Join us Sunday, March 29th at 7:00 p.m. for a special event screening of two documentaries by Ohio University alumna Robin Smith to celebrate Ohio Goes to The Movies and Vietnam Veterans Day!

Admission is FREE – Tickets are required

A reception with filmmaker Robin Smith will take place at The Athena from 6:00-7:00 p.m

We were asleep when the telegram arrived. Two Marines in uniform, feeling out of place in Athens, Ohio, stood nervously on our front porch. Mom’s face must have betrayed her deepest fear. The colonel, my father’s friend, rushed in.

“Jane, he’s only missing!”

Words filled with hope, to comfort a wife too young to be a widow.

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Robin Smith will introduce two powerful films chronicling her family’s search for answers about the fate of Colonel Robert N. Smith (USMC) whose plane was shot down over North Vietnam in 1969.

About the films

He’s Only Missing (1978, 30 min)

This film explores the “state of limbo” Robin and her family were experiencing not knowing if their loved one was dead or alive.

Letting Go (1995, 12 min)

Two decades later the first shred of information about what had happened emerged. Robin traveled with a CBS News crew to her father’s crash site in Vietnam and uncovered answers that had eluded the family for years.

About the Speaker

Robin Smith is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker with 48 years of professional experience. A graduate of Ohio University (BFA ’72) and the School of Public Communication at Boston University (MS ’78), her first documentary was a personal story about her father, a fighter pilot declared Missing in Action in 1969 during the Vietnam war. CBS bought rights to the film, and in 1978 and she began a career in broadcast journalism on CBS News Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt.

In 1990, she established a nonprofit production company to collaborate with educators, artists, and innovative program leaders in the creation of documentary shorts and public awareness videos. Examples of video|action’s award-winning work can be found at www.videoaction.org.

Robin Smith is currently a member of the Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts Leadership Council and a Trustee on the Ohio University Foundation Board.

Share this Film

Click on Showtimes to Get Tickets Online

Sunday 03/297:00

Join us Tuesday, March 31st at 6:00 p.m. for a special event screening of the documentary Heightened Scrutiny that details the legal challenges of access to gender-affirming care in the battle for trans rights!

This event will include a post-show panel discussion – See below for info on the panelists

Admission is FREE and open to the Public

Tickets are required and can be claimed by registering via scanning the QR Code on the flyer or by clicking the ACLU registration link below:

Register for Heightened Scrutiny Event

Once you have registered and have claimed your ACLU ticket, please present it to us upon arrival at the event and we will give you an Athena Cinema ticket — this allows us to keep an accurate headcount of attendance for the event

About the film

Fearless civil rights lawyer Chase Strangio battles at the Supreme Court for transgender adolescents’ access to gender-affirming healthcare, confronting not only the legal system but also a media landscape that distorts public perception and threatens the struggle for trans rights. With the dangerous SCOTUS decision upholding the ban on life-saving healthcare, this landmark film is an urgent call to action against bigotry and injustice.

About the panelists

Keri Johnson (they/them) is a journalist and poet from Southeast Ohio whose work is rooted in place and public service. Prior to co-founding the Independent, Keri was an AmeriCorps VISTA and general assignment reported for the The Logan Daily News.

Micah McCarey (he/him) serves aswhere everyone feels seen, safe, and valued. Dr. McCarey brings both lived experience and a governance-informed perspective to conversations about civil rights, democratic norms, and the responsibilities of local leadership during time of heightened scrutiny.

Jamie Miller (he/him) is a trans man serving as the Programs and Organizing Manager at United Campus Ministry. He oversees the free community meals and works with community members to provide and receive direct action. He also runs Bad Art Club. When he’s not at work, he’s walking in the creek with his dog.

Tess Sabo (she/her) is a passionate defender of liberty an has been professionally helping to protect civil liberties for over seven years. In her work, Tess has in-depth knowledge of each of ACLU OH’s legal cases, which she enjoys sharing with the public in terms easy for non-lawyers to understand.

Share this Film

Click on Showtimes to Get Tickets Online

85 MIN

Join us Monday, April 6th at 7:00 p.m. for a special event screening of a soul-stirring documentary about a photographer and filmmaker who tries to piece together an intimate portrait of the mother she never knew!

Admission is FREE – Tickets are required*

*Tickets will be available in-person in our lobby leading up to and on the evening of the event

This event will include a post-show discussion with filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed

About the film

A Photographic Memory is an intimate, genre-bending portrait of a daughter’s attempt to piece together a picture of her mother, an avant-garde journalist she never knew. Uncovering the vast archive Sheila Turner Seed produced, including lost interviews with iconic photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gordon Parks, Cecil Beaton, Bruce Davidson, Lisette Model, and others, the film explores memory, legacy, and stories left untold.

Filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed was only 18 months old when her mother, renowned journalist Sheila Turner Seed, unexpectedly passed away. Driven by a desire to uncover what she left behind, Seed embarks on a journey to meet with people whose lives were touched by her mother. Using audio and photographic archives from her mother’s career, A Photographic Memory is an investigation into the archive in search of remnants of a loved one, reconstructing their image in an attempt to get to know them. Sheila’s intimate interviews with famous photographers including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gordon Parks, Lisette Model and Bruce Davidson, among others, are brought to life via Rachel’s re-imaginings, further immersing us into Sheila’s world as mother and daughter’s worlds merge in unexpected ways.

About the speaker

Originally from London, Rachel Elizabeth Seed is an LA-based nonfiction storyteller working in film, photography, and writing. Her debut feature film A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY is a New York Times Critic’s Pick and was called “one of the best docs of the year” by RogerEbert.com. It was awarded a 2025 Truer Than Fiction Spirit Award and was nominated for a 2025 Cinema Eye Honors Award.

