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“Ann Richards’ Texas,” the new bio-doc about the feisty and proudly Democratic Texas Governor defeated for re-election by a weekend brushcutter named George W. Bush, will get a pre-release sneak peek at the Athena Film Festival in New York City on Feb. 10. The film was co-directed by former Little Rock Film Festival executive director Jack Lofton, and executive-produced by Little Rock Zoo spokesperson Susan Altrui and El Dorado’s Margy Merkle Niel. Niel, Altrui, and co-directors Lofton and Keith Patterson will participate in a panel discussion about the film immediately after the screening.

Altrui says the film — the first full-length documentary about Richards, who served one term as Texas governor from 1991 to 1995 and died in 2006 — is almost complete as of this writing. Featured in the film are interviews with Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, Nancy Pelosi, Bill Clinton, Michael Dukakis, Paul Begala, Richards’ daughter and Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and others.

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The Athena Film Festival — sponsored by the Athena Center for Leadership Studies at Barnard College — runs this year from Feb. 9 -12, and spotlights films about women. The L.A. Times has a great piece on the festival here.

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