who need their services are financially disadvantaged black women. The movie briefly addresses this racial discrepancy by having a black female character asking about it and being told that the Jane Collective didn’t invite black women to be members of the group because the Jane Collective members were in danger of being arrested, and they felt black members would be treated more unfairly by the police. The explanation is easily accepted by the black character, who responds by asking the Jane Collective leaders to contact her if they need any black volunteers. It’s a scene that many people might consider to be trite, inadequate or downright offensive, because the movie ignores the possibility that racism in the Jane Collective could have been the real reason why the group didn’t have women of color in any leadership positions.

Amazon Studios is making a movie with director Kimberly Peirce called “This is Jane” about the same subject matter. There’s also a movie in development titled “Call Jane,” starring Elisabeth Moss and Susan Sarandon (and directed by Sian Heder) that’s also about the Jane Collective. While “This Is Jane” and “Call Jane” are likely to get theatrical releases, “Ask for Jane” has the look and feel of a Lifetime movie. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s certainly not an Oscar-caliber film.

Speaking of Oscar-caliber movies, the Athena Film Festival had a few of them:  Oscar-winning films “The Favourite” (Best Actress for Olivia Colman) and “Period. End of Sentence” (Best Documentary Short) were part of the festival lineup, as were Oscar-nominated films “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” and “Mary Queen of Scots.”

Ginnifer Goodwin and Angela Fairley in “I Am Somebody’s Child: The Regina Louise Story” (Photo courtesy of Lifetime)

“I Am Somebody’s Child: The Regina Louise Story” was the only feature film to have its world premiere at the 2019 Athena Film Festival. The movie, directed by Janice Cooke, premieres on Lifetime on April 20, 2019. Ever hear about a “three-hanky movie”? It’s an old Hollywood phrase to describe a tearjerker film that makes people cry so much that that they need three handkerchiefs to get through it. “I Am Somebody’s Child” is that kind of movie.

The story is based on the real-life teenage experiences of African American beauty entrepreneur/author Regina Louise, who was made a ward of the state in the late 1960s after her biological parents rejected her. When a white social worker named Jeanne Kerr forms a close friendship with Regina, and tries and fails to adopt her, Regina ends up in an abusive system that turns her life into an emotional hell. She is shuffled around and often mistreated in several orphanages, foster homes and psychiatric facilities before she turns 18. The movie sounds an alarm about how foster care and adoptions are handled in the United States. Regina Louise’s story is a cautionary but ultimately inspiring tale on how to overcome the damage that the system might cause. At the movie’s Athena Film Festival premiere, which I attended, tears were flowing aplenty in the audience, which was a diverse mix of people in age, gender and race. I go to a lot of movies, and it’s been a while since I’ve seen so many people cry in a movie audience.

The average “women in peril” Lifetime movie usually takes the angle that a woman’s love life or bad choices somehow put her in danger. That’s what makes “I Am Somebody’s Child” especially tragic because it’s about how a child endured so much trauma for no reason other than because she didn’t have any biological family members to take care of her. The movie’s cast members include newcomer Angela Fairley (a real-life foster child) as a young Regina; Ginnifer Goodwin (“Once Upon a Time”) as Jeanne; and Sherri Saum (“The Fosters”) as the adult Regina.

Besides pushing emotional buttons, “I Am Somebody’s Child” is bound to trigger criticism over race issues from people who will call this another “white savior” movie. The situation is complicated because the movie’s biggest “villain” (besides the broken foster-care system) is Jeanne’s black supervisor Gwen Ford (played by Kim Hawthorne), who does everything she can to keep Regina separated from Jeanne. Gwen literally says in the movie that putting black kids in homes with parents of other races is committing “genocide” on black people. As a member of the National Black Social Workers Association, Gwen isn’t portrayed as a heartless witch, but as someone who genuinely did what she thought was in the best interest of black children at a time when interracial adoptions were still very taboo. Ultimately, the “white savior” criticism of “I Am Somebody’s Child” can only go so far because the last half of the movie shows that Regina is the one who actually saves herself.

Let’s be clear: “I Am Somebody’s Child” has plenty of melodrama that people expect from a Lifetime movie. But the situations depicted in the film can and do happen, and that’s why even the most cynical viewers might not roll their eyes and laugh as they would at overly dramatic scenes in a typical Lifetime movie. The emotions that people feel will tug at the heartstrings (and tear ducts) more than the need to expect Oscar-level acting.

