Search Results for: elaine mcmillion
31 Oscar-eligible films from our community!
Congratulations to the 14 Chicken & Egg-supported films and 17 from our Alumni community on the list of documentary features and shorts eligible for the 96th Academy Awards®! We encourage you to catch these films in theaters and on streaming platforms. The Oscars® Shortlist will be announced on Thursday, December 21, so stay tuned.
Against the Tide
dir. Sarvnik Kaur
prod. Koval Bhatia, Quentin Laurent
Against the Tide is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Find about upcoming screenings here.
Bad Press
dirs. Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler
prods. Conrad Beilharz, Garrett F. Baker, Tyler Graim
Bad Press is a participant of Project: Hatched 2023.
Find out about upcoming screenings here.
Eat Bitter
dirs. Ningyi Sun, Pascale Appora-Gnekindy
prod. Mathieu Faure
Eat Bitter is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist.
Find out about upcoming screenings here.
El eco / The Echo
dir. & prod. Tatiana Huezo
prod. Dalia Reyes
El eco / The Echo was supported through Tatiana Huezo’s 2021 Chicken & Egg Award.
Joonam
dir. Sierra Urich
prod. Keith Wilson
Joonam is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Find out about upcoming screenings here.
MnM
dir. Twiggy Pucci Garçon
prods. Colleen Cassingham, Jess Devaney
MnM was supported in partnership with Multitude Films as a part of the QUEER FUTURES (2022) series and is eligible for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film.
PAY OR DIE
dirs. & prods. Rachael Dyer, Scott Alexander Ruderman
prod. Yael Melamede
PAY OR DIE is a participant of Project: Hatched 2023.
Now streaming on Paramount +.
Plan C
dir. & prod. Tracy Droz Tragos
Plan C is a 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantee.
Find out about upcoming screenings here or watch on demand here.
Razing Liberty Square
dir. Katja Esson
prods. Ann Bennett, Corinna Sager, Ronald Baez
Razing Liberty Square is a 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantee.
The film will open theatrically in Miami on January 26 and the Broadcast Premiere will be on Independent Lens on January 29.
Reality Winner
dir. & prod. Sonia Kennebeck
prod. Ines Hofmann Kanna
Reality Winner was supported through Sonia Kennebeck’s 2023 Chicken & Egg Award.
Songs of Earth
dir. & prod. Margreth Olin
prod. Lena Faye-Lund Sandvik
Songs of Earth was supported through Margreth Olin’s 2022 Chicken & Egg Award.
The Eternal Memory
dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi
prod. Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue
The Eternal Memory was supported through Maite Alberdi’s 2020 Chicken & Egg Award.
Now streaming on Paramount +.
Total Trust
dir. Jialing Zhang
prod. Knut Jäger
Total Trust was supported through Jialing Zhang’s 2021 Chicken & Egg Award.
Check out their list of upcoming New York screenings here.
Twice Colonized
dir. Lin Alluna
prods. Emile Hertling Péronard, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Stacey Aglok, Bob Moore
Twice Colonized is a participant of Project: Hatched 2023.
Find out about upcoming screenings here.
