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Beat the Heat: THE RUGRATS MOVIE

Watch Trailer Director: Norton Virgien, Igor Kovalyov

Little Tommy Pickles’ new baby brother gets born early…so early, in fact, that Tommy hasn’t had the chance to figure out how he’ll deal with no longer being the apple of his parents’ eyes. Making matters worse is the fact that the new tyke is kind of a pain to have at home. So, Tommy and his friends hatch a plan to take the baby back to the hospital; however, the plan goes awry and the gang lose the babe in the woods. It’s now up to Tommy to find his kid brother and get him back home where he actually belongs, having hijinks and adventures along the way!

Click here to see the rest of the Beat the Heat summer line-up

This series is made possible thanks to support from the following sponsors: Athens County Children Services, Southeastern Ohio Treatment Foster Care Network, Ohio University Credit Union, and Athens Area Chamber of Commerce

 

 

 

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Running Time: 79 MIN79 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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Beat the Heat: ERNEST & CELESTINE

Watch Trailer Director: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner
Writer(s): Daniel Pennac
Awards: Oscar - Best Animated Feature (nom)

In the orphanage underground where she lives, Celestine, a young mouse, has been taught that bears are nasty and evil…not the kind of folks one should associate with. As she prepares to follow the typical rodent trajectory of becoming a dentist, Celestine (who’d much rather be an artist) is tasked with stealthily venturing to the outside world where she must collect the lost baby teeth of bear cubs and bring them back for study. On one such outing, she is discovered by a family of bears and chased into the outside world. She spends a tense night of fear in a trash can and meets Ernest, a unique bear who might just change her ideas about how well mice and bears can get along.

Click here to see the rest of the Beat the Heat summer line-up

This series is made possible thanks to support from the following sponsors: Athens County Children Services, Southeastern Ohio Treatment Foster Care Network, Ohio University Credit Union, and Athens Area Chamber of Commerce

 

 

 

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Running Time: 80 MIN80 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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Beat the Heat: SONG OF THE SEA

Watch Trailer Director: Tomm Moore
Awards: Osacr - Best Animated Feature (nom)

Song of the Sea, the second film in Tomm Moore’s “Irish Folklore” trilogy, is the story of a young Irish boy named Ben who learns that his mute sister Saoirse is actually a “selkie” — a mythological creature that can shapeshift from human form to that of a seal. The two children are the son and daughter of a lighthouse keeper’s wife who disappeared after giving birth to the girl and is presumed to have died. Ben has always believed that Saoirse was at fault for their mother’s death and is resentful; however, when the duo run away from their Granny’s house to return to their lighthouse home, they have an adventure beyond their wildest imaginations: Saoirse is tasked with using her magical power of song to save all the world’s mythological beings from the evil witch Macha, and, in the process, restore the wholeness of her family’s broken home.

Click here to see the rest of the Beat the Heat summer line-up

This series is made possible thanks to support from the following sponsors: Athens County Children Services, Southeastern Ohio Treatment Foster Care Network, Ohio University Credit Union, and Athens Area Chamber of Commerce

 

 

 

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Running Time: 93 MIN93 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible

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Special Veterans Day Screening: HE’S ONLY MISSING + LETTING GO with Robin Smith

Viewing: November 11,2026

Join us Wednesday, November 11th at 7:00 p.m. to celebrate Veterans Day with a special event screening of two documentaries by Ohio University alumna Robin Smith!

Admission is FREE – Tickets are required

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. After the screening, Robin will be on-hand for a post-show audience Q&A session.

A reception with Robin will take place at The Athena from 7:00-7:30 p.m., and the films will start at 7:30 p.m.

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.

This event has been made possible through support from the Ohio University Veterans and Military Student Services (Veterans and Military Student Services Center | Ohio University) and a generous grant from the National Veterans Leadership Foundation (National Veterans Leadership Foundation)

 

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Running Time: 45 MIN45 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Wednesday 11/117:00
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From the Hills and Hollers: THIS IS PIKE COUNTY with Laura Paglin

Viewing: November 12,2026

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Join us Thursday, November 12th at 7:00 p.m. as our Appalachian Stories Series continues with a haunting and unforgettable documentary about coming of age in a landscape that has been left behind!

Admission is FREE – Tickets are required

About the film

This powerful, intimate, and multi-faceted documentary from filmmaker Laura Paglin delves into the day-to-day lives of the local residents of Piketon and Pike County, Ohio. As the story moves from person to person, an image emerges of a close-knit community struggling to keep its identity while factors like poverty, drug addiction, lack of opportunity, a constantly-shifting cultural landscape, the construction of a nuclear waste storage facility, and an unsolved murder all threaten to erase the values and quality of life that took generations to build. Though the future often looks bleak for Pike County, this film beautifully relates the struggle between the temptation to give up and the urge to hold on.

