Nest-supported Films to See at DOC NYC
The DOC NYC Film Festival recently released their full 2018 line-up, schedule, and some exciting news: of the sixteen features screening in competition, women directed or co-directed eight of them. We’re egg-static to see DOC NYC follow in the footsteps of a number of film festivals which have recently pledged gender parity in programming, like Camden International Film Festival which achieved gender parity in selections across every category just last month.
DOC NYC runs from Thursday, November 8 to Thursday, November 15 at the IFC Center, SVA Theatre, and Cinépolis Chelsea, with three Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported films and one supported filmmaker on the line-up.
On Her Shoulders (2018 SXSW LUNA / Chicken & Egg Pictures Award recipient), directed by Alexandria Bombach. Saturday, November 10 at 10:00 AM and Sunday, November 11 at 9:55 PM at the Cinépolis Chelsea.
This empowering documentary presents 23-year-old Nadia Murad, a Yazidi genocide survivor determined to tell the world her story. Determined advocate and reluctant celebrity, she becomes the voice of her people and their best hope to spur the world to action.
On Her Shoulders was also listed as a top award contender for the documentary feature category on the DOC NYC shortlist.
Grit, directed by Cynthia Wade and Sasha Friedlander. Sunday, November 11 at 5:15 PM at the Cinépolis Chelsea and Thursday, November 15 at 12:45 PM at IFC Center.
Grit is the story of a huge, toxic mudflow in Indonesia widely believed to be caused by shoddy drilling practices. The mud volcano has been erupting violently for the past eight years, burying 17 villages and permanently displacing 60,000 people. Grit follows ordinary Indonesians seeking justice for this disaster during a national election where one presidential candidate has promised restitution — and the other has not.
Tre Maison Dasan (2016 Accelerator Lab Grantee), directed by Denali Tiller. Sunday, November 11 at 7:45 PM and Monday, November 12 at 2:30 PM at the Cinépolis Chelsea.
Tre Maison Dasan is a story that explores parental incarceration through the eyes of three boys—Tre, Maison, and Dasan. Following their interweaving trajectories through boyhood marked by the criminal justice system, and told directly through the child’s perspective, the film unveils the challenges of growing up and what it means to become a man in America.
Take Back The Harbor, directed by Kristi Jacobson (2016 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award recipient) and Roger Ross Williams. Sunday, November 11 at 10:00 AM at the SVA Theatre.
“On Governor’s Island, an ambitious program works to restore once-bountiful oysters and the environmental benefits they bring to New York Harbor. Take Back the Harbor highlights students at a remarkable public high school where environmental stewardship is part of the curriculum.”*
Take Back The Harbor was also listed as a top award contender for the documentary short category on the DOC NYC shortlist.
*Synopsis courtesy of Discovery/Motto Pictures. Chicken & Egg Pictures did not directly support Take Back The Harbor but supported director Kristi Jacobson through the Breakthrough Filmmaker Award program.
And don’t forget to see Nest-supported filmmakers at the DOC NYC PRO conference occurring in conjunction with screenings. See you at DOC NYC!
Chicken & Egg Pictures Filmmakers at Human Rights Watch Film Festival June 9-18, NYC
The Human Rights Watch Film Festival is rolling into New York City again this June, and we can’t wait to see our filmmakers in action there! Each screening is followed by a discussion.
Go to the HRW Film Festival website for more information and the full lineup:
MUHI – Generally Temporary
Directed by Rina Castelnuovo-Hollander and Tamir Elterman
For the past seven years, Muhi, a young boy from Gaza, has been trapped in an Israeli hospital. Rushed there in his infancy with a life-threatening immune disorder, he and his doting grandfather, Abu Naim, wound up caught in an immigration limbo that made it impossible for them to leave. With Muhi’s citizenship unclear, and Abu Naim denied a work permit or visa, the pair reside solely within the constraints of the hospital walls. Caught between two states in perpetual war, Muhi is being cared for by the very same people whose government forbids his family to visit, and for him or his grandfather to travel back. Made by two filmmakers from Jerusalem, this documentary lays out the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in human terms, documenting the impact these paradoxical circumstances have on individual lives.
Directed by Tiffany Hsiung
Grandma Gil in South Korea, Grandma Cao in China, and Grandma Adela in the Philippines were amongst thousands of girls and young women who were sexually exploited by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II, many through kidnapping, coercion and sexual slavery. Some 70 years after their imprisonment, and after decades living in silence and shame about their past, the wounds are still fresh for these three former ‘comfort women’. Despite multiple formal apologies from the Japanese government issued since the early 1990’s, there has been little justice; the courageous resolve of these women moves them to fight and seize their last chance to share first-hand accounts of the truth with their families and the world, and to ensure that this horrific chapter of history is neither repeated nor forgotten.
June 11, 2017, 8:30 PM / Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater
Screening followed by discussion with filmmaker Tiffany Hsiung and Sarah Taylor, Advocate, Women’s Rights division, Human Rights Watch
Complicit
Directed by Heather White and Lynn Zhang*
Shot below the radar, Complicit follows the journey of Chinese factory migrant worker-turned-activist Yi Yeting, who takes his fight against the global electronic industry from his hospital bed to the international stage. While battling his own work-induced leukemia, Yi Yeting teaches himself labour law in order to prepare a legal challenge against his former employers. But the struggle to defend the lives of millions of Chinese people from becoming terminally ill due to working conditions necessitates confrontation with some of the world’s largest brands including Apple and Samsung. Unfortunately, neither powerful businesses nor the government are willing to have such scandals exposed.
Vessel opens theatrically in NYC; available on VOD 1/13
Vessel, directed by Diana Whitten, opens in New York on Friday, January 9th and will run through the week at the IFC Center. Tickets and showtimes here. The film will also be available on Video on Demand platforms in North America beginning Tuesday, January 13th.
Vessel is part of Chicken & Egg Pictures’ Reproductive Justice Cohort, a group of eight character-driven films exploring reproductive justice in unique and nuanced ways.
Chicken & Egg Pictures, in partnership with Film Fatales, will be presenting the 3:20pm screening on Saturday, January 10th. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Diana Whitten, moderated by her fellow Chicken & Egg Pictures grantee Lana Wilson (After Tiller, also part of the Reel Reproductive Justice Cohort). Tickets can be purchased here.
The film, which premiered at SXSW in 2014, follows Dr. Rebecca Gomperts as she sails a ship around the world, providing abortions at sea for women with no legal alternative. Her idea begins as flawed spectacle, faced with governmental, religious, and military blockade. But with each setback comes a refined mission, until Rebecca realizes she can use new technologies to bypass law – and train women to give themselves abortions using WHO-researched protocols with pills. From there we witness her create an underground network of emboldened, informed activists who trust women to handle abortion themselves. Vessel is Rebecca’s story: one of a woman who hears and answers a calling, and transforms a wildly improbable idea into a global movement.