Alumni filmmakers eligible for Best Documentary Feature
- AKA Mr. Chow
dir. Nick Hooker
prod. Diane Quon
- Anonymous Sister
dir. & prod. Jamie Boyle
prods. Marilyn Ness, Elizabeth Westrate
- Another Body
dirs. & prods. Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn
prod. Elizabeth Woodward
- Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
dirs. & prods. Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster
- King Coal
dir. & prod. Elaine McMillion Sheldon
prods. Shane Boris, Diane Becker, Peggy Drexler
- Mourning In Lod
dir. & prod. Hilla Medalia
- The Lady Bird Diaries
dir. & prod. Dawn Porter
prod. Kim Reynolds
- Victim/Suspect
dir. & prod. Nancy Schwartzman
prods. Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, Alice Henty, Rachel de Leon, Amanda Pike
- Who I Am Not
dir. Tunde Skovran
prods. Andrei Zinca, Danielle Turkov, Paul Cadieux, Patrick Hamm, Amy Shepherd, Edith Weil, Daniel Szandtner, Janos Kovacs
- Your Fat Friend
dir. & prod. Jeanie Finlay
prod. Suzanne Alizart
- You Were My First Boyfriend
dirs. Cecilia Aldarondo, Sarah Enid Hagey
prod. Ines Hofmann Kanna (prod. of Reality Winner)
Alumni filmmakers eligible for Best Documentary Short Film
- A Mouthful of Petrol
dir. & prod. Jess Kohl
exec. prod. Lindsay Poulton
- Bone Black: Midwives vs the South
dir. Rebecca Richman Cohen
prod. Yoruba Richen
- Heart of an Astronaut
dir. Jennifer Rainsford
prods. Costanza Julia Bani
- How We Get Free
dirs. Geeta Gandbhir, Samantha Knowles
prods. Kathleen Lingo, Sweta Vohra, Jess Devaney
- Rest Stop
dir. Crystal Kayiza
prods. Brit Fryer, Jalena Keane-Lee
- The Recall
dir. Imani Dennison (POV Shorts Co-Production Fund Grantee)
prod. Flor Tejada
- The Feeling of Being Close to You
dir. & prod. Ash Goh Hua
Post written by Communications Intern Tess Caldwell
18 Nominations for the IDA Documentary Awards!
The IDA Documentary Awards recently announced the nominees for the 39th IDA Documentary Awards. We are proud to have 18 nominations and 3 shortlisted films within the Chicken & Egg Pictures community! The awards will be presented virtually on December 12. Congratulations and good luck to all of the nominees.
- 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Against the Tide | dir. & prod. Sarvnik Kaur | prods. Koval Bhatia, Quentin Laurent | Nominated for Best Feature Documentary and Best Director
- QUEER FUTURES project How to Carry Water | dir. Sasha Wortzel | prods. Colleen Cassingham, Jess Devaney, Anya Rous | Nominated for Best Short Documentary
- 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Milisuthando | dir. Milisuthando Bongela | prod. Marion Isaacs | Nominated for Best Feature Documentary, Best Director, and Best Writing
- 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Q | dir. & prod. Jude Chehab | Nominated for Best Feature Documentary and Best Editing
- 2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Margreth Olin’s Songs of Earth | dir. & prod. Margreth Olin | Nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Original Music Score
- Project: Hatched 2023 participant Suddenly TV | dir. & prod. Roopa Gogineni | prods. Reem Haddad, Trevor Snapp, Fiona Lawson-Baker | Nominated for Best Short Documentary
- 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Maite Alberdi’s The Eternal Memory | dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi | prods. Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue | Nominated for Best Editing
- QUEER FUTURES | dirs. Brit Fryer, Lindsey Dryden, Noah Schamus, Sasha Wortzel, Twiggy Pucci Garçon | prods. Jess Devaney, Anya Rous, J Wortham, Colleen Cassingham | Nominated for Best Short-Form Series
From the AlumNest
- Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court | Nominated for Best Multi-Part Documentary
dir. & prod. Dawn Porter
prods. Vinnie Malhotra, Aaron Saidman, Eli Holzman
- Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project | Nominated for Best Feature Documentary and Best Original Music Score
dirs. & prods. Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster
- King Coal | Nominated for Best Cinematography
dir. & prod. Elaine McMillion Sheldon
prods. Shane Boris, Diane Becker, Peggy Drexler
- The U.S. and the Holocaust | Nominated for Best TV Feature or Mini-Series
dir. Lynn Novick, Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein
Shortlist Shoutouts
- QUEER FUTURES project The Script | dirs. Brit Fryer, Noah Schamus | prods. Jessica Devaney, Colleen Cassingham | Shortlisted for Best Short Documentary
- Project: Hatched 2023 participant Twice Colonized | dir. Lin Alluna | prods. Emile Hertling Péronard, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Stacey Aglok, Bob Moore | Shortlisted for Best Feature Documentary
- AlumNest project How We Get Free | dirs. Geeta Gandbhir, Samantha Knowles | prods. Kathleen Lingo, Sweta Vohra, Jess Devaney | Shortlisted for Best Short Documentary
Post written by Communications Intern Tess Caldwell
28 Nominations for the Cinema Eye Honors Awards!
Cinema Eye recently announced the nominees for the 17th edition of the Cinema Eye Honors Awards. We are proud to see 28 nominations within the Chicken & Egg Pictures community! The awards ceremony will take place on Friday, January 12 at the New York Academy of Medicine in East Harlem. Congratulations and good luck to all of the nominees.
