Athena Film Festival 2017 Honorees Announced
Honorees Announced for Athena Film Festival 2017
(released
12/29/2016)
By Kimberly Burke
Athena Film Festival is celebrating seven years at Barnard College in Manhattan and runs February 9-12, 2017. Amazon Studios will sponsor the hallmark of the festival, the 2017 Athena List. The list is 3-5 screenplays not-yet-produced featuring female leadership or strong female protagonists in real and fictional stories. The festival was created to celebrate women and leadership. Co-founders of the festival are the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College and WomenandHollywood.com.
"We are thrilled to be collaborating with Amazon Studios on the 2017 Athena List," said Melissa Silverstein, Athena Film Festival co-founder and artistic director and founder of Women and Hollywood. "The goal of the Athena List has always been and continues to be the ability to showcase scripts with female leaders. With Amazon's sponsorship, we can take the work to a whole new level and enable our winners to meet with industry executives and learn how to build sustainable careers. The Athena List has become a staple of the Athena Film Festival and we could not think of anyone better than Amazon Studios to support this initiative. They continue to break barriers in the entertainment industry and support female voices both in front and behind the camera."
The festival that opens on Thursday, February 9, 2017 screens features, documentaries, and shorts. The program of events includes guest speaker panels, special events, and women filmmaker feedback. The campus of Barnard is welcoming and motivational. Collectively, the mission of elevating the number of women who are writing, directing, producing, leading both locally and globally is exuded throughout the days of festivaling.
This year, the festival will honor Eve Ensler, Patricia Riggen, Regina K. Scully, and David Oyelowo. Using only two words to describe the honorees is just the beginning of their notable achievements:
Eve Ensler, Tony Award
Patricia Riggen, Top Grossing
Regina K. Scully, Social Justice
David Oyelowo, Champions Women
"Our 2017 Athena Film Festival honorees celebrate an incredible group of people whose work promotes the advancement of women in film," said Kathryn Kolbert, co-founder of the Athena Film Festival and the Constance Hess Williams '66 Director of the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College. "We are grateful to be giving our second Athena Leading Man Award to David Oyelowo. We feel it is crucial to highlight the men who support women in the industry."
When attending and exploring the festival's programmed days, you realize how present this festival feels, how the rooms are filled with today's leaders and the artists of film. Barnard College was founded in 1889, and continues the tradition of providing a liberal arts education that is revered worldwide.
Artemis Rising Foundation is the founding sponsor of the festival. Co-chairs for the Athena Film Festival 2017 are listed here along with navigation to get involved with Athena: athenafilmfestival.com
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