Blog
Welcome to the Nest, Allison Villegas Roman!
Meet the newest member of our team: Development Manager Allison Villegas Roman.
As Development Manager at Chicken & Egg Pictures, Allison supports the organization’s ongoing fundraising efforts. Prior to joining, Allison worked across multiple academic research centers, government agencies, and nonprofits with the goal of centering and leveraging the impact of mission-driven work. She joins us from Acumen, where she focused on creating collaborative processes to analyze in-house data to gather insights and to further drive Acumen’s larger strategic initiatives. Allison holds a BA in Anthropology, Environmental Studies, and Human Rights from Hunter College and an MA in Climate and Society from Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Science.
“I am honored to join an organization that not only elevates such catalytic stories that might have gone untold but fosters a space in which filmmakers are able to transcend what they thought was even possible.”
We are excited to welcome an egg-stra special new team member in our Nest.
Nest-supported Films in The Gotham Week Project Market
Chicken & Egg Pictures is proud to see two Nest-supported and eight AlumNest films in The Gotham Week Project Market. This year’s lineup includes 60 documentary features that will be presented in-person at Brooklyn Navy Yard, and virtually. The Gotham Week will take place from Saturday, September 17 through Friday, September 23.
The Gotham Week Project Market hosts one-on-one industry meetings dedicated to elevating the work of independent artists and facilitating relationships with distributors, financiers, production companies, festival programmers, sales/talent agents, and other potential collaborators.
Take a look at the Nest-supported projects below:
Life + Life
dir & prod. Contessa Gayles
prods. Richie Reseda, David Felix Sutcliffe
An incarcerated musician struggles for healing and peace as he comes of age in this documentary-musical odyssey composed behind bars.
Life + Life is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Storming
dir. Katrina Sorrentino
prod. Tiffany Fisher-Love
A family hangs in limbo, caring for their comatose son. Hope and denial blur as seasons circle in this meditation on love and letting go.
Storming was a participant of the 2019 Nest Knight Fellowship.
From the AlumNest
- #NunsToo
dir. Lorena Luciano, prod. Filippo Piscopo - Give it a Shot
dir. & prod. Vaishali Sinha, prod. Hemang Chheda - In Plain Sight
prod. Farihah Zaman, dir. PJ Raval - Life After
prods. Jessica Devaney, Colleen Cassingham, dir. Reid Davenport - Meanwhile
dir. & prod. Catherine Gund, prod. Erika Dilday - Prisoner X
dirs. Hilla Medalia, Amos Roberts, prod.Hilla Medalia & Gal Greenspan - Thoughts & Prayers
dir. & prod. Jessica Dimmock, Zackary Canepari - To Use a Mountain
Executive produced by 2022 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Brett Story, Maida Lynn, dir. Casey Carter, prod. Colleen Cassingham
The Gotham Week Conference
- The Politics of Filmmaking in the US
Wednesday, September 21 at 2:30 pm ET
With Project: Hatched 2022 finalist The Janes’ directors Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes.
Cost: $25
Meet Our Team
Our Executive Director Jenni Wolfson and Program Coordinator Iva Dimitrova will be taking meetings at The Gotham Week.
Check out the full list of projects participating with this link.
Eight Nest-supported Films Receive Emmy® Nominations!
Chicken & Egg Pictures sends massive congratulations to the eight Nest-supported films that received a nomination for the 43rd Annual News and Documentary Emmy® Awards. The honors will be presented live in two ceremonies, with Documentary Categories taking place on Thursday, September 29, 2022, at 7:30 pm EDT.
“Through our mission to advance gender equity in the documentary film industry, Chicken & Egg Pictures is proud to support women and nonbinary filmmakers whose work expands our collective consciousness. We congratulate all Nest-supported filmmakers for their tremendous achievements, and for crafting stories that advance social change.” -Jenni Wolfson, Executive Director of Chicken & Egg Pictures.
