Gearing up for its live and virtual launch tomorrow, March 11, the 2022 edition of Athena Film Festival (AFF) has unveiled its awardees and grant recipients. Ida Rodriguez Joglar, Kelsie Mason Ramos, and Nic Yulo are among those being honored at the annual celebration of women leaders in film. According to a press release, AFF is presenting a total of $65,000 to support women and non-binary artists at various stages of the screenwriting and filmmaking processes.
Joglar received the Athena Breakthrough Award for “Kili Big,” her feature debut, a documentary following a group of plus-sized women climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Given to a feature-length film directed by a first- or second-time female filmmaker that hasn’t received U.S. distribution, the honor comes with a $25,000 grant to help advance the project.
This marks the third consecutive year the Breakthrough Award has been presented to a woman of color. “We know that women of color are still extremely underrepresented behind the camera in the film industry,” said Melissa Silverstein, Athena Artistic Director/Co-Founder and Founder/Publisher of Women and Hollywood. “The Breakthrough Award is one way we are contributing to bolstering the pipeline of diverse filmmakers working on women-centric stories.”
“This being my first feature film, I don’t think I dared dream of receiving this sort of recognition,” Joglar stated. “I have learned so much about breaking through the barriers of judgment, of stereotypes and self-doubt, from the women in this film. I am forever grateful and honored that they trusted me to tell their story. Thank you Athena Film Festival for this honor and for providing a platform that supports and lifts up women’s voices and their stories.”
Ramos and Yulo — both Athena Screenwriting Lab alumnae — are the winners of the Chinonye Chukwu Emerging Writer Award. They will each receive a $10,000 grant to develop their feature-length scripts. Ramos’ “Book of Genevieve” is the story of a young woman torn between her Catholic faith and the desire to find an accepting queer community. Yulo’s “Laylayon” sees a retired nurse fighting to save her American-born family from a curse when they relocate to their ancestral home of the Philippines.
The festival also announced the titles selected for the Athena List, an annual competition recognizing unproduced scripts centering women leaders. They are Aunjanue Ellis’ “Sunflower: The Fannie Lou Hamer Story”; Jennifer Vanderbes’ historical drama about Frances Kelsey, the FDA medical reviewer who fought to get thalidomide taken off the market, “The Gatekeeper”; and Kate Sheffield’s “Ray of Life,” which traces environmentalist Rachel Carson’s public work, and her private relationship with a married woman.
AFF 2022 will be held in-person March 11-13 at Barnard College in New York City and virtually March 11-20. Mariama Diallo’s “Master,” Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes’ “The Janes,” and a 20th anniversary screening of Patricia Cardoso’s “Real Women Have Curves” are among the offerings.
Check out all the 2022 Athena honorees below, along with the details on their projects, courtesy of AFF.
ATHENA BREAKTHROUGH AWARD
“Kili Big,” by Ida Rodriguez Joglar
Soaring natural beauty, friendship among intergenerational women from different walks of life, adventure, discovery… Join this unforgettable group of plus-sized women from around the world as they trek to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Filled with suspense and intensity, this emotional journey will leave you breathless. Some dreams do come true.
THE CHINONYE CHUKWU EMERGING WRITERS AWARDEES
“Book of Genevieve,” by Kelsie Mason Ramos
Eager to live a life outside of her Catholic upbringing, a young woman soon realizes in order to find her dream queer community, she will have to leave the only world she’s ever known behind.
“Laylayon,” by Nic Yulo
When a pragmatic retired nurse is forced to relocate her American-born family to her ancestral home in a cursed village buried deep within the Philippine jungle, she discovers that she must face the ghosts of her past or risk losing her children forever.
ATHENA LIST WINNERS & FINALISTS
WINNERS
“Sunflower: The Fannie Lou Hamer Story,” by Aunjanue Ellis
Fannie Lou Hamer, a sharecropper, in the 1960s in a Mississippi that led the nation in recorded lynchings, single-handedly changed the Democratic Party from being a haven and incubator for Klansmen and Confederates to being the party of Barack Obama and Kamala Harris. Before Stacey Abrams, there was a short, stocky, gold-toothed woman from Ruleville, Mississippi named Fannie Lou Hamer.
