Celebrating Athena Film Festival Throughout March 1st - 31st 2021

For the past eleven years, the Athena Film Festival has been the premiere festival to amplify women's leadership through film as well as provide in-depth conversations with industry experts. The festival works in conjunction with Barnard College's Athena Center for Leadership and Women and Hollywood to shift the cultural conversation of stories told of women.

In celebration of March as Women's History Month, I'm excited to cover the event virtually. In the upcoming weeks, I'll be providing reviews of a wide variety of shorts to documentaries and feature film screenings, which includes:

• Beans, directed by Tracey Deer. A twelve-year-old Mohawk Girl torn between innocent childhood and reckless adolescence as she grapples with her experiences of community, activism, and racism during the Indigenous uprising of 1990 known as The Oka Crisis.
• Mama Gloria - an intimate portrait of a trailblazing 73-year-old black transgender woman who transitioned before Stonewall, started a charm school for transgender youth in her 60s and is aging with joy and grace.
• Ava & Bianca - a short documentary film directed by Rachel Fleit that portrays the profound friendship between Ava Benjamin Schorr and Bianca Cline who are both transgender female cinematographers.

If you'd like to learn more about the festival or explore the programming, visit the official site here. Here's more information regarding the festival per the official festival press release:

Over the past ten years, the Athena Film Festival has established itself as the premier festival dedicated to celebrating and elevating women’s leadership. Our festival highlights films showcasing women’s leadership from underexplored perspectives; women leading in all places and spaces who are resisting and refuting preconceived notions of all they can be and do. Through our Parity Pipeline Program we are bolstering the pipeline of women creatives who are telling these stories and fostering a network of women in film.

The Athena Film Festival is a joint project of Barnard College’s Athena Center for Leadership and Women and Hollywood. The festival’s founding sponsor is the Artemis Rising Foundation and its CEO Regina K. Scully.

The 11th Annual Athena Film Festival, a joint partnership between Barnard’s Athena Center for Leadership & Melissa Silverstein’s WOMEN IN HOLLYWOOD. The festival will also feature an International Women’s Day Program and a number of conversations and panels discussing film, women in the entertainment industry, and equality in Hollywood and beyond.

The Athena Film Festival (AFF) at Barnard College announced its opening night film and lineup of programming for the 2021 festival today. The 11th annual festival, a joint partnership between Barnard’s Athena Center for Leadership and the initiative Women and Hollywood, will take place virtually from March 1st through March 31st. The annual festival includes film screenings, in-depth conversations with filmmakers and industry experts, a series of programs that support the pipeline of women creatives, and a wide variety of events focused on celebrating and amplifying the stories of bold, courageous women leaders.

“While planning this year’s festival, we wanted to prioritize relevant and timely films that spoke to the pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the myriad ways we’ve experienced our world shift this year. We were also focused on inclusion – building on our history of featuring new and diverse voices and challenging the status quo to lead the industry forward” said Melissa Silverstein, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of AFF and founder of Women and Hollywood. “I think we’ve done that. The films and conversations at this year’s festival will tackle complex, emotional, and diverse subjects with voices from across the industry. While this year’s festival will feel very different, I could not be more proud of the incredible slate of programming which is 90% women and nonbinary directors and 51% women and non binary directors of color that we will bring to our audiences across the United States for the 11th annual edition.”

Thursday Movie Picks - TMP Television Edition: Love Triangles

Wandering Through the Shelves hosts Thursday Movie Picks. It's a weekly series where bloggers post and share various movie picks every Thursday. 

The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

This week is TMP Television Edition: Romance Tropes / TMP Television Edition: Love Triangles.

Thursday Movie Picks - Romance Tropes Edition: Forbidden Love

Wandering Through the Shelves hosts Thursday Movie Picks. It's a weekly series where bloggers post and share various movie picks every Thursday. 

The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

This week is TMP Television Edition: Romance Tropes Edition: Forbidden Love.

52 Films By Women Challenge - The Love Witch and Love & Basketball

In 2015, the Los Angeles' Women in Film started a challenge to watch one film by a female director every week for a year. I've seen this floating around social media and movie blogs for a while, and always meant to join in. For 2021, I finally decided to try it out this year as one of my resolutions.

Every week I thought it'd be fun to do a quick round-up of the film(s) I've watched for the challenge. The films I chose for the challenge are on letterboxd - if you want to see the slate so far - but I'm not going in an particular order of alphabetical or chronological.

My next two films is The Love Witch (2016) and Love and Basketball (2000). I've been dealing with some health and personal stuff lately, so of course I'm falling behind posting these again. I might make this weekly catch-up into a bi-weekly routine instead to give me time to write and post my thoughts.

