The Athens International Film + Video Festival returns April 10-16

From April 10-16, 2023, the Athens International Film + Video Festival (AIFVF) will celebrate its 50th Anniversary. As part of the festivities, the festival will present over 260 films representing over 60 countries in competition at the historic Athena Cinema in uptown Athens, OH. This year’s festival features an incredible array of special events, screenings, and after-parties.

AIFVF’s visiting artist lineup includes Cecelia Condit who is returning to the festival to present a retrospective of her works 40 years after presenting her seminal film "Possibly in Michigan" at AIFVF’s 1984 festival.

Australian mash-up masters Soda Jerk present their political satire, zombie stoner film "Hello Dankness" fresh off five sold out screenings at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

Named by IndieWire as one of the six pre-eminent “Avant-Garde Female Filmmakers Who Redefined Cinema,” Ghanaian American filmmaker Akosua Adoma Owusu returns with a program of her experimental and narrative works that explore how feminism and African identities interact in African, white American and black American cultural spaces.

Leilah Weinraub will present the cult documentary "Shakedown" about a black lesbian strip club in Los Angeles from 2002 – 2004. The film premiered in the 2017 Whitney Biennial before becoming the first ever film to stream on Pornhub.

Internationally celebrated duo Lizzie Fitch and Ryan Trecartin will return to AIFVF with work created here in Athens, OH after their move from Los Angeles in 2016 to create a work with the support of the Fondazione Prada.

On Saturday, April 15 at 9 p.m., AIFVF will hold a free outdoor screening on Court Street in front of the Athena Cinema celebrating its 50-year legacy. Presented that night will be the wildly popular Animation Night program featuring adult themed short animations in competition at the festival. The city will close the street and AIFVF will set up a 30 foot screen and seating for up to 300 people. No tickets will be needed for this event.

Over seven days, 23 feature length films and more than 250 short films from across the globe will screen and compete in the annual festival with winners chosen by an independent jury, garnishing cash prizes and awards including Academy Qualifying status in select categories.

Founded in 1974, the Athens International Film + Video Festival has been presenting the best in international film for 50 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.

For five decades, the festival has embraced experimental, narrative, animation, and documentary, short-form, and feature length 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. Full schedule and ticket information will be available at www.athensfest.org soon.

Requests for ASL interpreters and other accessibility requests can be sent to athensohiofilmfest@gmail.com.