Graphic courtesy of: College of Fine ArtsAthens International Film + Video Festival runs April 8-14, 2019 at the Athena Cinema.
The Athens International Film + Video Festival (AIFVF) is excited to announce its 46th season, a week of film art and music in Athens, April 8-14, at the Athena Cinema and partnering venues. A slate of daily short film screenings, feature films, and special events throughout the week turn Athens into a destination for film lovers throughout the region and the world.
This year’s festival includes an array of special events, including opening night festivities celebrating female experimental filmmakers, a special artist tribute to the formidable Jo Andres, 12 contemporary spotlight feature film screenings, 25 feature competition screenings, hundreds of short films, and four visiting filmmaker events.
The festival’s opening night events, Monday April 8, include “The Future is Experimental,” a program of female experimental filmmakers, along with the feature documentary “Ingrid,” by Morrisa Maltz, which premiered at Slamdance in 2018.
Tuesday, April 9, at 7 p.m., AIFVF will host a special tribute evening to the award-winning artist, and Ohio University alumnus, Jo Andres (1954–2019). Andres, who earned an M.F.A. degree in Film in 1984 and a B.F.A. in Dance in 1980 in the College of Fine Arts, was an award-winning filmmaker, choreographer and artist, developing out of the kinetic downtown New York performance scene of the 1980s, and building an inspired career in the arts and cinema.
This year the festival is excited to present four visiting filmmaker events, each with unique programs of work. Visiting filmmakers this year include Lynne Sachs; Ohio University alumni Jodi Wille, director of “Source Family;” Laura Harrison, a 2018 AIFVF first prize in animation award winner; and “Consuming Spirits” director Chris Sullivan.
This year’s festival presents 267 films, from 58 countries, selected from a pool of 2,300 submissions. Guest jurors will award cash prizes in four categories: documentary, experimental, narrative, and animation, to be announced at the end of the week. The 12 contemporary spotlights are feature length films screened outside of competition and presented throughout the week.
Founded in 1974, the Athens International Film + Video Festival has been presenting the best in international film for 45 years. Known globally as a festival that supports cinema from independent, underground and marginalized populations, the AIFVF represents the values that we share as a community. It is a champion of justice and provides a voice for underrepresented artists and viewpoints on a global level. For over four decades, the AIFVF has embraced experimental, narrative, short-form, feature length and documentary films from every corner of the globe.
The Athens International Film + Video Festival is administered by The Athens Center for Film and Video, a project of the College of Fine Arts at Ohio University.
This year’s festival takes place April 8-14, 2019, at the historic Athena Cinema and other locations in and around uptown Athens, Ohio. The full 2019 schedule and ticket information will be available soon at the Festival website, www.athensfest.org.