Lifetime is also going the extra mile in social advocacy by partnering with the non-profit Promise House to show “I Am Somebody’s Child” at a March 7 charity event in Dallas to raise money and awareness for homeless youth. Louise will be a guest speaker at the fundraiser.

Sherri Saum, Angela Fairley and Regina Louise at the 2019 Athena Film Festival world premiere in New York City of “I Am Somebody’s Child: The Regina Louise Story” (Photo by Carla Hay)

After the movie’s premiere at the Athena Film Festival, there was a Q&A panel that included Louise and “I Am Somebody’s Child” co-stars Fairley and Saum. Louise, who is the author of the memoirs “Somebody’s Someone” and “Someone Has Led This Child to Believe,” said that when she took a meeting years ago with Creative Artists Agency to make her life story into a movie, she met with a black female agent, who told her, “There are no black people to play you.” The agent’s negative reaction only made Louise even more determined to get the movie made. Louise remembered, “I thought, ‘Not only will there be someone to play me, I can’t wait until it airs in your living room.’”

Louise added that any black girl watching this movie “deserves to be represented, as well as be a representation for herself first and any other girl, no matter the race, creed or nationality.”

2019 Athena Film Festival: programming lineup announced

January 9, 2019

by Carla Hay

Athena Film Festival

The ninth annual Athena Film Festival—which takes place at New York City’s Barnard College from February 28 to March 3, 2019—continues its tradition of offering an intelligently curated and diverse lineup of female-focused programming. Most of the feature-length films are those that have already been released in theaters or have premiered at other events, but the Athena Film Festival has such a unique focus that it’s worth attending for people who haven’t seen these movies yet, want to see the movies again, and/or are interested in checking out the panel discussions or short films. The event always has some gems to offer that catch on later with the general public. (In 2017, for example, Athena Film Festival had one of the first public screenings of clips from the first season of the Hulu series “The Handmaid’s Tale,” long before the show would go on to win several major awards.) In most cases, the films’ directors attend the festival and do intros or Q&As at the screenings.

The 2019 Athena Film Festival’s opening-night film, closing-night film and the narrative and documentary centerpiece films will all have their New York or U.S. premieres at the event. The film that is probably getting the most buzz is Rachel Lears’ “Knock Down the House,”  a documentary about four very different female candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2018 mid-term elections. One of candidates in the film is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who made history by becoming the youngest woman (at age 29)  to serve in Congress. The opening-night film is “Fast Color,” directed by Julia Hart, starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a superhero forced to go into hiding. The narrative centerpiece film is the detective thriller “Out of Blue,” directed by Carol Morley and starring the always-great Patricia Clarkson. The documentary centerpiece film is Amy Berg’s “This Is Personal,” which takes a look at the modern women’s movement.

For those on the lookout for movies originally released in 2018 that are getting awards buzz, the clear standout film is “The Favourite”—starring Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone—which has been collecting prizes at pretty much every major awards show. Also noteworthy is “Can You Ever Forgive Me?,” which has been garnering a lot of praise and awards for co-stars Melissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant, as well as screenwriters Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty. The performances of Regina Hall in “Support the Girls” and Rosamund Pike in “A Private War” have been getting notable recognition. For their respective roles in this films, Hall was named Best Actress by the New York Film Critics Circle, while Pike received a Golden Globe nomination. Meanwhile, the documentary “On Her Shoulders” made it on the Oscars shortlist for Best Documentary Feature. (The nominations for the 91st Academy Awards will be announced on January 22, 2019.)

Here is the programming lineup for the 2019 Athena Film Festival. More information can be found at the official festival website. (All descriptions listed below are courtesy of the festival.)

 

NARRATIVE FEATURES

A Private War

Director: Matthew Heineman

Writers: Marie Brenner and Arash Amel

One of the most celebrated war correspondents of our time, Marie Colvin is an utterly fearless and rebellious spirit, driven to the frontlines of conflicts across the globe to give voice to the voiceless.

 

Ask for Jane

Director: Rachel Carey

Writers: Rachel Carey and Cait Cortelyou ‘09

The true story of determined women in the 1960s who quietly provided the phone number of reliable abortion doctors to women in need. Operating like a spy network, using blindfolds, code names, and secret locations, the Jane Collective helped over 11,000 women receive safe, illegal abortions until they were legalized in 1973.

