Announced Athena Film Festival Award Winners

Announced Athena Film Festival Award Winners 

 The Athena Film Festival which runs Feb. 5-8, is proud to announce the recipients of the 2015 Athena Film Festival Awards.

 The 2015 Laura Ziskin Lifetime Achievement Award Winner is actress/director Jodie Foster. Celebrating her extraordinary 49-year career including Academy Award-winning performances in The Accused and The Silence of the Lambs, Foster’s influence also extends behind the camera as an acclaimed director and producer. Foster joins previous Ziskin honorees, recognized for their leadership, creative vision, and commitment to women in filmmaking, Sherry Lansing, Gale Anne Hurd, and Julia Barry who accepted for her late mother, Laura Ziskin. Barnard Alumna and President of HBO Documentary Films, Sheila Nevins will receive the President’s Visionary Award and Oscar-winning producer, Cathy Schulman (Crash, The Illusionist) and writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Beyond the Lights, The Secret Life of Bees) are honored with Athena Film Festival Awards. Winners of the Athena List, an annual list of screenplays with strong female protagonists, will also be announced at the awards ceremony. This year’s lineup includes a number of great films including the Opening Film, Dreamcatcher, a portrait of Brenda Myers-Powell, a former prostitute who helps women and girls break the cycle of abuse; the world premiere of Rosie O’Donnell, A Heartfelt Stand-Up followed by a panel with O'Donnell; and our Centerpiece Film, Beyond the Lights where Director Gina Prince- Bythewood will join the audience for a Q & A. The festival’s closing film is Difret, a moving story about an Ethiopian woman’s search for justice and the clash between traditional culture and law. Tickets and passes are now on sale at AthenaFilmFestival.com, as well as a full schedule of the 40+ movies, panels, workshops and receptions. We hope you join us at this year's Festival to watch incredible films featuring women leaders in real life and the fictional world. A great opportunity to network with extraordinary women who share your interests in changing what leadership looks like. For more information on the Athena Film Festival,
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ATHENA FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES LINEUP OF NARRATIVE, DOCUMENTARY AND SHORT FILMS: February 5 – 8

ATHENA FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES LINEUP OF NARRATIVE, DOCUMENTARY AND SHORT FILMS

 FILMS INCLUDE BEYOND THE LIGHTS, DREAMCATCHER, DUKHTAR, OBVIOUS CHILD, QUE CARAMBRA ES LA VIDA & WE ARE THE BEST! AMONG OTHERS

 The festival runs from February 5 – 8

 New York, NY (January 9, 2015) – The Athena Film Festival announced today its 2015 lineup, featuring an array of narrative, documentary and short films.  The festival and its upcoming slate honor extraordinary women in the entertainment industry and spotlight films that showcase women’s leadership in real life and the fictional world.  Now in its fifth year, the festival runs from Thursday, February 5 through Sunday, February 8 on the Barnard College campus in Morningside Heights. Regina K. Scully, the Phoebe Snow Foundation, and the Artemis Rising Foundation are the festival’s Founding Sponsors.

 The festival opens on Thursday night with the New York Premiere of DREAMCATCHER, a documentary directed by Kim Longinotto.  2015 Athena awardee Gina Prince-Bythewood, director of BEYOND THE LIGHTS, will participate in a Q & A on Saturday night following a screening of the film starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

Among the feature films included in this year’s lineup are: OBVIOUS CHILD, starring Jenny Slate and directed by Gillian Robespierre, WE ARE THE BEST!, starring Mira Barkhammar, Mira Grosin and Liv LeMoyne and directed by Lukas Moodysson, and DUKHTAR, directed by Afia Nathaniel.  The documentary category includes: VESSEL, directed by Diana Whitten, SEPIDEH – REACHING FOR THE STARS, directed by Berit Madsen, QUE CARAMBA ES LA VIDA, directed by Doris Dörrie, and OUT IN THE NIGHT, directed by Blair Dorosh-Walther.  A wide variety of shorts will be featured including: THE LION’S MOUTH OPENS, directed by Academy Award^®-nominee Lucy Walker, MUTED, directed by Rachel Goldberg, STOP TELLING WOMEN TO SMILE, directed by Dean Peterson, and AFRONAUTS, directed by Frances Bodomo.

“We are thrilled to celebrate the fifth year of this unique film festival with an inspiring and diverse range of films,” said Kathryn Kolbert, co-founder of the Festival and Constance Hess Williams Director of the Athena Center for Leadership Studies.  “Where better to celebrate the power and leadership of women in film than on the Barnard College campus in New York, which will be transformed this February with screenings, panels and our annual awards ceremony.”

“These films were selected for the power of their stories to inspire us to think about women's leadership differently,” said Melissa Silverstein, co-founder and Artistic Director of the Festival and founder of Women and Hollywood. “We are proud to unveil a 2015 line-up that continues to provide a place for audiences to learn, experience and connect.”

As previously announced Academy Award^®-winning actress and filmmaker Jodie Foster will receive this year’s Laura Ziskin Lifetime Achievement Award.  Additional awardees include Sheila Nevins, President of HBO Documentary Films, Gina Prince-Bythewood, director, writer and producer behind films such as Love & Basketball, The Secret Life of Bees and Beyond the Lights, and Cathy Schulman, Academy Award^® winning producer, President of Mandalay Pictures, and President of Women in Film, known for films including Crash, The Illusionist, Darfur Now and Bernie.

The current lineup follows.  Additional screenings, panels and special events will be announced in the coming weeks. 

Please visit http://www.athenafilmfestival.com for regular updates and to purchase tickets or passes.

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