About the speaker

Laura Paglinis a documentary filmmaker whose more recent films have dealts pecifically with struggles of marginalized communities. No Umbrella–Election Day in the City, which brings us a street level view of election day chaos as it played out in one inner city poling location, premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and aired on HBO. Facing Forward: A Student’s Story, which follows a charismatic but troubled teenager at a strict new inner city charter school, aired nationally on PBS. Paglin’s Unseen tells the complex and horrific story of the Anthony Sowell serial murders that were discovered in Cleveland, Ohio in 2009. Distributed by Filmrise, Unseen has become one of the more popular documentaries on Amazon Prime, having made it to many “best of” lists.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT: As a long-time Ohio resident, I hadn’t known about Pike County until a 2016 mass murder brought it into the national spotlight. Curious, I visited in 2017, expecting to explore the tragedy’s aftermath but found myself more drawn to the people, the landscape and stories unrelated to the crime. To gain deeper access into the lives of the these individuals, I lived at the budget motel featured in the film. Over time, a larger story of generational struggles emerged—from drug abuse to environmental degradation, to the murders themselves rooted in a child custody dispute. I realized a traditional narrative wouldn’t capture Pike County’s complexity, so I adopted a thematic approach, allowing each story to stand alone while contributing to the community’s portrait. This method let me juxtapose the community’s pain with its caring, joy, and resilience.

 

Check out the rest of our Hills & Hollers Series Line-Up

This series is sponsored by University Libraries, College of Health Sciences and Professions, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Honors Tutorial College, OU School of Film, and The Office of Signature Academic Experiences.

 

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Running Time: 78 MIN78 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Thursday 11/127:00
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The Met: Live in HD: TWENTY YEARS OF THE MET IN CINEMAS: AN ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

Viewing: November 14,2026

Twenty Years of the Met in Cinemas is a celebration of the Met’s two decades of onstage glory as experienced in movie theaters, featuring highlights from the company’s collection of more than 185 extraordinary onscreen performances.

Hosted by star soprano Renée Fleming, this special presentation will showcase unforgettable moments from some of opera’s greatest stars, culled from the series’ vast archive of transmissions, featuring such remarkable artists as Lise Davidsen, Natalie Dessay, Joyce DiDonato, Elīna Garanča, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Jonas Kaufmann, Peter Mattei, Matthew Polenzani, Sondra Radvanovsky, Nadine Sierra, and, of course, Fleming herself, among others.

The screening will begin at 12:55 p.m. and will conclude at approximately 3:40 p.m.

Admission $20 (Senior $18, Children $8)

OHIO Students Free with valid ID*

*Thanks to support from Arts for OHIO, we are able to offer a limited number of FREE student tickets available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Must have valid student I.D.

Click here to view the rest of the Met: Live in HD schedule

Special thanks to George Weckman and the following supporters:

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Running Time: 158 MIN158 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Saturday 11/1412:55
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HomeReach Hospice Film Series: TWO WEEKS

Viewing: November 17,2026

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Join us Tuesday, November 17th at 7:00 p.m. as our new Hospice Film Series concludes with a lighthearted drama starring Oscar-winning actress Sally Field!

FREE Admission – Tickets are required

About the film

Anita Bergman (Sally Field), matriarch of a big North Carolina family has entered the final stages of her tough battle with cancer. As she wrestles with the existential issues at the end-of-life, her four adult children, Keith (Ben Chaplin), Barry (Tom Cavanagh), Emily (Julianne Nicholson) and Matthew (Glenn Howerton), come together to gather at her bedside. While Anita comes to terms with her imminent demise, she and her children revisit their lives via a series of home movies that shine a light on the complex family relationships that have brought them all to this point in time.

Check out the rest of the films in our Hospice Film Series


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Running Time: 102 MIN102 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Tuesday 11/177:00
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CERAMICS AT THE CINEMA

The Ceramics at the Cinema series is a monthly ceramics series that allows participants the opportunity to glaze a bisqueware ceramic project at The Athena Cinema on a weekend afternoon.

The art of crafting things out of ceramics has been a part of human civilization for tens-of-thousands of years. The remnants of pottery from all of history’s greatest cultures have revealed how the artisans who molded these artifacts out of simple materials also imbued them with soulful artistic flair.

We’re thrilled to bring this ancient tradition into the modern day (and add our own little movie-themed twist) with our new series of events – Ceramics at the Cinema!