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Director: Marielle Heller

Writers: Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty

Based on a true story, Melissa McCarthy stars as Lee Israel, the best-selling celebrity biographer who makes her living profiling the likes of Katharine Hepburn and Tallulah Bankhead. Unable to get a new publishing gig, Lee turns to artistic deception, abetted by her loyal friend Jack.

 

Don’t Talk To Irene

Director and writer: Pat Mills

When an overweight and unpopular teenager is suspended from school, she must endure two weeks of community service at a nearby retirement home. She secretly signs up the residents for a dance-themed reality show to prove that you don’t have to be perfect to be perfectly awesome.

 

Fast Color – OPENING NIGHT FILM & NEW YORK PREMIERE

Director: Julia Hart

Writers: Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz

This fantasy, superhero re-mix stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a hero forced to run when her superhuman abilities are discovered. Years after abandoning her family, the only place she has left to hide is home. Lorraine Toussaint and David Strathairn co-star.

*February 12, 2019 UPDATE:

I Am Somebody’s Child: The Regina Louise Story

Director: Janice Cooke

Writer: Camille Thomasson

“I Am Somebody’s Child: The Regina Louise Story” tells the journey of a young African-American girl who navigated over 30 foster homes and psychiatric facilities before age 18, and the one woman, Jeanne, who believed in her. After 25 years, Jeanne is finally able to adopt Regina in the same courthouse that denied them previously.

Jinn

Director and writer: Nijla Mu’min

In writer-director Nijla Mu’min’s debut feature, an African-American teenager’s world is turned upside down when her mother, a popular TV meteorologist, abruptly converts to Islam, prompting both mother and daughter to reevaluate their identities.

On the Basis of Sex

Director: Mimi Leder

Writer: Daniel Stiepleman

The compelling story of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s early years, as she crafts a national legal strategy to win equal rights for women and fights to succeed in a profession notably hostile to women. The screenplay was a 2014 Athena List winner.

 

Out Of Blue – NARRATIVE CENTERPIECE AND U.S. PREMIERE

Director and Writer: Carol Morley
Detective Mike Hoolihan (Patricia Clarkson) is called to investigate the shooting of a leading astrophysicist. As Mike tumbles down the rabbit hole of the disturbing case, she finds herself grappling with cosmic secrets that may hold the key to unraveling the crime, while throwing into doubt her very understanding of reality.

 

Rafiki

Director and writer: Wanuri Kahiu

In their community “good Kenyan girls become good Kenyan wives,” but Kena and Ziki long for something more. When love blossoms between them, the two girls are forced to choose between happiness and safety.

 

Saint Judy – NEW YORK PREMIERE

Director: Sean Hanish

Writer: Dmitry Portnoy

Based on a remarkable true story, when an Afghan woman flees her home after being persecuted by the Taliban, immigration attorney Judy Wood (Michelle Monaghan) takes her case. In the process, she changes U.S. asylum law and saves the lives of countless people.

Support the Girls

Director and writer: Andrew Bujalski

The general manager at a highway-side ”sports bar with curves” who has incurable optimism and faith in her girls, her customers, and herself, is tested over the course of a long, strange day.

The Favourite

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos

Writers: Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara

Set in early 18th-century England, this award winning comedy-drama stars Olivia Colman as Queen Anne and Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone as cousins whose quarreling take center stage as each jockeys to be the court favourite of a frail and mercurial Queen Anne.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Director: Desiree Akhavan

Writers: Desiree Akhavan and Cecilia Frugiuele

In this drama directed by Desiree Akhavan, Chloë Grace Moretz plays a teenager sent away to a remote “treatment center” after being caught in the backseat with the prom queen. As she is subjected to questionable gay conversion therapies, she finds both challenges from and solace in fellow residents.

 

Working Woman

Director: Michal Aviad

Writers: Michal Aviad, Sharon Azulay Eyal, Michal Vinik

Orna’s life at work becomes unbearable when her boss, a major Israeli developer, makes inappropriate advances. Caught between the need to support her family and the increasingly disturbing behavior of her boss, Orna fights for her job and her sense of self-worth.

 

DOCUMENTARIES

93Queen

Director: Paula Eiselt

Set in the Hasidic enclave of Borough Park, Brooklyn, a tenacious group of Hasidic women challenge stereotypes and power structures in their tight-knit community by creating the first all-female volunteer ambulance corps in New York City. This film was a 2015 Athena Work in Progress film.

Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché

Director: Pamela B. Green

In 1896, Alice Guy-Blaché was the first female film director at age 23. She went on to write, direct, produce, or edit more than 1000 films and became one of the early film industry’s biggest stars. Then she vanished from history.

