Athena Film Festival (AFF) has launched its newest initiative: the Women in Science Development Fund. Sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Fund will provide two women or nonbinary filmmakers $10,000 each in development grants to support their writing of feature-length scripts focused on women in STEM fields.

Along with the grants, the two honorees will receive tailored creative mentorship from AFF’s Creative Development Program throughout the screenwriting process, as well as scientific mentorship from experts in their project’s subject matter. The Fund recipients will also be celebrated during a Women in Science event at AFF 2022, where they will be able to meet and network with notable women scientists, producers, heads of production companies, writers, and more.

Submissions for Women in Science Development Fund will be accepted via FilmFreeway through November 15. They must include a story treatment of two to four pages, a scientific statement of one to two pages, and up to 15 pages of writing samples. Submitted projects must contain realistic and compelling depictions of women in the fields of science, mathematics, and/or technology.

Find out more about the application process below or on AFF’s website. Notifications will be sent by December 15.

The 2022 Athena Film Fest will take place in March.

• Scripts must have a woman (girl) or women character(s) in leadership role(s) or position(s) within the fields of science, mathematics and/or technology. Projects from all genres are accepted, and we seek out stories about women from all racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural groups;
• Writers who are women, non-binary, or gender non-conforming are eligible to apply. Projects with more than one writer may be considered as long as all writers identify as women, non-binary, or gender non-conforming;
• Writers cannot have had a feature-length narrative script produced within the past 10 years;
• Final scripts must be written in English and should ultimately be 80 to 120 pages long;
• If chosen as a finalist, you may be asked to submit the answers to additional questions or participate in an interview;
• Submissions must be the original work of the entrant(s) and may not be based, in whole or in part, on any other fiction or nonfiction material, published or unpublished, produced or unproduced. Entries may, however, be adapted for the entrant’s (or entrants’) original work, which should be noted in the logline required on the application form. Entries lacking a logline on the application form will be disqualified.
• If the script is based on a true story, historical or contemporary, this must be noted in the logline required on the application form with the phrase “based on true story/events.”
• If the script is not original to the entrant(s), the entrant(s) must have the underlying necessary rights in order to submit and be considered for this grant.