Festival to Honor Rachel Caccese with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Athena List Development Grant, Sarah Goher with the Breakthrough Award in Partnership with Netflix, Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni, co-directors of Academy Award-nominated Cutting Through Rocks, to attend Festival and receive the Jaya Award in partnership with the Illumine Service Foundation; other guests include: Amy Goodman, subject of Steal This Story, Please!, and Chase Joynt director of opening film State of Firsts
NEW YORK (March 5, 2026) — Today, the Athena Film Festival (AFF) at Barnard College unveiled the honorees for its festival awards. The 16th annual festival, a partnership between Barnard College’s Athena Center for Leadership and the initiative Women and Hollywood, will take place March 6-8 on the Barnard campus in New York City. The annual festival showcases narrative features, documentaries, and short films; in-depth conversations with filmmakers and thought leaders; and a wide variety of events focused on amplifying women’s leadership through storytelling.
“The Athena Film Festival’s support of new and emerging filmmakers is one of our greatest points of pride,” said Melissa Silverstein, Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Athena Film Festival. “Through grants, fellowships, and mentorship opportunities, we have been able to consistently elevate films that might not otherwise reach the audiences they deserve. In 2026, with the help of our partners, the Festival is distributing $70,000 in awards to filmmakers — a guarantee that more stories about women’s leadership are told.”
2026 awardees include, Rachel Caccese the writer of The Aquanauts as the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Athena List Development Grant winner. This $20,000 award is given to an Athena List finalist or winner for a script that focuses on a woman in a STEM-themed project. As part of the award, the Festival will feature actors performing a live reading of Caccese’s script. The festival will also honor Sarah Goher, director of Happy Birthday with the Breakthrough Award in partnership with Netflix. This $25,000 award is given to a feature-length film (narrative or documentary) directed by a first- or second-time filmmaker without a U.S. theatrical distribution deal. Tamar Feinkind, writer of The Syndrome will receive the Chinonye Chukwu Emerging Writer Award in partnership with Christine A. Schantz. This $10,000 award is given to a feature-length writer who has previously participated in an Athena Film Festival Writers Lab, and will assist them in the development of their script. Cutting Through Rocks, directed by Academy Award nominated filmmakers Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni are the recipients of the Jaya Award in partnership with the Illumine Service Foundation. This $10,000 award is given to a film that focuses on women’s leadership.
Additionally, AFF is also pleased to be continuing its partnership with AMC Networks as part of its “Future of Film” initiative, which partners with independent film festivals across the country to showcase the next generation of emerging talent. We are continuing the AMC Networks Athena Emerging Writers Fellowship which will award a $5,000 grant to a writer working on a woman-centered television project in the Athena Film Festival Writers Lab, along with a writers’ room experience at AMC Networks on a series.
“Barnard College and the Athena Film Festival have always held a common mission — ensuring talented women have access to the support and resources to reach their highest potential,” said Nikki Youngblood Giles, Vice Dean of Campus Life, Barnard College. “That is what has made Barnard the perfect home for the Festival for over 15 years. These tremendous financial awards to filmmakers are a reminder to all of our students that their creative and professional goals are within reach.”
The full list of Athena winners, 2026 AFF Writers Lab Fellows, and 2026 AFF Documentary Pitch Program Cohort are listed below.
Grant Recipients
The Chinonye Chukwu Emerging Writer Award in partnership with Christine A. Schantz
The Syndrome by Tamar Feinkind
In 1982, The Bronx, a mysterious illness affecting homosexual men is taking over a small clinic, and second-year resident Deborah Rosen, a closeted, lesbian, struggles to treat these men who only remind her of her own worst parts of herself, and who visually trigger the emaciated images of her relatives who perished in the Holocaust. When a homeless woman, Rene, comes in with a nasty eye infection and depleted T cells, Deb suspects that Rene is actually her long-lost cousin and is the first woman Deb has seen with the illness. Deb can repress her survivor’s guilt no more – Deb invites Rene into her apartment, claiming it will be just for the night, but both Deb and Rene know that this is the start of a deep, platonic love.