Check out each nomination below and celebrate the filmmakers and their teams with us:
A Thousand Cuts
dir. & prod. Ramona S. Diaz
prods. Christopher Clements, Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Leah Marino
Nominated for:
- Outstanding Social Issue Documentary
- Best Documentary
Supported through Ramona’s 2018 Chicken & Egg Award
Coded Bias
dir. & prod. Shalini Kantayya
Nominated for:
- Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary
Coded Bias was a Project: Hatched 2020 grantee
Picture a Scientist
dirs. & prods. Sharon Shattuck & Ian Cheney
prod. Manette Pottle
Nominated for:
- Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary
Picture a Scientist was a Project: Hatched 2020 grantee
Pray Away
dir. & prod. Kristine Stolakis
prod. Jessica Devaney and Anya Rous
Nominated for:
- Outstanding Social Issue Documentary
Pray Away was a 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee
Simple As Water
dirs. & prod. Megan Mylan
prod. Robin Hessman
Nominated for:
- Outstanding Direction: Documentary
Simple As Water was a 2018 Nest-supported project
Storm Lake
dirs. Beth Levison & Jerry Risius
prod. Beth Levison
Nominated for:
- Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary
Storm Lake was a Project: Hatched 2021 grantee
Takeover
dir. Emma Francis-Snyder
prod. Tony Gerber
Nominated for:
- Outstanding Short Documentary
Takeover is a Project: Hatched 2022 grantee
The Changing Same: An American Pilgrimage
dirs. Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster
prods. Scatter, Rada Studio
Nominated for:
- Outstanding Interactive Media: Innovation
The Changing Same: An American Pilgrimage was supported through the 2017 Impact and Innovation Grant
From the AlumNest
- In the Same Breath
dir. Nanfu Wang
prods. Jialing Zhang, Carolyn Hepburn, Sara Rodriguez, Julie Goldman, and Christopher Clements
Nominated for: Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary, Best Documentary - Through Our Eyes: Apart
dirs. Geeta Gandbhir, Rudy Valdez
prods. Beth Miranda Botshon, Jessica Devaney, Lisa Diamond, Anya Rous
Nominated for: Best Short Documentary
Check out the full nominations list with this link.
Welcome to the Nest, Nina Rodgers!
Meet the newest member of our team: Associate Director of Communications Nina Rodgers. 
As Associate Director of Communications, Nina shapes the voice of Chicken & Egg Pictures. She leads the communications team through strategic communications planning, brand-building, and public relations. She increases the visibility of the organization to advance its mission.
Prior to joining Chicken & Egg, Nina was the Assistant Director of Communications at The New York Women’s Foundation, where she worked on impact campaigns for the film The Assistant and produced original content with a focus on gender and racial justice. She has worked on communications strategy for documentary films including Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool and Vick.
Nina believes in the power of storytelling for social impact. Her live journalism experience includes moderating events with thought leaders such as Wade Davis, Taraji P. Henson, Sybrina Fulton, Lesley MsSpadden, Benjamin Crump, and Mara Brock Akil. She has a BA in Broadcast & Digital Journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and a MA in Communication Education from Columbia University.
“I’ve been an admirer of Chicken & Egg Pictures’ work for many years, so it feels like a full circle moment being part of the team now,” Nina reflects. “We support women and nonbinary filmmakers whose stories have the power to change the world–and I believe our story as an organization can also catalyze change. I’m excited to tackle new projects that will advance gender equity in the film industry, and introduce more people to the powerhouse that is Chicken & Egg Pictures.”
We are excited to welcome an egg-stra special new team member in our Nest.
Celebrating Executive Director Jenni Wolfson and Nest-supported Filmmakers Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Memberships
Chicken & Egg Pictures is egg-cited and proud to share some big news: our dearest Executive Director Jenni Wolfson, 2018 (Egg)celerator Lab recipients Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh (Writing With Fire), 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab recipient Jessica Kingdon (Ascension), 2021 Chicken & Egg Award recipients Cristina Ibarra and Jialing Zhang, and 2022 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Brett Story have been invited to become members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
We also want to congratulate Bob Moore (producer of Project: Hatched 2021 grantee Dope Is Death) and Nathan Truesdell (producer of 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab recipient Ascension) for their invitations!
The Class of 2022 is 44% women, 37% percent underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 50% hail from outside of the United States.