- Project: Hatched 2023 participant Bad Press | dirs. Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler | prods. Conrad Beilharz, Garrett F. Baker, Tyler Graim | Nominated in the Spotlight section
- 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Against the Tide | dir. & prod. Sarvnik Kaur | prods. Koval Bhatia, Quentin Laurent | Nominated in the Spotlight section
- 2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Margreth Olin’s Songs of Earth | dir. & prod. Margreth Olin | Nominated for Outstanding Original Score, Outstanding Cinematography, and Outstanding Production
- 2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Tatiana Huezo’s The Echo | dir. & prod. Tatiana Huezo | prod. Dalia Reyes | Nominated in the Heterodox section
- 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Maite Alberdi’s The Eternal Memory | dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi | prods. Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue | Nominated for Outstanding Editing, Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, The Unforgettables Honorees, and Audience Choice Prize – Sharp
- 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee The Tuba Thieves | dir. & prod. Alison O’Daniel | Nominated for Outstanding Debut and Outstanding Sound Design
- Project: Hatched 2023 participant Twice Colonized | dir. Lin Alluna | prods. Emile Hertling Péronard, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Stacey Aglok, Bob Moore | Nominated for The Unforgettables Honorees
- 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Q | dir. & prod. Jude Chehab | Nominated in the Spotlight section
From the AlumNest
- Black Girls Play: The Story Of Hand Games | Nominated for Outstanding Nonfiction Short and Shorts List Semifinalists
dirs. & prods. Michéle Stephenson, Joe Brewster
- Confessions of a Good Samaritan | Nominated for The Unforgettables Honorees and Audience Choice Prize
dir. Penny Lane
prod. Gabriel Sedgwick
- Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project | Nominated for Outstanding Visual Design, Outstanding Original Score, Outstanding Nonfiction Feature, and The Unforgettables Honorees
dirs. & prods. Michéle Stephenson, Joe Brewster
- King Coal | Nominated for Outstanding Cinematography
dir. & prod. Elaine McMillion Sheldon
prods. Shane Boris, Diane Becker, Peggy Drexler
- Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power | Nominated in the Broadcast Film Nominees section
dir. Geeta Gandbhir
prod. Jess Devaney
- Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields | Nominated in the Broadcast Film Nominees and Broadcast Editing Nominees sections
dir. Lana Wilson
prods. Jack Turner, Christine O’Malley
Post written by Communications Intern Tess Caldwell
Half a Dozen Nest-supported Films at the 2023 SFFILM Festival
Chicken & Egg Pictures is proud to see six Nest-supported and two AlumNest films screening at the 66th San Francisco International Film Festival. The festival will take place from Thursday, April 13 to Sunday, April 23 across theaters in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley.
We are sending special congratulations to the 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantee Sol in the Garden for their World Premiere.
Against the Tide
dir. Sarvnik Kaur
prod. Koval Bhatia, Quentin Laurent
Against the Tide is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee having its California Premiere as a part of the Documentaries: International section.
Get your tickets here.
How to Carry Water
dir. Sasha Wortzel
prod. Jess Devaney, Anya Rous, Colleen Cassingham
How to Carry Water was supported in partnership with Multitude Films as a part of the QUEER FUTURES series and will take part in the “Shorts 3: The Body” section of the festival.
Get your tickets here.
Hummingbirds
dirs. Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía “Beba” Contreras
co-dirs. & prods. Jillian Schlesinger, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Diane Ng, Ana Rodriguez-Falco
prods. Leslie Benavides, Rivkah Beth Medow
Hummingbirds is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist having its California premiere in the Documentaries: USA and GGA Documentary Competition sections.
Get your tickets here.
