Since 1973, the Athens International Film and Video Festival has supported the hard work of independent filmmakers from all over the world. The annual festival runs for one week at the Athena Cinema, 20 S. Court St., and anyone is welcome to stop by to view the many stories and themes the filmmakers explore.
Many students and locals enjoy supporting small and independent filmmakers, especially if their own interests include film. Payne Williams, a freshman studying chemical engineering, said he just finished directing his own short film and wanted to give back to the film community.
“I just like supporting smaller artists,” Williams said. “Plus, it’s at the Athena, so it feels good to support a local theater.”
Williams said his film is titled “Professional Killers,” a dark comedy following two assassins assigned to take out the same target. He said coming to the Athena to discover diverse stories from international filmmakers is important, especially in our current times.
Williams came to the festival on Monday, along with Dietrich Hamrick, a sophomore studying engineering technology and management. Hamrick said he saw many posters advertising the event and also heard about the festival from Williams.
“I think it’s best to support independent filmmakers because they don’t get enough credit,” Hamrick said.
The pair was walking into the Athena to view the 7 p.m. showing of “Adam’s Apple,” a 99-minute documentary directed by Amy Jenkins about a transgender teen and his mother, following them through two decades of footage.
On Wednesday, Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle will be coming in person to show their third film in their ecosexual trilogy, “Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency.” The documentary is 71 minutes long, and the two artist-filmmakers have been collaborating since 2002.
Stephens said every film shown at the festival is important, especially for fellow filmmakers and students who may not realize the possibilities film can bring.
“Filmmaking is expensive, and it's really (a) fools errand to make these films, but they're really acts of love, and so I think that it is very important that there's such diversity in this film festival, and I don't really think our film is any more important than any other film,” Stephens said. “They're all important.”
The two live in San Francisco and have been a couple for 24 years. Beth Stephens is a professor of environmental art and social practice at the University of California Santa Cruz.
“Playing with Fire” depicts their experience following a wildfire. Stephens said this fire nearly destroyed their town and highlighted the effect the damage had on the environment, as well as their connection to other issues in the country.
“It's really a journey to learn about the consequences of these fires and how closely related they are, economically, socially and metaphorically, to social fires that are raging in the country right now, and the world,” Stephens said.
Sprinkle said most people are “dealing with some sort of climate catastrophe,” and said they chose to deal with their tragedy by becoming informed on this issue and coping with humor. The documentary contains several stories from formerly incarcerated firefighters, fire artists, an Indigenous scholar and others.
Stephens and Sprinkle are “ecosexual,” which means they “love the Earth,” and do all they can to protect and nourish nature. In their Ecosex Manifesto, they aim to consume less and buy green and local, to save the Earth they love.
“Rather than having a sort of moralistic tone towards these environmental catastrophes, we really try to engage the elements and engage the Earth as a partner, as opposed to an enemy or something to dominate, or to extract from,” Stephens said.
As ecosexuals, they wrote “Assuming the Ecosexual Position: The Earth as Lover,” and made wedding vows to 19 various nature entities over nine years in nine countries. The pair married the Appalachian mountains and the soil in Krems, Austria.
Stephens and Sprinkle had solo art careers before they found each other and now spend their time bouncing ideas off one another, complementing each other's styles and skills.
“I got tired of traveling a lot,” Sprinkle said. “I would travel alone or with my manager, director, but to have a lover and a partner that you can share everything with is so nice.”
After their screening at the Athens International Film and Video Festival, they plan on showing their film in Cincinnati before traveling to Germany and Croatia for a “mini European tour.” After returning to the United States, the two will show their film more around California and host a Los Angeles premiere at the REDCAT theater.
For those interested in viewing the remainder of the film festival, the full schedule through Saturday is available on its website. Awards in the Best of the Fest Shorts and Best of the Fest Feature programs one and two will be announced on its website and social media on Sunday by 1 p.m.
