The 53rd Athens International Film + Video Festival will run April 13-19, 2026, at the Athena Cinema in Athens, Ohio, with more than 200 films from approximately 60 countries. Ohio University announced the festival’s visiting artist lineup on March 4. All screenings and events remain free to students through support from Arts for Ohio.

This year’s visiting filmmakers include Boots Riley, the Oakland-based director known for the 2018 satirical film “Sorry to Bother You” and the 2023 Amazon series “I’m a Virgo.” Riley, also a founding member of the hip-hop collective The Coup, will present his work and engage in audience discussion. Filmmaker Amy Jenkins, whose debut feature documentary “Instructions on Parting” previously won Best Feature Documentary at the same festival, returns to present work exploring familial relationships and gender identity. Jenkins has received support from the Ford Foundation and Sundance.

Also appearing are filmmaker Angelo Madsen, whose work has screened at the Berlin, Sundance, Toronto, and New York film festivals and who holds fellowships from Creative Capital and the Guggenheim Foundation; and the artist duo Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle, who will present “Playing with Fire — An Ecosexual Emergency,” the third film in their feature trilogy on environmental themes. Founded in 1973 and organized by Ohio University’s Athens Center for Film and Video, the festival has long championed independent, experimental, and documentary filmmaking.

Source: Ohio University