The Inaugural Athena Film Festival Kicks Off

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 11 February 2011 02:40

Written by Brad Balfour

Starting tonight -- Thursday, February 10, 2011 -- with an opening reception and awards ceremony with MC Lynn Sherr, at 6:30 pm in the Diana Center of Barnard College (117th and Broadway), the First Annual Athena Film Festival kicks off. Running from February 10th through February 13th at the College, the Festival examines "the values women leaders share — vision, courage, resilience — and explore leadership across race, class, and culture."

In its inaugural season, the festival -- initially conceived and programmed by Women In Hollywoood's Melissa Silverstein -- features a number of local or national premieres as part of its program. And what a better place to stage this festival than Barnard College. Founded in 1889, Barnard was the only college in New York City, and one of the few in the nation, where women could receive the same rigorous and challenging education available to men. The idea was bold for its time.

Today, Barnard is the most sought-after college for women and remains dedicated to the education of strong, independent-minded women who change the world and the way we think about it. And Barnard College’s Athena Center for Leadership Studies is a premier interdisciplinary center devoted to the theory and practice of women’s leadership. Renowned civil rights attorney Kathryn Kolbert is the Athena Center director.

The festival includes the following events and screenings:

Thursday, February 10, 2011
6:30 Opening Night Reception and Athena Awards Ceremony Hosted by Lynn Sherr
Diana Center, Barnard College

Friday, February 11, 2011
6:00pm
The Mighty Macs – NY PREMIERE
In the early 70s, Cathy Rush became the head basketball coach at a tiny, all-girls Catholic college. Though her team had no gym and no uniforms — and the school itself was in danger of being sold — Coach Rush was determined to steer her girls to their first national championship.  Directed by Tim Chambers.
Q & A with Director Chambers, Kym Hampton, former NY Liberty player, and Kathryn Olson, CEO of the Women’s Sports Foundation immediately following the screening.

7:00pm
Desert Flower
Desert Flower is based on the novel by Waris Dirie and Cathleen Miller, which recounts Dirie's incredible journey from an African nomad to an international top model, and became a worldwide bestseller with more than 11 million copies sold. This is the inspiring story of an extraordinary, proud and brave woman. Director and screenwriter Sherry Hormann (Father’s Day) and producer and Oscar® winner Peter Herrmann (Nowhere In Africa) have adapted Dirie’s autobiography for the screen: a modern fairy tale of dazzling glamour and archaic rituals, full of vitality, emotional depth and enormous compassion.
Q & A with star Liya Kebede moderated by Karen Durbin immediately following the screening.

8:30pm
Winter’s Bone
**Nominated for 4 Academy Awards® including Best Picture, John Hawkes for Actor in a Supporting Role, Jennifer Lawrence for Actress in a Leading Role and Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini for Best Adapted Screenplay
In this moving story based on the novel by Daniel Woodrell, 17-year-old Ree Dolly sets out to track down her father, who put their house up for his bail bond and then disappeared. Ree hacks through the lies, evasions and threats offered up by her relatives and begins to piece together the truth. Directed by Debra Granik.
Q & A with Director/Co-Writer Debra Granik and Co-Writer Anne Rosellini moderated by Anne Thompson immediately following the screening.

Saturday, February 12, 2011
12:00pm
Bhutto
A riveting documentary of the recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto, a polarizing figure in the Muslim world. Following in her father’s footsteps as a pillar for democracy, Bhutto was expected to dominate Pakistan’s 2008 elections but the assassination sent Pakistan politics into turmoil. This major event sent shock waves throughout the world and transformed her from political messiah into a martyr for the common man. Directed by Duane Baughman and Johnny O'Hara.

12:00pm
Real Women Have Curves
This is the story of Ana, a first generation Mexican-American teenager on the verge of becoming a woman. She lives in the predominately Latino community of East Los Angeles. Freshly graduated from high school, Ana receives a full scholarship to Columbia University. Her very traditional, old-world parents feel that now is the time for Ana to help provide for the family, not the time for college. Torn between her mainstream ambitions and her cultural heritage, she agrees to work with her mother at her sister’s downtown LA sewing factory. Over the summer she learns to admire the hardworking team of women who teach her solidarity and teamwork. Still at odds with what her mother expects of her, Ana realizes that leaving home to continue her education is essential to finding her place proudly in the world as an American and Chicana.
Q & A with Director Patricia Cardoso and editor Sloane Kelvin immediately following the screening.