Milisuthando
dir. Milisuthando Bongela
prod. Marion Isaacs
Milisuthando is a 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee having its California premiere in the Documentaries: International and GGA Documentary Competition sections.
Get your tickets here.
Sol in the Garden
dirs. & prods. Emily Cohen Ibañez and Débora Souza Silva
Sol in the Garden is a 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantee having its World Premiere as a part of the Bay Area Short Film category as well as a three-part shorts program.
Get your tickets here.
The Tuba Thieves
dir. & prod. Alison O’Daniel
The Tuba Thieves is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee having its California Premiere as a part of the Documentaries: USA section.
Get your tickets here.
From the AlumNest
- King Coal
dir. & prod. Elaine McMillion Sheldon
prods. Shane Boris, Diane Becker, Peggy Drexler - Confessions of a Good Samaritan
dir. Penny Lane
prod. Gabriel Sedgwick
Post written by Spring intern Tess Caldwell
Recovery Boys
SYNOPSIS
In the heart of America’s opioid epidemic, four men attempt to reinvent their lives and mend broken relationships after years of drug abuse. Recovery Boys, directed by Academy Award® nominee Elaine McMillion Sheldon, is an intimate look at the strength, brotherhood, and courage required to overcome addictionThe film exposes the internal struggles of recovery and the effort to break the cycle of generational addiction and trauma. The young men let go of painful pasts to live in the present and create a new community through farming-based rehabilitation. After rehab, they face life’s challenges sober but struggle to find their place and purpose in an often unforgiving society. In today’s world where the opioid crisis dominates headlines, Recovery Boys gives a deeply personal look into the unseen lives of those working toward transformation.
Recovery Boys was supported through Elaine McMillion Sheldon‘s 2016 Chicken & Egg Award.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Elaine McMillion Sheldon (she/her) is an Academy Award®-nominated and Peabody-winning documentary filmmaker. She has been nominated for six Emmy® awards, and is a 2021 Creative Capital Awardee, a 2021 Livingston Award Finalist, and a 2020 John Simon Guggenheim Fellow.
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Kristi Jacobson (she/her) is an Emmy® Award-winning filmmaker based in New York and founder of Catalyst FIlms. Hers films capture nuanced, intimate, and provocative portrayals of individuals and communities. They have premiered at the Sundance and Tribeca Film Festivals, been released in theaters worldwide, and screened on platforms including Netflix, HBO, ESPN, PBS, ABC, CBS, and Discovery.
Eight Nest-supported World Premieres at 2023 Sundance Film Festival
We are egg-static that eight Nest-supported films will have their World premieres at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
The 2023 Sundance slate is made up of 28% first-time filmmakers. Chicken & Egg Pictures is committed to supporting filmmakers through the lifecycle of their films; we’re proud that five of the documentary films premiering at Sundance are grantees of our flagship program (Egg)celerator Lab, designed for first or second-time filmmakers.
See you in Utah!
Against the Tide
dir. & prod. Sarvnik Kaur
prods. Koval Bhatia
2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Against the Tide is having its world premiere in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Available in person and online
Premiering on Friday, January 20
Get your tickets
It’s Only Life After All
dir. & prod. Alexandria Bombach
prods. Kathlyn Horan, Jess Devaney, Anya Rous
It’s Only Life After All was supported through Alexandria Bombach’s 2019 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its world premiere in the Premiere section.
Available in person
Premiering on Thursday, January 19
Get your tickets
Is There Anybody Out There?
dir. Ella Glendining
prod. Janine Marmot
2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Is There Anybody Out There? is having its world premiere in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Available in person and online
Premiering on Sunday, January 22
Get your tickets
Joonam
dir. Sierra Urich
prod. Keith Wilson
2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Joonam is having its world premiere in the U.S. Documentary Competition.
Available in person and online
Premiering on Saturday, January 21
Get your tickets here
Milisuthando
dir. Milisuthando Bongela
prod. Marion Isaacs
2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Milisuthando is having its world premiere in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Available in person and online
Premiering on Saturday, January 21
Get your tickets
Plan C
dir. & prod. Tracy Droz Tragos
Plan C is supported through the Critical Issues Fund and it is having its world premiere in the Premiere section.
