The Athena Film Festival at Barnard College (AFF) has announced Jennifer Vanderbes as the third winner of the annual Alfred P. Sloan Athena List Development Grant for her Athena List-winning script “The Gatekeeper.”
“The Gatekeeper” is a historical drama based on the story of Frances Kelsey, an FDA medical reviewer who fought a major pharmaceutical firm to keep the drug thalidomide off the American market in the early 1960s. The script is based on “Wonder Drug,” Vanderbes’ own non-fiction book, which was also supported by the Sloan Foundation. The book will be published by Random House in June 2023.
Vanderbes will receive $20,000 to help advance her script to the