Athena Film Festival Breakthrough Award in partnership with Netflix
Happy Birthday by Sarah Goher
Eight-year-old maid Toha goes to great lengths to ensure that her best friend Nelly, the daughter of her wealthy employer, has a successful birthday party in this poignant debut feature exploring classism in modern-day Cairo.
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Athena List Development Grant
The Aquanauts by Rachel Caccese
Summer of 1970, in the wake of the moon landing, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration assembles the first all-female team of marine biologists on an unprecedented mission to live in an underwater habitat for two weeks. Inspired by real events.
Jaya Award in partnership with the Illumine Service Foundation
Cutting Through Rocks by Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni
As the first elected councilwoman of her remote Iranian village, Sara Shahverdi fearlessly breaks patriarchal traditions by training teenage girls to ride motorcycles and stopping child marriages. When accusations arise questioning Sara’s intentions to empower the girls, her identity is put in turmoil.
Future of Film: Athena Rising Stars in partnership with AMC Networks
This curated collection features five standout short films from NYC’s Athena Film Festival—bold, imaginative stories created by women. Showcasing fresh perspectives and rising voices shaping the next era of cinema, Future of Film: Athena Film Festival is coming soon to AMC+ and Sundance Now.
The Rebirth – directed by Connie Shi
The Rebirth is a supernatural thriller about a woman who takes a black market abortion pill that gives her an unexpected side effect…
They Call Me the Tattoo Witch – directed by Lindsay Nyman
In Hanoi, Vietnam, tattoo artist Tran Ngoc specializes in the rare and challenging art of tattooing over scars. Despite the social stigma surrounding tattoos in Vietnam, Ngoc empowers her clients, including breast cancer survivors and women with self-harm scars, to reclaim their bodies, demonstrating that her work is a profound act of compassion and resilience.
Tessitura – directed by Lydia Cornett and Brit Fryer
Blending character portraits with historical context, Tessitura explores how voice and gender are continuously reformulated in opera.
Naaz – directed by Bakhtawar Tagar
In a rural Pakistani village where women face exploitative and dismissive healthcare, retired doctor Farah Naz runs the only clinic offering compassionate, affordable treatment. But her mission is threatened from all sides: a crumbling facility with no reliable electricity, personal struggles, and a public infrastructure that seems designed to fail its most vulnerable. As the walls close in, Dr. Naz must decide what she’s willing to sacrifice to continue serving the women who have nowhere else to turn.
Birthday Party (or the Revenge of the Stepdaughter) – directed by Anastasia Ayazi
At her new family’s frenzied reunion, seven-year-old Carolina tries to give her stepfather a birthday card and learns the adults see her as decoration.
2026 Athena Film Festival Writers Lab Fellowships
The Athena Film Festival Writers Lab is a three-day creative development workshop for emerging writers.
The Alfred P. Sloan AFF Writers Lab Fellows
Abel’s Baby: Precious Cargo by Hallie Stephenson (episodic)
Abel Saffey, a science prodigy born in the mid 18th century, finds herself in crisis when she is accused of double homicide and sentenced to live out her days in the new Australian penal colonies. She discovers she is pregnant while aboard the prisoner transport ship and uses her expert knowledge of 18th century physics, engineering and chemistry to save herself and her unborn child.
The Syndrome by Tamar Feinkind (screenplay) also the recipient of the Chinonye Chukwu Award
Danni’s Hard Drive by Megan Green (episodic)
Based on the true story of the only woman to appear on the cover of The Wall Street Journal and Juggs magazine. At the dawn of the internet in 1994, Danni Ashe, an ambitious exotic dancer, teams up with a brilliant computer programmer-turned stay at home mom to launch one of the world’s first porn sites.
Lady Doctor by Mayanka Goel (episodic)
Dr. Taneesha Bedi arrives in the rural village of Saphale expecting bad plumbing and a complete lack of sex education. What she finds instead is a tight-knit community and an apparent virgin birth. Driven by science (and the need to outsmart the village nurse), Dr. Bedi sets off to uncover the mystery, only to be surprised – not just by the test results but the village itself.
