The Athena Film Festival kicked off their 10th-anniversary celebrations with a bang, at the Athena Film Festival Awards Ceremony on February 26 at Barnard College. This yearโs honorees included Lady Bird actress, Beanie Feldstein, film director Unjoo Moon, and Gamechanger CEO Effie T. Brown with presenters Paul Feig and Verna Myers.
The Athena Film Festival honors extraordinary women that demonstrate leadership in the film industry. Basically itโs the best kind of awards ceremony, aka women supporting women. *Cue Beyonceโs Run The World* But where did this all begin? No place other than Gloria Steinemโs living room. Yes, you read that right. โIt started when Melissa Silverstein, my co-founder, invited me to a party at Gloria Steinemโs house and there were all of these filmmakers who were complaining about the fact that they could make one film but couldnโt get the second film made,โ says co-founder Kathryn Kolbert. โSo I had just started here at Barnard and created the Athena Center and we decided to do a film festival. Whatโs happened has been fabulousโ Okay, but can we just go back to the part where she was casually invited to a party at Gloria Steinemโs house? No? Okay, weโll move on.
Steinem is also pleased with the success of the festival. โItโs great to see it grow and become more influential and more important and a great place where people get new ideas, see new ideas, and it just multiplies the energy,โ says Steinem.
Luckily, I wasnโt the only one freaking out over Steinemโs appearance. โI literally fell over, my knees buckled, I was like, โis that who I think it is?โโ says Beanie Feldstein. โSheโs literally my inspiration, sheโs my everything.โ But Steinem wasnโt the only person in attendance leaving Feldstein excited. Little Women producer and good friend, Greta Gerwig made a special appearance to cheer on her bestie, Beanie. Nothing beats successful and supportive BFFs.
Presenter and feminist Paul Feig was back for the awardsโ 10th anniversary after being the festivalโs first honoree. BTW, if youโre not caught up, itโs 2020 and men can be feminists too. โMen have to step up and become part of the cause because we are all in this together,โ says Feig on male feminists. โ(The industry) canโt be a boys club. We canโt keep other voices out. Whatโs so exciting about what we do is that we get to represent voices, and when we do that we should be letting people who are not normally empowered to tell their stories, tell their stories because those stories are really interesting and compelling.โ Come on Paul, hand me the Kleenex. You already made me cry hard enough during Last Christmas, you donโt need to do it again!
The Athena Film Festival aims to inspire young children and women alike. โI created this motto when I was younger that โthey either want the bean or they donโt want the beanโ and thatโs sort of my life motto for myself. You just have to be you, people will take it or leave it and sometimes itโs hard, sometimes it’s easier, but I really do believe that every single human being has something to offer and thatโs what I always say to young women.โ says Feldstein.
Speaking of inspirational words, what could be a better note to end on than a pep talk from Gloria Steinem? Thatโs right, nothing, so here you go: โOkay, hereโs my big advice, do not listen to my advice. Listen to that voice inside you, that is a unique person, and could never have happened before, and can never happen again, and to know what that voice is, because it tells you what you love to do, you forget what time it is when youโre doing it, follow that, and Iโm here to help you.โ
