Taking Flight at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival

Nest-supported filmmakers are taking flight at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, the oldest all-documentary festival in North America. Its 27th year will kick off on Friday, October 19 and run to Saturday, October 27 in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Here are the Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported films, filmmakers, and friends to see in Hot Springs.

Blowin’ Up, directed by Stephanie Wang-Breal

Monday, October 22 at  10:00AM, Cinema One.

Blowin’ Up looks at sex work, prostitution, and human trafficking through the lens of New York State’s criminal justice system. The film captures the growing pains of our nation’s first human trafficking intervention court in Queens, New York, and how we define trafficking and prostitution from many different perspectives: the criminal justice system, the social welfare system, and, most importantly, the women and girls who are at the center of it all.

The Devil We Know, directed by Stephanie Soechtig

Wednesday, October 24 at 10:00 AM, Cinema Two.

Unraveling one of the biggest environmental scandals of our time, a group of citizens in West Virginia take on a powerful corporation after they discover it has knowingly been dumping a toxic chemical—now found in the blood of 99.7% of Americans—into the drinking water supply.

Roll Red Roll, directed by Nancy Schwartzman

Saturday, October 20 at 2:30 PM, Cinema Two.

In small-town Ohio, at a pre-season football party, a horrible incident took place. What transpired would garner national attention and result in the sentencing of two key offenders. As amateur crime blogger Alex Goddard uncovers disturbing evidence on Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter, documenting the assault of a teenage girl by members of the beloved high school football team, questions linger around the collusion of teen and adult bystanders. Roll Red Roll explores the complex motivations of both perpetrators and bystanders in this story, to unearth the attitudes at the core of their behavior.

United Skates, directed by Dyana Winkler & Tina Brown  (2016 Diversity Fellows Initiative)

Friday, October 26 at 7:00 PM, Cinema One.

When America’s last standing roller rinks are threatened with closure, a community of thousands battle in a racially charged environment to save an underground subculture–-one that has remained undiscovered by the mainstream for generations, yet has given rise to some of the world’s greatest musical talent.

The Changing Same, directed by 2016 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award recipient Michèle Stephenson and Joe Brewster*

Monday, October 22 at 5:00 PM, Cinema One.

“On October 26, 1934, Claude Neal was brutally lynched by a group of white men who stormed the county jail in Brewton Alabama where Neal was being held after being accused of the murder of a 20 year-old white woman, Lola Cannady. Every October 26, Lamar Wilson, a native of Marianna, Florida who now teaches English at the University of Alabama Birmingham, comes home to run a very particular marathon to commemorate the lynching of Claude Neal. Lamar retraces the route Claude Neal took on that fateful night where he ended up hanged on the courthouse grounds.”**

This Is Home, directed by Chicken & Egg Board of Directors member Alexandra Shiva

Tuesday, October 23 at 1:00 PM, Cinema One.

“A stirring, empathetic documentary chronicling the travails of four Syrian refugee families as they arrive in Baltimore with just eight months’ time allowed to find jobs, learn English, and adapt to life in the U.S. when the sudden 2017 travel ban imposed by the Trump administration further complicates their situation.”***

*Chicken & Egg Pictures did not support The Changing Same directly but supported director Michèle Stephenson during her Breakthrough year, as well as Michèle and Joe’s VR project Changing Same: The Untitled Racial Justice Project, currently in production.

**Synopsis courtesy of Rada Film Group.

***Synopsis courtesy of Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival.

Congratulations to all and see you in Arkansas!

Penny Lane at the Open City Documentary Film Festival

Penny Lane 2017 Breakthrough Filmmaker AwardThe eighth edition of the Open City Documentary Festival is kicking off this Tuesday, September 4, taking place over six days in venues across Central London. As part of their “Penny Lane: Observing Observation Itself” program, the festival will be running two feature films and eight short films by 2017 Chicken & Egg Pictures Breakthrough Award Recipient Penny Lane, including:

The Pain of Others

Morgellons disease is a medical mystery. Although doctors have no explanation for the condition, thousands of sufferers claim to experience a persistent crawling sensation under their skin, thin fibres growing out of their body and a host of other symptoms. Penny Lane dives head first into the online community of Morgellons patients re-working candid home-videos uploaded to YouTube by three women who are afflicted with the disease. Friday, September 7 at 6:10 PM. *

Our Nixon

Throughout Richard Nixon’s presidency, three of his top White House aides obsessively documented their experiences with Super 8 home movie cameras. Saturday, September 8 at 1:00 PM. *

The Short Films of Penny Lane

This screening offers a rare opportunity to see Lane’s short form work; distinctive, entertaining and provocative in equal measure. The event will include an extended Q&A with Penny covering her work and creative practice. Sunday, September 9 at 1:00 PM. *

Congratulations Penny!

And a special congratulations to Chicken & Egg Pictures Board Member Alexandra Shiva on her UK Premiere of This Is Home at the Open City Documentary Film Festival, in partnership with the London Migration Film Festival. Saturday, September 8 at 6:00 PM.

 

*Synopses from the Open City website.

 

Post by 2018 Communications Intern Morgan Lee Hulquist. 

Chicken & Egg Pictures to be honored at 2015 Margaret Mead Film Festival

We are  pleased to announce that Chicken & Egg Pictures is being honored by the Margaret Mead Film Festival. The awards presentation will take place on Sunday October 25th, at their Filmmaker Award Ceremony at 7pm in New York.

Entrance is guaranteed for ticket holders with a stub from that day; we encourage you to join us for a double feature! Chicken & Egg Pictures grantee film Driving With Selvi is screening that day at 3pm, followed by How to Dance in Ohio at 5pm, directed by our advisory board member Alexandra Shiva.

Driving With Selvi, directed by Elisa Paloschi
Driving With Selvi, directed by Elisa Paloschi

A full schedule is available here.