“The Gatekeeper,” by Jennifer Vanderbes
A historical drama based on the story of Frances Kelsey – the FDA medical reviewer who in the early 1960s fought a major pharmaceutical firm to keep the drug thalidomide off the American market. This script is based on my own non-fiction book, The Gatekeeper, to be published by Random House in 2022.
“Ray of Life,” by Kate Sheffield
When writer/biologist Rachel Carson’s love of nature brings her literary success, she finds love with a married woman. While hiding this unspeakable truth in postwar America, she takes on the military industrial complex by alerting the world to its poisons through her book, Silent Spring, seeding the
environmental movement. As she fights this public battle to save lives, few know of the private one she must endure to save her own.
FINALISTS
“The Language of Wolves,” by Nan Schmid
A female reporter inherits a fallen comrade’s dog. When she takes the dog on a woodsy cabin getaway, she discovers a resort allowing trophy killing and struggles to expose it. Then the owner takes aim at her, the dog and a pair of newly abandoned wolf pups.
“PLAÇAGE,” by G. Michelle Robinson
A single-minded, bi-racial woman rejects her life of privilege in 1820s New Orleans, to spark adventure and purpose in the burgeoning Missouri territories, but finds The Mississippi easier to navigate than the racial divide of the West.
“Adult Bat Mitzvah,” by Rachel McKay Steele
Rose, a struggling post college comedian/personal assistant is heckled during her comedy routine. With her Judaism questioned – Rose shockingly proclaims she is the real deal and she WILL have an adult Bat Mitzvah! Due to an exhaustive work schedule, the only Bat Mitzvah class Rose can attend is filled with a raucous group of 7th graders. As she forms a bond with one of the pre-teens, Rose realizes her classmates aren’t the only ones with some growing up to do. Based on a true experience, ADULT BAT MITZVAH is a romantic comedy about Judaism, and spoiler alert, Judaism gets the girl!
“Tidal Disruption,” by Kiran Deol
Audrey is a quiet, nail-biting overachieving perfectionist and first year graduate student, in the cutthroat, male dominated world of astronomy. She attends Rose Tech, a premier STEM science institution and lands a coveted position on the research team of the charming, charismatic, and National Science Award winning superstar professor, Richard Crane. He offers a singular and exciting opportunity – to serve as Audrey’s advisor for her submission to the Stellar Astronomy and Astrophysics Conference (SAAC) – a place that makes and breaks careers. But as time goes on, a push-pull energy between Crane and Audrey begins. Is it chemistry? Camaraderie? Unwanted advances? Or is Audrey just a socially anxious introvert who misreads and exaggerates social cues?
ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION WOMEN IN SCIENCE DEVELOPMENT FUND
“Vision,” by Jane Barr
The amazing true story of Dr. Patricia Bath inventing the Laserphaco probe, a device which removes cataracts, curing blindness for millions of people around the world.
“The Inventrix: Margaret Knight Biopic,” by Michael Ann Dobbs
Based on the true story/events of Margaret Knight’s 1870 patent trial to prove Charles Annan stole her design for the automatic paper bag making machine.
ALFRED P. SLOAN FELLOWS FOR THE 2022 ATHENA FILM FESTIVAL VIRTUAL WRITERS LAB
“Bound by Ice,” by Nancy Kates
Based on a true story, Bound by Ice is a feature dramatic thriller set in 1959-60, pitting Lucy Bledsoe, a gutsy lesbian scientist, against McCarthy-era government agents. When she stumbles on a misguided nuclear plan with dire environmental consequences, Lucy is forced to choose between her job, her forbidden love, and the truth, however impossible.
“Scarce,” by Mrittika ‘Mou’ Sarin
After discovering that the water supply of an underprivileged community has been stolen, a cynical software engineer fights to right this injustice — even as it draws her into conflict with her idealistic son.