1:00pm Panel: A Hollywood Conversation with actress Greta Gerwig, Barnard ’06 (Greenberg, upcoming Arthur) moderated by Leslie Bennetts

3:30pm
My So-Called Enemy
In July 2002, 22 Palestinian and Israeli teenage girls traveled to the U.S. to participate in a women’s leadership program called Building Bridges for Peace. This film is about six of the girls and how knowing their “enemies” as human beings complicates the next 7 years of their lives.
Directed by Lisa Gossels.
Q & A with Director Lisa Gossels immediately following the screening.

3:30pm
Pink Smoke Over the Vatican – NY PREMIERE
This is a documentary film about impassioned Roman Catholic women who are defying the Church hierarchy by being illicitly ordained as priests and refusing to remain voiceless in the religion they love.
Q & A with Director/Producer Jules Hart, Angela Bonavoglia, Fr. Roy Bourgeois and Jean Marie Marchant immediately following the screening.

4:00pm Panel:
The Bechdel Test - Where Are the Women Onscreen
Exploring why there are still too few films that feature women in prominent roles, what it takes to produce more movies with female leads, and what we, as audience members can do to make a difference.
Panel discussion with writer Delia Ephron (You’ve Got Mail), Margaret Nagle (Boardwalk Empire), Debra Kampmeier (writer/director Hounddog), and producer Lisa Cortes (Precious).

6:30pm
Pink Saris
“A girl’s life is cruel…A woman’s life is very cruel,” notes Sampat Pal, the complex protagonist at the center of Pink Saris, internationally acclaimed director Kim Longinotto’s latest foray into the lives of extraordinary women (Sisters In Law, Divorce Iranian Style, Rough Aunties). Sampat should know – like many others she was married as a young girl into a family which made her work hard and beat her often. But unusually, she fought back, leaving her in-laws and eventually becoming famous as a champion for beleaguered women throughout Uttar Pradesh, many of whom find their way to her doorstep, frightened and desperate, as their only hope.
Q & A with Ishita Srivastava immediately following the screening.

7:00pm
Miss Representation – NY PREMIERE
Guess what, America? Sexism still exists in the U.S., despite the fact that women are a majority of our population. Miss Representation explores women’s underrepresentation in positions of power and influence in America by challenging the limited portrayal of women as encouraged by the mainstream media. On a scale unprecedented in human history, the media communicates cultural values, dictates gender norms, and tells us who we can and cannot be. The collective message that seeps into our subconscious is that women’s value lies primarily in youth, beauty and sexuality. As a result, both men and women have a limited understanding of who women are and what women can be, leading to the under-representation of women in key leadership roles and skyrocketing levels of eating disorders, sexual assault, cosmetic surgery, and exploitative pornography. In this climate of dangerous stereotypes and rigid gender roles, women are rarely seen as powerful figures, and it is difficult for the average woman to feel powerful herself. Accompanied by a collaborative social outreach campaign, Miss Representation celebrates women’s progress across America and inspires our audience to take action for transformative social change.  With Rosario Dawson, Jane Fonda, Molly Sims, Katie Couric, Daphne Zuniga, Catherine Hardwicke, Paul Haggis and more.  Directed by Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
Q & A with Jennifer Siebel Newsom and Carol Jenkins moderated by Pat Mitchell.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

12:00pm
The Topp Twins
Pride of New Zealand, the Topp Twins, Jools and Lynda were once merely farm girls in love with riding horses. Soon, their energetic talent, political savvy and concern, harmonizing vocals and melodies, and campy Kiwi theatrics were bound to find an audience outside their home on the range. A hit TV show followed, an international tour was next, and soon the girls were lassoing their messages of love and equality to issues as broad as apartheid and nuclear disarmament. The passage of a successful homosexual rights reform bill in New Zealand’s Parliament certainly deserves a big nod to the tireless efforts of the Topps. With great affection and admiration, director Leanne Pooley reveals the true heart of this inseparable sibling duo through charming home movie footage and seriously funny interviews. Woven among the exuberant hilarity is an amazing musical showcase of the Topp’s acoustic country songs (they were inducted into New Zealand’s Music Hall of Fame in 2008), beautiful double vocal harmonies, and yes indeedy, some mighty masterful mellifluent yodeling. Now that’s entertainment.

