The eleventh annual Athena Film Festival, a joint partnership between Barnard College’s Athena Center for Leadership & Melissa Silverstein’s WOMEN AND HOLLYWOOD, will run virtually this year throughout the month of March, and will feature a section titled Come As You Are, a selection of new LGBTQ-oriented films designed to react and respond to challenging times.
Among the entries are: Mama Gloria, Luchina Fisher’s loving documentary about trans icon Gloria Allen; Jessie Auritt & Jessica Wolfson’s short The Paint Wizzard about a transgender housepainter who lives in a bright yellow motorhome in Austin, Texas; Susan Sandler’s tender portrait of trans-comedian Julia Scotti: Funny That Way, Stacey Lee’s portrait of the current status of the gender, ethnic, and sexuality equality issues in dance music in the riveting Underplayed; and Ahead of the Curve is the story of one of the most influential women in lesbian history you’ve never heard of and the impact her work continues to have today directed by Jen Rainin and Rivkah Beth Medow
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Shorts films include: Cindy from Rosanagh Griffiths about the first time Cindy performs in drag; Playback from director Agustina Comedi about Kalas Group´s actresses resisting trans genocide by turning the stage into a trench; Kama’āina – Child of the Land from director Kimi Howl Lee about a queer sixteen-year-old girl, Mahina, who resides in the predominantly Native Hawaiʻian neighborhood of Wai’anae, Oahu; Ava & Bianca from Rachel Fleit is an ambient documentary handing out lessons on self-love and life from two trans cinematographers; and êmîcêtôcêt – Many Bloodlines from director Theola Ross about two women who decide that the white partner will carry her partner’s Indigenous child.