Available in person
Premiering on Monday, January 23
Get your tickets
The Eternal Memory
dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi
prods. Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue
The Eternal Memory was supported through Maite Alberdi’s 2020 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its world premiere in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Available in person and online
Premiering on Saturday, January 21
Get your tickets
The Tuba Thieves
dir. Alison O’Daniel
2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee The Tuba Thieves is having its world premiere in the Next section.
Available in person and online
Premiering on Sunday, January 22
Get your tickets
From the AlumNest
- Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
dirs. & prods. Michele Stephenson, Joe Brewster
U.S. Documentary Competition - Kim’s Video
dirs. & prods. David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
prods. Deborah Smith, Dale Smith, Francesco Galavotti, Rebecca Tabasky
Next section (Opening night) - King Coal
dir. & prod. Elaine McMillion Sheldon
prods. Shane Boris, Diane Becker, Peggy Drexler
Next section - Murder in Big Horn
dirs. Razelle Benally, Matthew Galkin
prods. Razelle Benally, Matthew Galkin, Ivan Macdonald, Ivy Macdonald - Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields
dir. Lana Wilson
prods. Christine O’Malley, Jack Turner
Premiere section - Victim/Suspect
dir. & prod. Nancy Schwartzman
prods. Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, Alice Henty, Rachel de Leon, Amanda Pike
Update:
Meet our Team at Sundance Film Festival
Our new Program Director Kiyoko McCrae will be in attendance along with Jenni Wolfson, CEO, and Rebecca Celli, Associate Director of Development.
In Memoriam of Julia Reichert
We are filled with immense grief from the passing of our beloved Nest-supported filmmaker Julia Reichert. She passed away in Yellow Springs, Ohio after a long battle with urothelial cancer, surrounded by the love of her partner Steven Bognar, daughter Lela Klein, and their family.
Julia Reichert was an Oscar® and Emmy®-winning independent documentary filmmaker, activist, professor, mentor, and champion of emerging filmmakers and the working class based in Ohio. Her evolutionary work focused on class, gender, health, and race in the lives of Americans.
In 2016, Julia was the recipient of our inaugural Chicken & Egg Award and embodied what a recipient of the honor should be: collaborative, generous, and committed to the communities she was part of. Prior to that, Julia was also an early recipient of a Chicken & Egg Pictures’ Celebration Grant that honored trailblazing, risk-taking, veteran women filmmakers. She was awarded the Career Achievement Award at the 2018 International Documentary Awards for her incredible contributions to documentary filmmaking. In 2019, a retrospective of her work, Julia Reichert: 50 Years in Film, organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts, premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and traveled to a dozen cities across the United States.
Julia became a filmmaker compelled to build a movement of intersectional feminism, where all women from all races and classes would feel welcomed. Her first film, Growing Up Female, was the first feature documentary of the modern Women’s Movement and was selected in 2011 for the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Long before digital screenings, she traveled with a 16 mm projector across the US, using the film as an organizing tool. Julia was also closely involved in the local activism of the places she visited with her films. In 1971, frustrated with the lack of distribution options for films by and about women, she co-founded New Day Films, the democratically run documentary film distribution cooperative. Fifty-one years later, New Day Films is going strong and now has over 140 active members.
“It really could be from anywhere, that people put on a uniform, punch a clock, trying to make their families have a better life,” she said. “Working people have it harder and harder these days, and we believe that things will get better when workers of the world unite.”
–Julia Reichert during her Academy Award® acceptance speech for Best Documentary Feature
Her films Union Maids and Seeing Red were nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature, as was The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant. Her film A Lion in the House (an ITVS co-production), about kids fighting cancer, premiered at Sundance Film Festival, and won a Primetime Emmy® for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking. Julia’s film American Factory 美国工厂, a film she worked on during her Chicken & Egg Award year, won the US Documentary Directing Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, the Best Documentary Spirit Award, the Best Documentary Gotham Award, the Outstanding Nonfiction Feature and Outstanding Direction awards at the Cinema Eye Honors, and the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. It was the first film released by Higher Ground Productions, the production company created by Michelle & Barack Obama.