12:00pm
Chisholm ’72 – Unbought & Unbossed
This is the first historical documentary on Brooklyn Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm and her campaign to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee in 1972. Following Chisholm from the announcement of her candidacy in January to the Democratic National Convention in Miami, Florida in July, the story is like her-- fabulous, fierce, and fundamentally “right on.” Shunned by the political establishment, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm asked people of color, feminists and young voters for their support to “reshape our society and take control of our destiny as we go down the Chisholm Trail in 1972.” Chisholm’s fight was for inclusion, as she wrote in her book The Good Fight (1973), and encompassed all Americans “who agree that the institutions of this country belong to all of the people who inhabit it.” To the surprise of many, voters responded. Chisholm ’72 reflects Chisholm’s wit, spirit, and charisma, reminding all Americans of their power as citizens while inspiring some to join the Chisholm Trail and continue fighting “The Good Fight.”
Q & A with Director Shola Lynch immediately following the screening.

2:00 pm
Panel: Women Documentarians – Stories That Change the World
Al Gore and Michael Moore might be the most visible successes in using film as a vehicle for social change, but women documentarians have also been telling the powerful stories of people facing extraordinary hardships. Join us for this panel where you will meet some of the inspiring women documentarians who are bringing vital stories to the screen and helping to jumpstart social change from Appalachia to Rwanda.
Panel discussion with Trudie Styler (Crude), Ricki Stern (Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work) and Penelope Chaffer (Toxic Baby) moderated by Caryn James.

3:30pm
MO - US PREMIERE
Award-winning actress Julie Walters takes on the lead role in a revealing portrait of Mo Mowlam, the powerfully charismatic woman whose no-nonsense approach to politics helped achieve one of the monumental landmarks in recent British history, the Good Friday Agreement.  Directed by Philip Martin.
Q & A with Marie Wilson, Founder of The White House Project, and Rebecca Traister immediately following the screening.

3:30pm
Passionate Politics: The Life & Work of Charlotte Bunch - PREMIERE
Passionate Politics is a new one-hour documentary that brings Charlotte’s story to life, from idealistic young civil rights activist to lesbian separatist to internationally-recognized leader of a campaign to put women’s rights front and center on the global human rights agenda. Every step of the way, this is also the story of modern feminist activism, from its roots in the 1960’s struggles for social justice to its outward-branching connections with campaigns against gender-based violence in other nations, from the 1980’s through the present day. A Joyce Warshow Film.  Directed by Tami Gold.  
Q & A with Director Tami Gold and Charlotte Bunch following the screening.

3:30pm
Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen
Hildegard von Bingen was truly a woman ahead of her time. A visionary in every sense of the word, this famed 12th-century Benedictine nun was a Christian mystic, composer, philosopher, playwright, poet, naturalist, scientist, physician, herbalist and ecological activist.
New German Cinema auteur Margarethe von Trotta (Marianne and Juliane, Rosa Luxemburg, Rosenstrasse) reunites with recurrent star Barbara Sukowa (Zentropa, Berlin Alexanderplatz) to bring the story of this extraordinary woman to life. In a staggering performance, Sukowa portrays von Bingen’s fierce determination to expand the responsibilities of women within the order, even as she fends off outrage from some in the Church over the visions she claims to receive from God. Lushly shot in the original medieval cloisters of the fairytale-like German countryside, Vision is a profoundly inspirational portrait of a woman who has emerged from the shadows of history as a forward-thinking and iconoclastic pioneer of faith, change and enlightenment.
Q & A with actress Barbara Sukowa immediately following the screening.

For additional info or to purchase tickets, please visit: www.athenafilmfestival.com

the Diana Center of Barnard College
117th and Broadway
New York City

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