Congratulations to the Class of 2022!
Nest-supported and AlumNest Films in POV’s 35th Season Line-up
At Chicken & Egg Pictures, we are egg-cited to see Nest-supported and two AlumNest films in POV’s, television’s longest-running showcase for independent nonfiction films, 35th season lineup. Please mark your calendars with their television premiere dates below.
Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust
dir. & prod. Ann Kaneko
prod. Jin Yoo-Kim
POV premiere: Monday, July 18, 2022
Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust was a Project: Hatched 2021 grantee.
An Act of Worship
dir. Nausheen Dadabhoy
prods. Heba Elorbany, Kristi Jacobson, Sofian Khan
POV premiere: Monday, October 17, 2022
An Act of Worship participated in the 2018 Diversity Fellows Initiative and was a 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Midwives
dir. & prod. Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
prods. Mila Aung-Thwin, Bob Moore, Ulla Lehmann
POV premiere: Monday, November 21, 2022
Midwives is a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee and won a Special Jury Award for Excellence in Vérité Filmmaking at Sundance 2022.
From the AlumNest
- The Mole Agent
dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi
prod. Marcela Santibanez
Available through July - President
dir. Camilla Nielsson
prods. Signe Byrge Sørensen, Joslyn Barnes
POV premiere: Monday, August 8, 2022 - Delikado
Writer and Executive Producer 2018 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Laura Nix, dir. Karl Malakunas, prods. Michael Collins, Marty Syjuco, Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala
POV premiere: Monday, September 26, 2022
An egg-stra special shout out to our Co-Founder & Senior Creative Consultant Judith Helfand, whose film Love & Stuff, produced by our Co-Founder & Board President Julie Parker Benello and AlumNest filmmaker Hilla Medalia, will have its POV premiere on Monday, September 5, 2022.
Check out the full line-up with this link.
The Nest at Sheffield DocFest 2022
We are thrilled to see four Nest-supported films and two AlumNest films at the 29th edition of Sheffield DocFest. Taking place from Thursday, June 23 through Tuesday, June 28, this festival’s edition is an invitation to ‘ReConnect’ with documentary and each other.
Projects from eight Nest-supported filmmakers will be participating at the MeetMarket, Sheffield DocFest’s pitching forum. The market will take place in-person for the first time since 2019 from Monday, June 27 through Tuesday, June 28 and will move online in the days following the festival.
Alis
dirs. & prods. Clare Weiskopf, Nicolas van Hemelryck
prods. Alexandra Galvis, Radu Stancu
Alis is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist, and the winner of the Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.
Get your tickets with this link.
BEBA
dir. & prod. Rebeca Huntt
prod. Sofia Geld
BEBA is a Project: Hatched 2022 grantee.
Get your tickets with this link.
Electric Malady
dir. Marie Lidén
prod. Aimara Reques, Lorna Jane Ferguson
Electric Malady is a 2018 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Get your tickets with this link.
Midwives
dir. & prod. Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
prods. Bob Moore, Ulla Lehmann, Mila Aung-Thwin
Midwives is a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee and Special Jury Award winner at Sundance 2022.
Get your tickets with this link.
From the AlumNest
- The Joys and Sorrows of Young Yuguo
dir. Ilinca Calugareanu, prod. Mara Adina
World Premiere in the International Short Competition - The Great Abandonment
dirs. & prods. Shirley Abraham, Amit Madheshiya
MeetMarket
Eat Bitter
dirs. Ningyi Sun, Pascale Appora-Gnekindy
prod. Mathieu Faure
Eat Bitter is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist.
Hummingbirds
dirs. Silvia Castaños, Estefanía Contreras
prods. Jillian Schlesinger, Leslie Benavides, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin
Hummingbirds is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist.