Julia’s film 9to5: The Story of a Movement, which she also worked on during her Chicken & Egg Award year, was an official selection of SXSW, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, AFI DOCS Film Festival, and DOC NYC. The film tells the story of secretaries rising up and organizing to fight for their rights and was nominated for a Peabody Award.
She is the author of Doing It Yourself, the first book on self-distribution in independent film, and was an Advisory Board member of IFP. Julia co-wrote and directed the feature film Emma and Elvis. Over the decades, she mentored hundreds of emerging filmmakers. Julia taught for 28 years at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
She lived a life dedicated to highlighting the experiences of the working class and celebrating and pushing forward the careers of new, talented filmmakers. As we grieve her loss, we are comforted by knowing that her legacy lives on through her body of documentary films and the powerful impact she had on the documentary community. We will continue to honor her by supporting emerging filmmakers that, like her, are building a world shaped by the power of documentary films.
Rest in power, Julia.
Belly of the Beast Receives Four News and Documentary Emmy® Noms!
Nominations for the 42nd Annual News and Documentary Emmy® Awards were announced today by The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS): Project: Hatched 2020 grantee Belly of the Beast received FOUR nominations! Also nominated were two films by Chicken & Egg Award recipients and one produced by our Co-founder & Board President Julie Parker Benello.
Belly of the Beast (Project: Hatched 2020)
dir. Erika Cohn
prods. Nicole Docta, Christen Marquez & Angela Tucker
Nominated for Outstanding Direction: Documentary, Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary, Best Documentary, Outstanding Editing: Documentary
AlumNest Films
The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show
Nominated for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary
dir. Yoruba Richen (2016 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient)
prods. Valerie Thomas & Joan Walsh
Tutwiler
Nominated for Outstanding Short Documentary
dir. Elaine McMillion Sheldon (2016 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient)
prod. Alysia Santo
John Lewis: Good Trouble
Nominated by Outstanding Research: Documentary, Outstanding Historical Documentary, Outstanding Lighting Direction and Scenic Design
dir. Dawn Porter (2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient)
prods. Erika Alexander & Ben Arnon
Special Congratulations
A special congratulations to our Co-Founder & Board President Julie Parker Benello, producer of Athlete A (dirs. Bonni Cohen & Jon Shenk, prods. Serin Marshall, Julie Parker Benello & Jen Say). The film was nominated for Best Documentary and Outstanding Investigative Documentary.
Check out the full nomination list here. The awards for Documentary Categories will be presented on Wednesday, September 29, 2021. Post by 2021 Summer Communications Intern Mariana Sanson.
Celebrating Women This March at Chicken & Egg Pictures
Today is International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. This year’s International Women’s Day theme is balance—promoting the need for equality and a gender-balanced world.
Chicken & Egg Pictures is honoring women’s voices today by looking back on the many Nest-supported films about women and girls and looking forward at some powerful films to come. Through the lenses of empathy, intimacy, and dignity, these films represent the diverse complexities of what it means to be a woman or girl in our world today. We hope these Nest-supported filmmakers and their work lead to a more balanced film industry.
Get your International Women’s Day inspiration by streaming these egg-cellent women-directed and women-centered films:
After Tiller, co-directed by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson (also a Chicken & Egg Award recipient), paints a complex, compassionate portrait of the four American doctors left who openly provide third-trimester abortions. Since the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas in May 2009, these physicians have become the new number-one targets of the anti-abortion movement, yet continue to risk their lives every day to do work that many believe is murder, but which they believe is profoundly important for their patients’ lives.
After Tiller is available on Amazon Prime.
The Apology, directed by Tiffany Hsiung, is a film about memory, told through the current relationships three women have with the people closest to them and how these relationships indelibly shape the last years of their lives. The three women – Gil Won-Ok in South Korea, Grandma Cao in China, and Lola Adela in the Philippines – are all former “comfort women” who were among the 200,000 girls and young women forced into military sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.
The Apology is available on Amazon Prime.