 

Dykes, Camera, Action!

Director: Caroline Berler

Stonewall, the feminist movement, and the experimental cinema of the 1970s, set the stage for lesbian filmmakers to transform how society views queerness. In this moving and often hilarious film, lesbian filmmakers share their stories and discuss how they express their queer identity through film.

Knock Down The House – CLOSING NIGHT FILM & NEW YORK PREMIERE

Director: Rachel Lears

A young bartender in the Bronx, a coal miner’s daughter in West Virginia, a grieving mother in Nevada and a registered nurse in Missouri build a movement of insurgent candidates challenging powerful incumbents in Congress. One of their races will become the most surprising political upset in recent American history.

Lady Parts Justice in the New World Order

Director: Ruth Leitman

Led by The Daily Show’s co-creator Lizz Winstead, the Lady Parts Justice League barnstorms the country to support abortion providers and defend women’s reproductive rights. Using comedy as the ultimate weapon to mobilize voters for the 2018 elections, they use a boots-on-the-ground strategy to protect bodily autonomy for all.

Life Without Basketball

Directors: Tim O’Donnell, Jon Mercer

After the International Basketball Federation forbids head coverings, making it impossible for Muslim women to maintain their religious convictions while on the court, Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir fights to change the rules. With her victory, she becomes the first Division I basketball player to play wearing the hijab and inspires the young Muslim women she coaches.

 

Netizens

Director: Cynthia Lowen

The proliferation of cyber harassment spreads from the web to the most intimate corners of women’s lives. As the internet becomes the next frontier of civil rights, three women who are targets of harassment confront digital abuse and strive for equality and justice online. The film was a 2017 Athena Work in Progress film.

 

Nothing Without Us: The Women Who Will End AIDS

Director: Harriet Hirshorn

A compelling portrait of the inspiring and remarkable women at the forefront of the global AIDS movement who work tirelessly to end the 30-year old pandemic and help women around the world at risk of HIV and AIDS.

On Her Shoulders

Director: Alexandria Bombach

With deep compassion and an elegance that matches her calm and steely demeanor, 23 year-old Nadia Murad survives the 2014 genocide of the Yazidis in Northern Iraq and escapes ISIS to become a relentless beacon of hope for her people.

 

The Feminist

Director: Hampus Linder

This personal and compelling portrait follows Gudrun Schyman, spokesperson of Sweden’s Feminist Initiative political party as she moves between small towns, refugee camps, and the corridors of power. In the process, she inspires women across the globe and becomes one of Sweden’s most influential politicians.

The Great Mother

Directors: Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker

When two U.S. born children share that their mother is being deported, immigration activist Nora Sandigo steps up to become their legal guardian, saving them from the fate of  “immigration orphans’’ trapped in the foster care system. Six years later, Nora’s charges have grown to nearly 1,000 children.

 

This is Personal – DOCUMENTARY CENTERPIECE

Director: Amy Berg

While the 2016 election catalyzed the Women’s March and a new era of feminist activism, Tamika Mallory and Erika Andiola have been fighting for their communities for years. Their stories expose the fundamental connection between the personal and the political, and asks: how can intersectionality birth a new social justice movement?

Warrior Women

Directors: Elizabeth A. Castle and Christina D. King

Madonna Thunder Hawk, unapologetic organizer of the American Indian Movement,  has cultivated a ragtag gang of activist children—including her daughter Marcy—into the We Will Remember survival group. Through their story, the film highlights the struggle for native rights and how activists pass their legacies from generation to generation.

What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael

Director: Rob Garver

This nuanced portrait of Pauline Kael, among the most famous and divisive film critics of all time, uses never-before-seen archival film, wide-ranging interviews and her own writings voiced by Sarah Jessica Parker, to capture her complexity while revisiting late-twentieth-century cinema through her lens.

 

Whispering Truth to Power

Director: Shameela Seedat

After her appointment as South Africa’s Public Protector in 2009, Thuli Madonsela immediately faces violent protests, court interdicts, political and personal attacks, and death threats, as this remarkably steadfast woman seeks justice in a country still coming to terms with its apartheid past.

Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin

Director: Arwen Curry

Explore the remarkable life and legacy of the late feminist author Ursula K. Le Guin. She holds her ground on the margins of “respectable” literature until the sheer excellence of her work forces the mainstream to embrace her science fiction and fantastic writings.

 

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