DRIFT by Trà Nguyễn (screenplay)
DRIFT tells the true story of Marie Tharp, a brilliant but overlooked geologist who quietly changed the course of science by mapping the ocean floor and helping prove continental drift. Working in isolation and often dismissed for her gender, Marie builds a groundbreaking partnership with oceanographer Bruce Heezen—one filled with tension, loyalty, and buried emotion. As she uncovers the hidden architecture of the Earth, Marie must also fight to be seen in a world that insists on erasing her.
Unfluence by Makisa Francis (episodic)
In a near-future world dominated by social media, influencer Siena Rae checks herself into Unfluence, a cutting-edge rehab facility for digital addiction. Seeking recovery from the toxic grip of likes, shares, and endless validation, Sienna expects detox and therapy—but what she finds is far more insidious.
The Loreen Arbus AFF Writers Lab Fellows
Milkmaid/Soldier by Talena Sanders (screenplay)
Set in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam in the final year of World War II, Milkmaid/Soldier follows Verena, a young Dutch courier, whose bond with a daring operative named Jo draws her deeper into the resistance. As their love intensifies, the women risk everything on missions to sabotage the Nazis and save lives, while confronting secrecy, grief, and the price of defiance. Against a backdrop of constant surveillance and hidden queer networks, the story explores what it means to fight for love and justice in a world that punishes both.
Dryland (Just Keep S********) by Kai Dorsey (episodic)
Simply put Dryland is Ted Lasso meets 30 Rock; the world is set in June at the country’s premier Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs — 399 days until the Olympics and only three months into the qualification period for Trials. Despite being largely unknown, a handful of the more successful professional swimmers on the US National Swim Team still believe they’re god’s gift to mankind; so Dryland will follow the team through two sets of Olympics as the swimmers experience wins, losses, mental health issues, injuries, and romance, the audience will get a glimpse into how the athletes grow as they face life as professionals in one of the most physically demanding sports. The main character, Cameron Evans, will gain confidence that benefits not only the team, but also herself, leading to a challenging, yet illustrious career.
2026 AFF Documentary Pitch Program Cohort
The program is an intensive pitch training and storytelling strengthening opportunity that culminates with a live pitch event during the Festival. Each filmmaking team works with Peabody Award-winning filmmaker/teacher/co-founder of Chicken & Egg Films, Judith Helfand.
Hen House – Director Julia Rosenheim, Producers Karen Gaytán, and Jasmine Szympruch
Hen House follows organizer Magaly Licolli and immigrant poultry workers in Arkansas who transform art into collective action — until rising immigration enforcement places new risks on public organizing, compelling the movement to adapt in real time.
Bad Girl Marcia Tucker – Director/ Producer: Simone Estrin + Producer: Mafe Simonsen
Right after radical feminist curator Marcia Tucker was fired from the Whitney Museum in 1976, she founded the New Museum. Her mission: to champion excluded voices and artforms. Through rare archival materials – including her final “exit interview” filmed months before her death – Bad Girl Marcia Tucker elevates her joyously defiant, candid, and revolutionary legacy. The invitation: to step into a prescient and passionate blueprint for creative resistance – just when we need it most.
Reunion Choir – Director Malkia K. Lydia
Joyce Garrett, a retired DC choir teacher and a powerhouse of a septuagenarian, tracks down hundreds of her former students from the legendary Eastern High School Choir. Along the road to a massive reunion concert, Garrett leads four decades of alumni to dust off their old repertoires, mapping a history of resistance, love, joy and enduring impact.
Fraser Syndrome & Us– Director: Kyle Anne Grendys, Producer: Chuck Grendys
As the 75th person diagnosed with Fraser Syndrome, filmmaker Kyle Anne Grendys travels the world to connect with her “Fraser Family” and understand their shared experience of living rarely.
Key Conversations
Women Laughing
Following the screening of Women Laughing, New Yorker cartoonist and co-director Liza Donnelly and co-director Kathleen Hughes will be joined by New Yorker cartoonists Amy Hwang ’00, Emily Flake, and Bishakh Som to discuss the power of art and understanding the role of a cartoonist in our culture.