Life + Life
dir. & prod. Contessa Gayles
Life + Life is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Matryoshka
dir. & prod. Maricarmen Merino
prods. Paulina Villegas, Karla Bukantz
Matryoshka is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
The Wife Of
dir. & prod. Volia Chajkouskaya
prods. Ivo Felt, Christian Popp, Marius Markevicius
The Wife Of is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
AlumNest projects at the MeetMarket
- #NunsToo Documentary
dir. Lorena Luciano, prod. Filippo Piscopo - DALTON’S DREAM
dirs. Kim Longinotto, Franky Murray Brown, prod. Lorine Plagnol - The Gender Project (working title)
dir. & prod. Kimberly Reed, prods. Louise Rosen, Robin Honan
Meet Our Team at Sheffield DocFest
Our Executive Director Jenni Wolfson and Program Coordinator Iva Dimitrova will be representing Chicken & Egg Pictures at the MeetMarket.
Check out the full line-up with this link and the complete list of MeetMarket projects with this link.
The Nest at Tribeca Film Festival
We are proud to see three Nest-supported films and five AlumNest films at The Tribeca Film Festival. The festival will run in-person and online from Wednesday, June 8 to Sunday, June 19, in New York City.
If you happen to be around the NYC area don’t miss these screenings:
World Premiere
An Act of Worship
dir. Nausheen Dadabhoy
prods. Sofian Khan, Kristi Jacobson, Heba Elorbany
An Act of Worship is an exploration of the last 30 years of Muslim life in America, weaving together observational footage of three activist women who came of age after 9/11 with news archival footage, community-sourced home videos, and audio interviews along with evocative recollections of individuals impacted by Islamophobic policy. From the perspective of Muslim Americans, he film revisits pivotal moments in US history that have shaped their lives, such as the first Gulf War, 9/11, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and Trump’s travel ban, creating a prismatic counter-narrative and opening a window into their world through collective memory. This is what it means to be a Muslim in America.
An Act of Worship participated in the 2018 Diversity Fellows Initiative (past program) and is a 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Get your tickets with this link.
World Premiere
Hidden Letters
dir. & prod. Violet Feng
prods. Mette Cheng Munthe-Kaas, Jean Tsien, Su Kim
Our story began hundreds of years ago in a secluded village in China where women’s lives were completely controlled by men. They created a secret written language called Nushu that men didn’t understand. They wrote poems and songs to give each other strength and dignity, and vowed to be lifetime sisters in this prose. At the brink of extinction, Nushu is now being commodified in the context of capitalism. Hidden Letters is a film about two young women trying to reclaim the power of Nushu, despite the new threats in a world of revived patriarchy.
Hidden Letters a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Get your tickets with this link.
And see Violet Feng speak at TRIBECA TALKS: Speaking in Codes: Storytelling that Codifies Gender Equitable Systems in China and the U.S.
Women filmmakers and artists around the world face a parallel challenge in navigating industries that are codified by male decision-makers and storytelling customs. This panel will explore how women and marginalized genders work to support one another to re-codify a more equitable system through investment in storytelling.* Panelists include director Violet Feng, Gloria Steinem, and Robin Morgan. Panel hosted by InMaat, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and Independent Lens.
Get your tickets with this link.
BEBA
dir. & prod. Rebeca Huntt
prod. Sofia Geld
A stunning self-portrait, tough, raw, stubborn, and powerful. Beba stares down the curses of her ancestry, probing the psychic wounds she has inherited, while simultaneously embracing the vastness of her multitudes, occupying many spaces, and demanding to be seen in all of them.
BEBA is a Project: Hatched 2022 grantee.
Get your tickets with this link.
From the AlumNest
- Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices From a Plantation Prison
prod. Catherine Gund
dir. Cinque Northern - Body Parts (World Premiere)
dir. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
prod. Helen Hood Scheer - Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (World Premiere)
dirs. Geeta Gandbhir, Sam Pollard
prods. Jessica Devaney, Anya Rous, Dema Paxton Fofang - To The End
dir. Rachel Lears
prod. Sabrina Schmidt Gordon - Unfinished Business (World Premiere)
dir. & prod. Alison Klayman
prods. Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Christopher Clements, Nicholas Ma, Mishka Brown
- The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (World Premiere)
dirs. Yoruba Richen, Johanna Hamilton
prod. Christalyn Hampton
Check out the full line-up with this link.
