Barnard grad Greta Gerwig is one of the honorees at the inaugural Athena Film Festval, held at her alma mater this weekend
Barnard Campus
Broadway between 116th & 120th Sts.
February 11-13, $10 (Festival Pass $50)
www.athenafilmfestival.com
The inaugural Athena Film Festival: A Celebration of Women’s Leadership kicks off a weekend of exciting events tomorrow, with a bevy of film screenings, honorees, panel discussions, Q&As, and more. Hosted by Barnard College’s Athena Center for Leadership Studies, the festival was founded by Kathryn Kolbert and Melissa Silverstein; the initial Honorary Host Committee includes such groundbreaking movers and shakers as Molly Haskell, Delia Ephron, Mira Nair, Anna Quindlen, Sheila Nevins, and Gale Anne Hurd in addition to a couple of men, Kevin Haft and Mark Urman. This year’s Athena Award winners are breakout mumblecore star Greta Gerwig, director Debra Granik, producer Debra Martin Chase, screenwriter Ephron, and documentarian Chris Hegedus, all of whom will be on hand to discuss their work. The festival opens Friday night at 6:00 with Tim Chambers’s THE MIGHTY MACS, which will be followed by a discussion with former WNBA star Kym Hampton, Women’s Sports Foundation CEO Kathryn Olson, and Chambers. Also on the Friday-night schedule are Sherry Hormann’s DESERT FLOWER, followed by a Q&A with fashion model and actress Liya Kebede and film critic Karen Durbin, and Granik’s Oscar-nominated WINTER’S BONE, followed by a discussion with Granik and cowriter and coproducer Anne Rosellini, moderated by film writer Anne Thompson. Among the movies screening Saturday and Sunday are BHUTTO (Duane Baughman & Johnny O’Hara, 2009), followed by a talk by political commentator Mona Eltahawy; REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES (Patricia Cardoso, 2002), followed by a discussion with Cardoso and editor Sloane Kelvin; and CHISHOLM ’72: UNBOUGHT & UNBOSSED (Shola Lynch, 2004), followed by an audience Q&A with Lynch. On Saturday, Barnard grad Gerwig will participate in “A Hollywood Conversation” with Vanity Fair’s Leslie Bennetts at 1:00, Dodai Stewart, Margaret Nagle, and Barnard grad Ephron will examine “The Bechdel Test — Where Are the Women Onscreen” at 4:00, and Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage will offer a sneak peek at her upcoming play, BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK, at 4:30. On Sunday at 2:00, Penelope Jagessar Chaffer, Ricki Stern, and Chris Hegedus will explore “Women Documentarians — Stories That Change the World” with film critic Caryn James. It’s an ambitious festival, promising to “examine the values women leaders share — vision, courage, resilience — and explore leadership across race, class, and culture.” More than a century after women started making movies, it seems a shame that we still need a festival that separates the girls from the boys to celebrate and foster women in film. But alas, we do.