by Daniel Pecoraro, Staff Writer

It’s another weekend celebrating feminism and women in leadership on film in Morningside Heights this weekend, as the Athena Film Festival returns for another year at Barnard College. I was an on-again, off-again volunteer at the fest (working a shift or two and seeing films during the rest of the weekend), and it’s a great privilege to cover Athena for MovieJawn once again. This year, in addition to the in-person screenings at Barnard, all twenty short films will be streaming the entire weekend (2/29-3/3). Here are the five features I’m most looking forward to seeing:

COPA 71
Directed by Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine
Written by Rachel Ramsay, James Erskine, and Victoria Gregory
91 mins.
Screening as the Opening Night Film (Thursday, 2/29, at 8:00 PM) at the Diana Center Event Oval

I’m a fairly massive soccer fan, an appreciation borne out of the ‘99ers and the ‘02 men’s World Cup, the MetroStars, and the New York Power of the short-lived WUSA. My love of women’s soccer has nearly eclipsed my fan support for the men’s game, partly due to the men’s side’s capitulation to petro-dollars and global conglomerates (and partly because New York’s got the reigning NWSL champions).

But I know next to nothing about the history of WoSo before the 1991 FIFA World Championship for Women's Football for the M&Ms Cup (since retconned to the first FIFA Women’s World Cup), and even my understanding of that tournament is through the murky myopia of the US team. So I’m looking forward to seeing a documentary on the first Women’s World Cup over fifty years ago.

GIRL
Written and Directed by Adura Onashile
Starring Déborah Lukumuena, Danny Sapani, Le'Shantey Bonsu, Liana Turner
87 mins.
Screening Friday, 3/1 at 6:00 PM at the Glicker-Milstein Theater at the Diana Center

Adura Onashile’s debut feature–a mother-daughter film set in Glasgow–sounds like it’s guaranteed to make me cry at least a little. I’ve only been able to find a few clips of this film, but all signs point to a poignant, sentimental flick focusing on coming-of-age and how bonds between parents and children evolve. Of all the narrative features this year for the fest, this is probably the one that speaks to me the most.

Twice Colonized
Directed by Lin Alluna
Written by Aaju Peter
In Danish, English, and Inuktitut with English subtitles
92 mins.
Screening 3/1 at 9:00 PM at Held Auditorium (Barnard Hall 304)

Another festival, another doc about an attorney involved in the film’s production. But Aaju Peter is a very different lawyer–and indigenous rights activist,  cultural heritage advocate, and sealskin fashion designer. This film gives us a glimpse at Peter’s life after the death of her son, and her work demanding a seat at the table for indigenous peoples with regard to the environment and for sovereignty (especially in her native Greenland, long a Danish colony).

Seeking Mavis Beacon
Written and Directed by Jazmine Renée Jones 
102 mins.
Screening Saturday, 3/2, at 12:00 PM at The Event Oval 

I’m a proud graduate of Mavis Beacon’s CD-ROM based typing school, which brought me from hunt-and-peck to touch typing in middle school. Writer-director Jazmine Jones clearly has an appreciation for Mavis Beacon, and specifically her role as an early Black woman in tech…if she were a real person (and not a character, named in honor of Mavis Staples). Jones’s doc (a late addition to the fest!) is an attempt to find the woman who was the model for Beacon in the first edition of Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. 

Your Fat Friend
Written and directed by Jeanie Finlay
Starring Aubrey Gordon, Michael Hobbes, and Rusty and Pam
94 mins.
Screening Sunday, 3/3, at 3:00 PM at Held Auditorium

I missed this one in its weeklong run at the DCTV Firehouse, so I’m glad it’s coming back to NYC for this one-afternoon-only screening. As a fan of Aubrey Gordon’s podcast Maintenance Phase (a regular source of wellness culture mythbusting, fat-shaming-shaming, and pseudo-health grifts galore), I’m looking forward to seeing her discuss her path from blogger to podcaster to bestselling writer.