Sloan Showcase (following screening of Late Shift)
The film Late Shift, directed by Petra Volpe, takes us into the life of a nurse in Switzerland as she embodies vital issues, posing the question: How can any health care system be fair, sustainable and safe for nurses and patients alike?
The post-screening conversation includes those working in the field of nursing to discuss the current state of the profession in America, and across the globe, and how reform is being sought out, through policy, research, education and beyond.
Participants include:
Moderator: Maya Kaufman
Maya Kaufman is a health care reporter at POLITICO New York and the co-author of a daily POLITICO Pro newsletter on health care policy and politics in Albany and New York City.
Panelist: Michelle Gonzalez
Michelle Gonzalez, RN, is a NYSNA nurse at Montefiore Medical Center and an elected member of her local union’s leadership.
Panelist: Johnaira Dilone-Florian
Nurse Practitioner Johnaira Dilone-Florian specializes in neurosurgery and has worked at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx for ten years.
Panelist: Pres Averbach Lorenzo
Pres Averbach Lorenzo, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, CNL, CCRN, CSC, is a critical care nurse educator at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
Panelist: Allison P. Squires
Allison Squires, Ph.D., FAAN, RN, is a Professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. She is a global health services researcher with two focal areas of research: creating a sustainable nursing workforce and improving immigrant health outcomes.
Panelist: Allison A. Norful
Allison Andreno Norful, Ph.D., RN, ANP-BC, FAAN is a board-certified adult nurse practitioner and health services researcher with a focus on interdisciplinary care delivery models and the impact of work environment factors on clinical workforce.
2026 Festival Sponsors include: Founding Sponsor, The Artemis Rising Foundation and its CEO Regina K. Scully, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Secret Sauce Media, Netflix, the Dobkin Family Foundation, Walt Disney Studios, AMC Networks, Hanky Panky, Illumine Service Foundation, Christine A. Schantz, Regal, Evenstar, The Katie McGrath & J.J. Abrams Family Foundation, SAGindie, and Attitude New York. The festival’s accessibility sponsor is the Loreen Arbus Foundation.
Passes and tickets are now on sale. Visit the Athena Film Festival website for regular updates and more information.
###
ABOUT THE ATHENA FILM FESTIVAL
Founded in 2011, the Athena Film Festival is dedicated to advancing new narratives about leadership through original, thought-provoking, compelling, and diverse women-centered stories. The Athena Creative Development Program, an extension of the Athena Film Festival, is a set of strategic interventions that increase the likelihood that women-centered stories will succeed.
The Athena Film Festival is a partnership of Barnard College and Women and Hollywood. Our founding sponsor is the Artemis Rising Foundation and its CEO, Regina K. Scully.
ABOUT BARNARD COLLEGE
Barnard offers a singular educational experience, as a world-renowned women’s college focused on excellence across the arts and sciences, with all the academic resources of Columbia University and the City of New York as an extended classroom. Founded in 1889, Barnard was one of the few colleges in the nation where women could receive the same rigorous and challenging education available to men. Today, Barnard is one of the most selective academic institutions in the country and remains devoted to empowering extraordinary women to become even more exceptional. That commitment is reflected across the College, including through leadership development programs supported by the Athena Center for Leadership.
ABOUT WOMEN AND HOLLYWOOD
Women and Hollywood educates, advocates, and agitates for gender parity and inclusion across the entertainment industry. Over the past 18 years, it has grown to be one of the most respected initiatives focused on women’s issues and popular culture, and its founder, Melissa Silverstein, has become a well-respected leader on the subject.
ABOUT ARTEMIS RISING FOUNDATION
Artemis Rising Foundation is dedicated to supporting media projects that transform our culture and challenge the status quo. Led by founder and CEO Regina K. Scully, the foundation champions powerful stories about some of the most challenging social justice issues of our time — including gender bias, healing, trauma, mental health, addiction, and women’s empowerment.
MEDIA INQUIRIES:
Barnard College Office of Communications mediarelations@barnard.edu