5 Swoon-Worthy Romantic Gestures in Movies

Romanticmovies have the power to make us believe in the power of love or at least give us high expectations for the gifts we can share on Valentine's Day to show how much they mean to us. 'Tis the season to overestimate what Cupid has in store. So I thought it'd be fun to share my favorite romantic gestures from movies...that has set some impossible standards.

Thursday Movie Picks - Romance Tropes Edition: Friends to Lovers

Wandering Through the Shelves hosts Thursday Movie Picks. It's a weekly series where bloggers post and share various movie picks every Thursday. 

The rules are simple: based on the theme of the week pick three to five movies and tell us why you picked them. For further details and the schedule visit the series main page here.

This week is  TMP Television Edition: Romance Tropes Edition: Friends to Lovers. I inadvertently went for a superhero theme this week. Blogger is giving me a tough time uploading pictures, so this will be gif-free until I can add them in later.

Ruth: Justice Ginsburg In Her Own Words (2021)

“I’ve seen opinion polls that more people can name the Seven Dwarves than can name justices on the United States Supreme Court. “ – Dean Erwin Chemerinsky from Berkeley Law School opens an upcoming documentary directed by Academy Award winning director Freida Lee Mock. The obvious twist here is that if there’s one definitive iconic figure that hails from the Supreme Court Justice and we know of is Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 

From the famous meme of Notorious RBG to Saturday Night Live skits portrayed by Kate McKinnon and her history of breaking the class ceiling, she’s gained special notoriety in the general public over the past several years that makes her one of the most popular and empowering figures in U.S. government. How and why we know her name is as widely recognized as it is is exactly what Mock sets out to cement.

Ruth: Justice Ginsburg In Her Own Words uses previously televised events and interviews with  Ginsburg to explore her career. It begins with the line questioning she faced to be nominated as a Supreme Court Justice and the process of being sworn in by former president Bill Clinton. The centerpiece of the film leads with Ginsburg meeting with student groups inquiring about her career so far (in the mid 90s) and her outlook on the future such as the possibility of a female president. 

Using her observations the documentary taps into her achievements and the challenges she faced with "three strikes against her" as a person of the Jewish faith, a woman, and a mother who would go on to use her identity to persevere as a lawyer, working for ACLU, and eventually to earn the stature she’s recognized with today. What was used against her to keep citizens in line with outdated and prejudice laws, she used to the best of her abilities to help others attain their full rights in the face of gender, religion, and race discrimination. When original footage or photographs aren’t used, illustrations step in to elaborate on the court proceedings of cases she fought for. Ginsburg offers her unique perspective about what she was proud the wide range of cases that she was proud of and those that helped her cause as she furthered her career - one in particular includes a father working part-time and was denied social security to care for his infant son after his wife passed away.

More than merely showing how Ginsburg effected the clients she represented, Ruth: Justice Ginsburg In Her Own Words also shows the effect she had on people directly or were inspired by her impact. Interviews with those who worked with her such as a law clerk Goodwin Liu, former law volunteer M.E. Freeman, Cadet Jennifer Connolly who was able to attend Virginia Military Institute after the court ruled to expand its male-only enrollment to women, meme creator of Notorious R.B.G. Shana Knizhnik and author Irin Carmon, offer more insight into the woman behind the icon from her love of opera to her marriage to her husband Marty. Real life examples of the cases Ginsburg were apart of are also used. In one prominent case of United States v. Virginia, the Supreme Court Justice ruled in favor of Virginia Military Institute extending its males-only enrollment to include women. 

Ruth: Justice Ginsburg In Her Own Words revolves around some of the same topics as another documentary titled RBG, which was released in 2018 and focused on a chronological examination of her life from birth to (then) present-day. Most of the latter likewise unfolds in a linear fashion, but focuses more on containing the narrative to Ginsburg's career ambitions, pursuit for equal rights for all, and expanding the court to include more women. The two documentaries share the same subject matter, but Mock creates a worthwhile film to be enjoyed on its own or as a companion piece. Ruth: Justice Ginsburg In Her Own Words instills a needed message of inspiration to those who dare to follow in her footsteps and become the next generation of dissenters. 

Rating: ★★1/2☆

Please Note: I was provided with a screener to provide an honest review.Ruth: Justice Ginsburg In Her Own Words is available in virtual cinemas on 2/12 and TVOD on 3/9. STARZ will also air the documentary on 3/15 at 8 PM ET/PT on what would have been Justice Ginsburg’s 88th birthday.