Our Signature Script Competition
About the Athena List
The Athena List is an annual feature-length script competition that selects exceptional scripts featuring women leaders at the heart of the story. As the signature program of the Athena Film Festival’s Creative Development program, The Athena List’s goal is to raise the profile of the winning scripts and writers within the industry, with the purpose of getting these movies made and elevating the writers’ careers to the next level.
Participants in the Athena List are eligible for the Alfred P. Sloan Athena List Development Grant and the Disney Athena List Development Grant.
Program Participants
2025 Winners
A to Z by Zara Symes
A to Z is the true story of Phyllis Pearsall, an outspoken and restless woman who defied the gender expectations of her time to walk every street of post-WWII London to create the first truly comprehensive and accessible city map that is still in use today.
Cygnus by Melody Cooper
A thriller about how the U.S. deals with immigration, focused on two women who become inextricably linked. Thelma and Louise meets Queen & Slim.
Motherland by Charlotte Scott-Wilson and Roelof Jan Minneboo
When war strikes, two maids from a Scottish colonial house form an unlikely alliance to survive. Together, they trek through the jungles of Burma into India on a wild journey that pushes them to their physical and psychological limits.
2025 Finalists
ADA and the Machine – by Irina C. Rodriguez
The true story of Ada Lovelace, a Victorian woman whose groundbreaking work with Charles Babbage earned her the pivotal role of history’s first computer programmer.
American Cassandra by Barbara Nunberg
Berlin-based correspondent, Dorothy Thompson, scores the first foreign press interview with Hitler in 1931 but then dismisses him as an inconsequential, “little man.” As the Nazi menace grows, she tries to redeem her mistake with hard-hitting stories and is expelled when the Nazi’s take power. Back in the U.S., she’s obsessed with rallying America into the fight against fascism. She uses her popular news column and radio program to counter the xenophobic America First movement, but her fervor wrecks her marriage and poisons her relationship with her only child. Dorothy is a 1930s feminist icon, professionally driven and independent. But she’s tormented, struggling to make her marriage to Nobel Laureate Sinclair Lewis — a combative, alcoholic depressive – work. Her instincts to prioritize her public mission over her personal relationships are contrasted with those of Anne, wife of Charles Lindbergh who subjugates her own identity to her husband’s dangerous political ideology.
Down Bad by Brooke Solomon
After a disastrous semi-final meet, five queer girls – all members of their college swim team – retreat to a remote Maine cabin for a self-imposed “bonding retreat.” But a sudden Nor’easter, scandalous secrets, and supernatural occurrences send the weekend spiraling into chaos.
Girl Pretending to Read Rilke by Laramie Dennis
Set in a Harvard genetics lab in the summer of 1963, Girl Pretending to Read Rilke follows 19-year-old Bronwen as she feverishly confirms a scientific discovery, proving she can hack it in this male-dominated field, even as an arrogant-but-great-in-bed boyfriend, a blundering mentor, and a series of devastating setbacks threaten to derail her.
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. The women must battle the dangers below while overcoming obstacles on the surface.
Racing the Wolf God by Alessandra Bautze
Set in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta of Alaska, this drama follows Kim, a 26-year-old Yup’ik woman and former champion musher who, after ten years in prison, faces the challenges of re-entry as she finds herself back in the world of dogsled racing—the exact activity that led to her incarceration in the first place.
For a complete list of past winners and finalists of The Athena List, click here.
Rules and Eligibility
- Scripts must have a woman (girl) or women character(s) in leadership role(s) or position(s). Projects from all genres are accepted, and stories about women from all racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural groups are encouraged;
- Scripts must be feature-length (we do not accept shorts or television scripts);
- Scripts must be in advanced development. DO NOT SUBMIT A FIRST DRAFT;
- Projects submitted MUST have taken part in a writer’s lab or intensive, or actively be working with industry members (such as a manager, agent, executive, and/or producer) on their project;
- Scripts based on existing material will be considered, as long as the writer(s) have secured the underlying rights to the source material;
- Screenplays that are fully financed and in pre-production are not eligible. They can be optioned and have producers and/or talent attached;
- Screenplays previously submitted and considered for the Athena List are not eligible;
- Scripts must be written in English and between 80 and 120 pages;
- Entries lacking a logline on the application form will be disqualified;
- Our submission process is two-tiered: we first review the synopsis of your script to see if it fits the criteria above; if it does, it will then be read in full. If your script does not fit the criteria it WILL NOT be considered;
- The Athena Film Festival encourages applications from people of all races, religions, national origins, sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, and ages, as well as veterans and individuals with disabilities. We strongly encourage you to apply if you are from a marginalized or underrepresented group, particularly in the film industry.
For more information, check out our FAQ page or reach out to us at athenafilmfestival@gmail.com.