*Text courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival
The Nest at the New York Human Rights Watch Film Festival
The 33rd edition of the New York Human Rights Watch Film Festival will feature two Nest-supported films! The festival will run from Friday, May 20 to Thursday, May 26 with both in-person and online screenings.
Midwives
dir. & prod. Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
prods. Bob Moore, Ulla Lehmann, Mila Aung-Thwin
A tale of the complicated relationship between Rohingya and Buddhists in Myanmar, told over five years through the eyes of two midwives from either side of the divide.
Midwives is a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Get your tickets + more info with this link.
The Janes
dirs. Tia Lessin, Emma Pildes
prods. Emma Pildes, Daniel Arcana, Jessica Levin
The Janes is the story of an underground network of women in Chicago in the ‘60s and early ‘70s who provided safe, affordable, illegal abortions.
The Janes is a Project: Hatched 2022 grantee.
Get your tickets + more info with this link.
From the AlumNest
- Delikado
Writer and Executive Producer 2018 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Laura Nix, dir. Karl Malakunas, prods. Marty Syjuco, Michael Collins, Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala
Check out the full line-up with this link.
Announcing our Project: Hatched 2022 Grantees and Finalists!
Chicken & Egg Pictures proudly announced via Women & Hollywood six new grantees of our 2022 Project: Hatched program. Each film will receive $30,000 toward its completion and impact campaign and will participate in a seven-month program with tailored mentorship for impact strategy and professional development. Additionally, two films will each receive a $15,000 finalist grant.
This year, Chicken & Egg Pictures invited previously supported filmmakers in our alumni community, AlumNest, to participate in the Project: Hatched selection process.
“These processes are always complex and we receive more applications worthy of consideration than we can support. Sharing the power and responsibility that comes with making these selections with our AlumNest filmmakers was a very special and illuminating experience.”
Said Program Director Lucila Moctezuma.
Please click the film titles for more information on each project, and give these passionate and committed directors a warm welcome to the Nest!
Project: Hatched 2022 grantees:
A Woman on the Outside
Directors: Lisa Riordan Seville, Zara Katz
Producers: Kiara C. Jones, Lisa Riordan Seville, Zara Katz
Kristal is a young ambitious Philadelphian driven to keep families connected to their incarcerated loved ones. But when her father and brother return from prison, she confronts the ultimate question: can she reunite her own family?
Any Given Day
Director: Margaret Byrne
Producer: Margaret Byrne
Producer/Impact Producer: Latesha Dickerson
A filmmaker and three Chicagoans navigate the complexities of living with mental illness.
BEBA
Director: Rebeca Huntt
Producers: Rebeca Huntt, Sofia Geld
Impact Producer: Mia Bruno
A stunning self-portrait, tough, raw, stubborn, and powerful “Beba” stares down the curses of her ancestry, probing the psychic wounds she has inherited, while simultaneously embracing the vastness of her multitudes.
Crossings
Director: Deann Borshay Liem
Producers: Deann Borshay Liem, Ramsay Liem, Sarah Kim, Gay Dillingham
Thirty women peacemakers, including Gloria Steinem, undertake a risky crossing of the demilitarized zone (DMZ), from North to South Korea, to end America’s longest-running war.
Mama Has a Mustache
Director: Sally Rubin
Producer: Sally Rubin
Impact Producer: Nick Kelso
Mama Has a Mustache is a short animated documentary about identity and family outside of the traditional gender binary, as seen through children’s eyes.
Takeover
Director: Emma Francis-Snyder
Producer: Tony Gerber
In 1970, the Young Lords, a group of activists, took over a decrepit hospital in the South Bronx, launching a battle for their lives, their community, and healthcare for all.
Project: Hatched 2022 finalists
Powerlands
Director: Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso
Producers: Jordan Flaherty, Emily Faye Ratner, Ewa Jasiewicz
A Navajo filmmaker investigates the global displacement of Indigenous people and the devastation of the environment by corporations that have exploited the land where she was born.
The Janes
Directors: Tia Lessin, Emma Pildes
Producers: Emma Pildes, Daniel Arcana, Jessica Levin
The Janes is the story of an underground network of women in Chicago in the ‘60s and early ‘70s who provided safe, affordable, illegal abortions