Athena Awards

The Athena Film Festival at Barnard College awards extraordinary women and some men for their leadership and creative accomplishments in the film industry.

2020 Athena Award Winners

Beanie Feldstein – Actress
Effie T. Brown – CEO, Producer
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson – Director, Someone Great
Unjoo Moon – Breakthrough Awardee, Director, I Am Woman 

2019 Athena Award Winners

Desiree Akhavan  –  Breakthrough Awardee, Director, Writer, Actor
Cameron Bailey – CEO, TIFF, Athena Leading Man Award
Marielle Heller – Director, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Diary of a Teenage Girl
Nina Shaw ’76 – Lawyer, Time’s Up Founder

 2018 Athena Award Winners 

J.J. Abrams – Writer, Director, Producer, Athena Leading Man Award 
Amma Asante – Writer, Director
Bridget Everett –  Inaugural Athena Breakthrough Awardee, Actress, Cabaret Artist

2017 Athena Award Winners 

Eve Ensler – Playwright, Activist, Performer, and Author
David Oyelowo – Actor
Patricia Riggen – Director, Writer
Regina K. Scully – Emmy Award®-winning producer, media activist, and social entrepreneur

2016 Athena Award Winners 

Geralyn Dreyfous- Academy Award Winning Producer
Paul Feig –  Inaugural Athena Leading Man Awardee
Karyn Kusama- Writer, Director
Jeanine Tesori-Tony-Winning Composer
Suffragette- Inaugural Athena Film Festival Ensemble Award

2015 Athena Award Winners

Sheila Nevins – President, HBO Documentary Films
Gina Prince-Bythewood – Writer, Producer, Director
Cathy Schulman – Academy Award Winning Producer

2014 Athena Award Winners

Callie Khouri – Writer and Director
Kasi Lemmons – Writer and Director
Keri Putnam – Executive Director, The Sundance Institute

2013 Athena Award Winners

Ava DuVernay –  Director, Marketer, and Film Distributor
Molly Haskell –  Film critic and author
Rose Kuo – Executive Director, Film Society of Lincoln Center 
Pat Mitchell – President & CEO, Paley Center for Media

2012 Athena Award Winners

The Fempire: Diablo Cody, Dana Fox, Liz Meriwether, and Lorene Scafaria – For Their Creativity and Sisterhood
Rachael Horovitz –  For Her Exceptional Talents as a Motion Picture Producer
Theresa Rebeck – For Her Excellence as a Playwright and Author of Films, Books and Television
Dee Rees and Nekisa Cooper –  For Their Impact as Emerging Filmmakers 
Julie Taymor –  For Her Vision and Courage as an Exemplary Director

2011 Athena Award Winners

Leslie Bennetts – Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair
Debra Martin Chase – President, Martin Chase Productions
Abigail Disney – Producer
Delia Ephron – Screenwriter
Greta Gerwig – Actress
Debra Granik – Director
Tanya Hamilton – Director
Chris Hegedus – Director
Gini Reticker – Director, Producer
Anne Rosellini – Screenwriter
Nancy Schreiber – Cinematographer
Anne Thompson – Writer & Commentator
Debra Zimmerman – Executive Director, Women Make Movies