Athena Film Festival: Barnard EFMP students explore connection and storytelling

Undergraduates in the Emerging Filmmaker Mentorship Program present short films that explore the joyful and messy realities of human connection at the 2026 Athena Film Festival.

Photo provided by Skyler Reid

By Missy Owolabi 

March 26, 2026

On March 7, 2026, Barnard College’s Athena Film Festival hosted its annual student showcase, celebrating the emerging talent and storytelling of younger filmmakers. The event featured short films created through Sloate Media Center’s Emerging Filmmaker Mentorship Program (EFMP), which provides funding, access to advanced equipment, and one-on-one mentorship to undergraduate filmmakers. The films in this year’s showcase allowed audiences to witness the fragile, messy, and sometimes chaotic ways people were able to reach for one another and connect. The filmmakers were Asha Ahn (BC ’27), Lily Mooney (BC ’26), and Sofia Trujillo (BC ’25). 

The event opened with “I’m Sorry for Your Loss,” Ahn’s dark comedic exploration of grief and connection. Centered on Nick, a young man who is navigating the sudden death of a friend, the film captures the quiet absurdities that rise to the forefront when mourning collides with social expectations.  

“I wanted to take a dark comedic approach because I think it captures the absurdity that Gen Z kind of takes,” Ahn said. “There are so many people like Nick who want to break through the surface and ultimately fall short.” Drawing from personal experiences within her own community, Ahn described the film as an attempt to examine how social media can both connect and isolate people, even in what is supposed to be one of the most intimate moments.

The tone shifted with Mooney’s “The Delivery,” which transferred the audience to a more absurd example of how connection can manifest. This film centers on Donnie, a trans-masc, nonbinary character who bakes a bright pink birthday cake for their crush, hoping the gesture might signal something more. What begins as a simple gesture quickly becomes a series of awkward and chaotic moments that force Donnie to confront the uncertainty of where they stand and what the gesture actually means. 

For Mooney, the humor was a tool to tell a different type of queer story. “It was really important to me to make something absurd and lighthearted,” they said. “The main character just happens to be nonbinary. Their transness isn’t explained or questioned; it just exists.” 

Instead of centering trauma, “The Delivery” focused on the everyday vulnerability that occurs when living life as a queer person in queer spaces. “I wanted queer and trans people in the audience to recognize themselves and think, ‘Yeah, that’s something that happened to me,’” Mooney said. 

The showcase concluded with Trujillo’s “Birdie,” a quieter, more reflective film about Isabel, a young woman forced out of her room by her mother, who wanders onto a golf course and strikes up a conversation with a stranger named Bert. 

Trujillo described the film as being inspired by the emotional uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. “During the pandemic, I was ridiculously bored and ridiculously confused about what was happening, and there was really no adult who could really meet me anywhere because we were equally as confused,” Trujillo said. “If anything, I would say this film is about wanting someone to reach out to you and to hold your hand.” 

Beyond the stories themselves, the showcase was only made possible by the EFMP’s collaborative spirit, as the three filmmakers frequently stepped into each other’s projects. Mooney took on multiple roles by producing Ahn’s “I’m Sorry for Your Loss” and managed logistics and on-set challenges for Trujillo’s “Birdie.” Ahn contributed her creative vision and production design skills to Mooney’s “The Delivery,” shaping the look and feel of the film and drawing on feedback to refine her own script. Trujillo, meanwhile, acted as a production assistant on both of her peers’ sets, providing hands-on support. Together, they formed a tight-knit group to bounce ideas off each other. 

“I don’t think our projects would have been possible without each other,” Mooney said. “We had mentors, but I feel like we were mentoring each other a little bit, which is just as special.” 

For the students, EFMP was a comprehensive way to introduce them to the realities of filmmaking in its entirety. “It’s hard to make a movie,” Mooney said. “It takes a lot of money, a lot of people, a lot of energy, and a lot of time, and EFMP gives you access to all of that plus mentorship on every single part of the process.” The support encouraged students to take creative risks while navigating the logistical and emotional challenges of bringing their stories to life. 

“Putting [the initial script] into production was really about finding the core of the message I wanted to tell,”  Ahn said. “Working with so many other people who are also contributing their own creative ways allowed the story to develop over time.” 

This combination of technical skill and mutual support became apparent on screen. “I’m Sorry for Your Loss” used dark comedy to explore grief in a moving yet comical way; “The Delivery” brought laughter and relatability through the chaotic humor of queer everyday life; and “Birdie” brought a meditative take on human connection and guidance in uncertain times. The films demonstrated how the stories reflect the people creating them as much as they reflect the plot itself. 

“Making a film is impossible without asking for help constantly,” Trujillo said. “You rely on the people around you, and that collaboration is what makes the story real.”

By the event’s end, Ahn, Mooney, and Trujillo shared three distinct films that reflected their individual creative choices and collaboration. Their projects drew attention from peers and faculty alike, leaving them laughing one moment and crying the next as they witnessed stories that could relate to their own experiences. “You’re an artist if you say you are,” Mooney said. “And that’s what makes your work important if you believe it’s important to other people.”  

Michelle Remsen (BC ’86), a panelist at the showcase and a member of Barnard’s Women in Entertainment board, summarized the event: “It’s lovely to see this generation really building bonds, helping each other out,” she said. Through the films themselves, along with the unpredictability of filmmaking and the creativity it demands, they found that the act of producing a film could bring people together in significant ways.