Much like our Paint & Sip Party events where we walk you through the creation of a movie-themed painting that is paired with a movie screening, participants for these Ceramics at the Cinema events will be provided with a bisqueware ceramic object – a piece of pottery that has been fired once and hardened – that relates to a film we’ll be screening. You’ll then be instructed how to customize your object with a decorative glaze. Lastly, we’ll collect the glazed ceramics and have them fired a final time to seal the glazing. The finished pieces will then be available for pick up during the week after the event. The end result will be a unique, tangible, and useful cinematic-ceramic souvenir from your time spent with us. Plus, we offer package deals that include a ticket for the related film with your registration fee!

We have three ticket options:

– Ceramics at the Cinema Basic – $30: includes admission to the class with all materials for your ceramic piece

– Ceramics at the Cinema Deluxe Single – $50: includes admission to the class with all the materials for your ceramic piece, 1 ticket to the Movie on the Rooftop, and 2 drinks of your choice

– Ceramics at the Cinema Deluxe Couple – $100: includes admission to the class for 2 with all the materials for your ceramic pieces, 2 tickets to the Movie on the Rooftop, and 4 drinks of your choice

Be advised that open slots to attend the glazing tutorials will be limited to 30 people. These events often sell out fast, so don’t wait to claim your spot.

Schedule:

Class arrival: 12:30-1 p.m.

Class session: 1-2 p.m.

Click the link below to visit our Movies on the Rooftop hubpage for more details about the films associated with the Ceramics at Cinema events:

Movies on the Rooftop

 

The classes will be led by Emily Beveridge and are suitable for beginner-level participants. Finished pieces will be ready for pick up at the cinema one week after the event.

Emily Beveridge has lived her entire adult life in Athens, Ohio, first coming to the city to study Painting at Ohio University in 2002. She is committed to public service, consistently serving as an Election Judge from 2002-2020, and as an Americorps VISTA for The Federal Valley Resource Center from 2006-2008. She served as the Program Specialist for Arts West, The City of Athens operated municipal arts center from 2017-2023. Beveridge currently serves as a Board Member for The Athens County Independent News, and The Athens Artist Memorial Project.

Emily holds a BFA and an MFA in Painting from Ohio University. She has instructed and organized arts education opportunities for youth since 2006. Over the past 22 years, she has helped create and promote countless cultural events for her community. She is a visual artist, curator, grant writer, graphic designer, gardener, and professional DJ handler. She is currently creating a series of paintings which will focus on themes of the medieval, the apocalypse and women’s rights.

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Sustainability Series: ACKROYD & HARVEY: THE ART OF ACTIVISM with Brooke Ripley

Viewing: November 18,2026

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Join us Wednesday, November 18th at 7:00 p.m. as our 14th annual Sustainability Film Series concludes with an award-winning documentary about two artists whose work bridges the gap between expression and environmental activism!

Admission is FREE – Tickets are required

This event will include a presentation by Brooke Ripley

About the film

Ackroyd & Harvey: The Art of Activism is the latest film from award-winning documentary maker Fiona Cunningham-Reid. An intimate portrait of internationally acclaimed artists, Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey, who work at the intersection of art, activism, biology and ecology, and their quest to shake humanity into action on climate catastrophe – whatever the personal cost.

Intrinsically bound up in protest, the film follows the pair collaborating with Extinction Rebellion, and co-founding the movement, Culture Declares Emergency. Their work is uncompromisingly preoccupied with the climate and ecological crisis, and has become a rallying point for the environmental movement. It’s won them international acclaim, but the film leaves us in no doubt – they’d be creating it whether the world was watching or not.

About the speaker

Brooke Ripley is a fine artist and scientist whose work focuses on the role of native plants in restoring ecosystems. She specializes in creating biodegradable art and currently serves as a VISTA Service Member on the True Pigments project at Rural Action.

 

 

 

 

Check out the rest of our line-up of Sustainability Films

The series is made possible thanks to the support of: University Libraries, Honors Tutorial College, Office of Sustainability, and The Voinovich School’s Environmental Studies Program.

 

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Running Time: 80 MIN80 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Wednesday 11/187:00
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Movies on the Rooftop

What could be better than settling down to a classic movie with a bag of popcorn and delicious refreshments..? Doing it under the stars!

With our Movies on the Rooftop Series, we’re recapturing the classic vibe of sitting in a convertible during the drive-in movie era. The films in this series are screened atop the Athens City Parking Garage – affording a lovely view of the Uptown skyline – using our large inflatable screen and outdoor A/V setup.

Once the sun goes down, the stars come out — both the ones in the sky and the ones on the silver screen!

Visit this link to view our Rooftop FAQ page which provides further details about the series events.

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