The 15th Anniversary Athena Film Festival: The Cinematic Voice of Women From Around the World

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Tuesday, 04 March 2025 21:41

Written by Brad Balfour

Empire Waist

Now celebrating its 15th anniversary, The Athena Film Festival is dedicated to celebrating and advancing a new understanding of what women’s leadership looks like. Held at Barnard College of Columbia University in NYC, the festival runs from March 6th to the 9th with shorts, documentaries, and features that  feature a woman or women protagonist at the center of the story. Along with the slate of films, the festival hosts filmmaker workshops, master classes and panels on a variety of topics relevant to women in the film industry. 

Features include Empire Waist, in which a clothes-loving teenager is about to set the world on fire with her own line of inclusive fashion designs. Lilly tells the story of a poor, Alabama tire factory worker whose  fight for justice takes her all the way to the Supreme Court and then the corridors of Congress. Tatami is the first feature film to have both an Iranian and an Israeli director, Leila, an Iranian judo athlete is put in political danger when her government tells her to fake an injury and withdraw from the world championships rather than face an Israeli rival in the final forcing her to make a life-or-death decision that could put the lives of her, her coach and her family in danger.

Screenings are complemented by panels, filmmaker Q&As, and other events that investigate the intersections of gender, power, culture and society.

To learn more, go to: https://athenafilmfestival.com/

The 15th Anniversary Athena Film Festival
March 6 - 9, 2025

Barnard College
3009 Broadway
New York, NY 10027