Athena Film Festival Sets 2026 Lineup With Sarah McBride, Barbara Jordan, E. Jean Carroll Docs (Exclusive)

The Athena Film Festival has announced the full lineup of documentary and feature films for its 2026 edition.

The festival focused on female leadership, a partnership between Barnard College and Women and Hollywood, will open with the Sarah McBride documentary State of Firsts, directed by Chase Joynt, chronicling the campaign that resulted in McBride becoming the first trans member of Congress as well as the backlash that followed and how fighting for change can be affected by growing extremism.

The festival is also set to screen the Barbara Jordan documentary The Inquisitor, directed by Angela Lynn Tucker, chronicling Jordan’s barrier-breaking 1972 election as the first Southern Black woman to serve in Congress. And the closing film is the E. Jean Carroll doc, Ask E. Jean, directed by Ivy Meeropol, chronicling Carroll’s life and career including her two legal battles with President Trump.

The festival’s centerpiece film is the Oscar nominated documentary Cutting Through Rocks, directed by Mohammadreza Eyni and Sara Khaki, telling the story of the first elected councilwoman in her Iranian village. And there will be a special screening of Steal This Story, Please! directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, following journalist Amy Goodman and her effort to pursue truth while taking on corporate media, soldiers and politicians.

“At this moment in our country it’s vital we showcase leadership that exemplifies the possibilities of a different world,” Athena Film Festival co-founder and artistic director Melissa Silverstein said in a statement. “This work is made meaningful by the artists who create these films, the profound nature of the subjects and the audiences who engage with them and help to expand their impact.”

Barnard vice dean of campus life Nikki Youngblood Giles added, “The Athena Film Festival highlights the power of film, and the artists who push boundaries around women’s leadership. Barnard College is proud to host the festival to help bring these films to new audiences, and our community is excited to explore the narratives being shared. We thank the Artemis Rising Foundation and its CEO, Regina K. Scully, for her unwavering support in making this work possible.”

Additional documentary selections include Maia Lekow and Christopher King’s How to Build a Library, chronicling two Nairobi women’s effort to transform a whites-only library into a cultural hotspot; Kani Lapuerta’s hybrid doc NIÑXS, about two adolescents navigating their transition together; Toby Perl Freilich’s Maintenance Artist about Mierle Laderman Ukeles, the first New York City Sanitation Department artist in residence; and Liza Donnelly and Kathleen Hughes’ Women Laughing about female cartoonists.

The features lineup includes Libby Ewing’s Charliebird, about the deep trauma of a woman navigating personal and professional challenges that change her forever; Sarah Goher’s directorial debut Happy Birthday, about two girls from different economic backgrounds and the impact of class on their friendship; Petra Volpe’s Lateshift about a passionate nurse desperately trying to care for her seriously ill patients in a healthcare system on the brink of failure; and Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese’s Lesbian Space Princess animated film about a space princess who leaves her life behind to save a loved one from danger.

The 16th annual Athena Film Festival is set to run from March 6-8 on Barnard’s campus in New York. More info about this year’s selections is available here.