Heroin(e), directed by 2016 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Elaine McMillion Sheldon, follows three women—a fire chief, a judge and a missionary—who are battling America’s modern opioid epidemic in Huntington, West Virginia, once a bustling industrial town, now a place with an overdose rate 10 times the national average. This flood of heroin now threatens this Appalachian city with a cycle of generational addiction, lawlessness, and poverty. But within this distressed landscape, Elaine McMillion Sheldon shows a different side of the fight against drugs—one of hope.
Heroin(e) is available on Netflix.
American Revolutionary: The Evolution Of Grace Lee Boggs, directed by Grace Lee (also a Chicken & Egg Award recipient) tells the story of Grace Lee Boggs, a 98-year-old Chinese American woman whose vision of revolution will surprise you. A writer, activist, and philosopher rooted for more than 70 years in the African American movement, she has devoted her life to an evolving revolution that encompasses the contradictions of America’s past and its potentially radical future.
American Revolutionary: The Evolution Of Grace Lee Boggs is available on Netflix.
Pashtana’s Lesson, directed by Beth Murphy, follows the story of a young girl living in the rural Afghan village of Deh’Subz, on the outskirts of Kabul Province, as she resists an arranged marriage so that she may attend Zabuli Education Center, the first girls’ school in the area.
In 2016, Pashtana’s Lesson debuted as a New York Times Op-Doc. To watch, visit the New York Times Op-Docs website. What Tomorrow Brings, the feature-length documentary on which Pashtana’s Lesson is based, aired on PBS’s POV series and is available on Amazon Prime.
Moving on to the rest of March, Women’s History Month: In a year when women are mobilizing and running for office in unprecedented numbers, tune into PBS for Women, War, and Peace II, the acclaimed documentary series which presents four women-directed films exploring the pivotal role women are playing in dramatic conflicts and peace settlements across the globe. This season, three out of four films featured are Nest-supported projects. Check your local listings for exact times and dates.
The Trials of Spring, directed by Gini Reticker debuts Monday, March 25. The film follows the journeys of three Egyptian women from the early days of the 2011 Arab Spring until today: Hend, from a rural military family, awaiting a harsh prison sentence for protesting against military rule; Miriam, an activist fighting to end sexual assault; and Mama Khadiga, a formerly veiled widow who became a caretaker of the revolutionaries. Their intersecting stories reveal the vital and underreported role women play in shaping the region’s future.
Naila and the Uprising, directed by Julia Bacha debuts Tuesday, March 26. Weaving together interviews, news footage, and expressive animation, award-winning documentarian Julia Bacha (also a Chicken & Egg Award recipient) inventively chronicles the remarkable journey of Naila Ayesh, who in the late 1980s joined a clandestine movement of Palestinian women who played a pivotal role in the nonviolent uprising known as the First Intifada.
A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers, co-directed by Geeta Gandbhir (also a Chicken & Egg Award recipient), Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy (also on our Eggsperts advisory board), and Perri Peltz, debuts Tuesday, March 26. The film follows an all-female, Bangladeshi unit of UN peacekeepers as they leave their friends, families and all familiarity for deployment abroad in Haiti. The film examines how this journey forever alters their lives while illuminating the unique role that women play in restoring peace in the world’s most volatile regions.
Nest-supported films about women and girls to look out for in the future:
Writing With Fire, directed by Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh (2018 (Egg)celerator Lab), tells the story India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions, be it on the frontlines of India’s biggest issues or within the confines of their homes, redefining what it means to be powerful.
Writing With Fire is currently in production.
Reentry (Working Title), directed by Jennifer Redfearn (2018 (Egg)celerator Lab), is an immersive, character-driven film follows three women—who are part of a new reentry program in Cleveland, Ohio—as they prepare to leave prison, reunite with their children, and find jobs after serving time for drug-related charges.
Reentry is currently in post production.
Rajada Dalka/Nation’s Hope, directed by Hana Mire
(2016 Diversity Fellows Initiative; 2017 (Egg)celerator Lab), follows the Somali National Women’s basketball team in their first season since the civil war, as veteran coach Suad Galow shepherds her team of fearless young women and helps them to overcome the violent threats against them from members of the Al-Shabab militia and reclaim their place on the international stage.
Rajada Dalka/Nation’s Hope is currently in post production.