Rachel’s work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, Chicken + Egg Pictures, NYFA, Field of Vision, the Jerome Foundation, NYSCA, the Jewish Film Institute, Jewish Story Partners, and the IFP/Gotham Labs, among others. Formerly a photo editor at New York Magazine, her photography has been exhibited at the International Center of Photography, and she was a cameraperson on several award-winning feature documentaries including Sacred by Academy-Award-winning filmmaker Thomas Lennon.

Rachel is co-founder and executive director of the Brooklyn Documentary Club, a thriving NYC film collective with more than 300 members.

This event was made possible through sponsorship from the Ohio University School of VisCom, the Scripps College of Communication, and the Chaddock + Morrow College of Fine Arts

Share this Film

Click on Showtimes to Get Tickets Online

87 MIN

Join us Tuesday, April 7th at 7:00 p.m. for a special event screening of the award-winning documentary No Sleep Til Kyiv, about ordinary people who leave their pre-war lives to build a grassroots pipeline of critically-needed humanitarian aid to Ukraine!

Admission is a suggested donation of $10 and open to the Public – Tickets are required

The event will include a post-show panel discussion

About the film

When American Peter Duke joined a convoy from Estonia to Kyiv to deliver critical aid to Ukrainians defending their country, he encountered a nation united in its struggle for freedom and self-determination. What he witnessed were acts of service, solidarity, and shared humanity that transcended borders and politics. The experience transformed him, inspiring a deeper commitment to supporting those impacted by the war.

The journey from Tallinn to Ukraine follows a volunteer-led convoy delivering essential vehicles and supplies. The featured “69th Sniffing Brigade” is not an official military unit, but a global grassroots community that raises funds to provide urgently-needed transport and logistical support to Ukraine’s defenders and civilian responders. Originating from the online NAFO (North Atlantic Fella Organization) community, the 69th blends meme culture with real-world logistics, raising millions to deliver essential aid to the frontlines.

About the fundraiser

The screening is part of the 50 States for Ukraine in partnership with Car for Ukraine.

100% of the proceeds from this event will go directly towards purchasing and delivering a vehicle to frontline defenders and to trauma care to support amputees and other war survivors. These trucks are primarily used for transport and humanitarian evacuation. Due to a severe shortage of ambulances, many of these vehicles are used to evacuate wounded defenders from active areas to rear medical facilities where they can receive treatment.

Your support helps deliver life-saving transport and critical care to people impacted by the war.

Share this Film

Click on Showtimes to Get Tickets Online

92 MIN

Tuesday 04/077:00

Join us Wednesday, April 8th at 7:00 p.m. for a special event screening of works by Scripps College MFA Communication Media Arts Students!

Admission is FREE and Open to the Public – Tickets are required*

*Tickets will be available in-person in our lobby during normal hours up to and on the evening of the event

About the event

Graduate students in the Scripps College Communication Media Arts program present recent film-based works. The films and filmmakers include:

Little Black Dress directed by Prince Amoa-Mensa. Runtime: 2min

Synopsis: An Athenian gets ready for a day out.

Threads of Tradition (Kakamotobi) directed by Nina Asiamah. Runtime: 32min

Synopsis: Threads of Tradition is a short documentary exploring the Masquerade Festival (Ankos), also known as the Fancy Dress Festival, held in Takoradi in the Western Region of Ghana. Centered on the Tumus Masquerade Group, the film explores how the festival reflects cultural symbolism through costume, color, and design. It looks at the creative process behind producing these outfits and the role of craftsmanship and identity within the tradition. The project also includes an e-photobook featuring studio portraits alongside images from the live festival, offering both a focused and in-context view of the masquerade tradition.

The Found Trail directed by Chelsea Clark-Bešić. Runtime: 5min

Synopsis: In this found-footage film, the audience is invited to journey along the Appalachian Trail. Through the use of multiple perspectives, the threads of serenity and self-reflection can be experienced in the fluidity of a surrealist compostition. Home videos, podcast, and candid interviews guide the audience along the trail from Springer Mt. in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine, where the trail ends.

Her Hands directed by Chelsea Clark-Bešić. Runtime: 6min

Synopsis: This short animated film documents strength and resilience as the outcome of adversity for women in the guitar manufacturing industry. The audience will get a glimpse into the challenges of trade/craft tradition, and how women have chosen to navigate that through creative process, self-reflection, and faith in their own journey as creators.

Spiritual Suds > Basic Wash directed by Ryan Eilbeck. Runtime: 3min

Synopsis: Escape to a world where suds rule.

.

Holding More directed by Holly Ittel. Runtime: 17min

Synopsis: On her journey to motherhood, a woman’s assumptive world clashes with reality, leading her to seek peace within this unexpected path.

Historias en Colaboración directed by Olivia Raney. Runtime: 20min

Synopsis: This short is part of a larger documentary video exploration of the collaboration between the Ohio-based non-profit “Tananda” and their community partners in Otavalo, Ecuador. Tananda stood out as an international organization prioritizing relationship-building as the cornerstone of all their operations. This project, likewise, focuses on the human aspect of Tananda’s 19 years operating in the community.

.

What Is This Thing In My Head? directed by Grace Smiley. Runtime: 22min

Synopsis: A choose-your-own-adventure experimental film about a videotape that cannot be unwatched.

Support for this event is provided by Scripps College of Communication

Share this Film

Click on Showtimes to Get Tickets Online

Wednesday 04/087:00