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Enemies of the State
SYNOPSIS
An American family becomes entangled in a bizarre web of secrets and lies when their hacker son is targeted by the U.S. government, making them all Enemies of the State.
Enemies of the State was a participant of the 2018 (Egg)celerator Lab.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Sonia Kennebeck is an independent documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist with more than 15 years of directing and producing experience. She has directed eight television documentaries and more than 50 investigative reports. National Bird, her first feature, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival 2016 and was selected for the Tribeca Film Festival, Sheffield Doc/Fest, and IDFA. Foreign Policy recognized Kennebeck as one of “100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2016,” and Filmmaker Magazine selected her as one of “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”
2023 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient
SONIA KENNEBECK: 2023 CHICKEN & EGG AWARD RECIPIENT
Sonia Kennebeck (she/her) is an award-winning director, producer, and investigative journalist. Her directing credits include critically-acclaimed feature films United States vs. Reality Winner (SXSW 2021), Enemies of the State (TIFF 2020), and National Bird (Berlinale Special 2016).
Her work screened at major festivals and in theaters, and has been widely distributed through Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, PBS, ARD, and IFC Films. Enemies of the State reached the top of the iTunes independent film and documentary charts, and her Op-Docs- The New York Times film From Journalist to Hostage has over 5 million views on YouTube.
Kennebeck received the 2021 Adrienne Shelly Excellence in Filmmaking Award and was on DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40 list. Her debut feature National Bird (executive produced by Wim Wenders and Errol Morris), about the US drone war, was awarded the Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize and an Emmy® nomination for Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary.
In 2016, Foreign Policy Magazine recognized Kennebeck as one of 100 Leading Global Thinkers. She was also one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film, and has received grants from most major film foundations, including the Sundance Institute, as well as sponsorships from Canon and Avid. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Kennebeck is a first-generation college graduate, was born in Malaysia, grew up in Germany, and lives in New York.
Announcing our 2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipients!
Announced via Women & Hollywood today, Chicken & Egg Pictures is proud to introduce the seventh cohort of our Chicken & Egg Award, which supports six advanced-career women and gender nonconforming filmmakers with unrestricted funding. The directors will receive a $50,000 grant, and for the first time ever two directors will receive a $15,000 finalist grant.
“The Chicken & Egg Award makes bold investments in the personal and professional wellbeing of visionary women and gender nonconforming documentary makers. Over the past seven years, we have given unrestricted cash grants totaling $1.9 million US dollars to 38 change-making directors,” said Program Director Lucila Moctezuma. “Because filmmakers—especially those affected by roadblocks tied to their gender, race, class, and location—deserve financial freedom while they create new projects.”
Please click on the Recipients’ names for more information on each filmmaker and give these visionary directors a warm welcome to the Nest!
2022 CHICKEN & EGG AWARD RECIPIENTS
Petra Costa is a Brazilian documentary filmmaker whose work lives on the borderlines of the personal and political. She directed The Edge of Democracy (2019), which was nominated for the Academy Award® for Documentary Feature in 2020; Undertow Eyes (2009); Elena (2012); and Olmo and the Seagull (2015). Petra is associate producer of Barbara Paz’s Babenco (2019), producer of Moara Passoni’s Ecstasy (2020), and EP of Rebeca Huntt’s BEBA (2021).
Dr. Bev Palesa Ditsie (Hon) is a radical gender nonconforming lesbian activist and award winning filmmaker, disruptor and change agent who was instrumental in bringing LGBTIQA+ rights into focus in the late 80’s and 90’s in South Africa and the world. She is also a reality TV director whose credits include Big Brother Africa, Survivor South Africa, and Project Runway South Africa. Among her film credits are Simon & I, A Family Affair, and The Commission. Lesbians Free Everyone (2020), their latest work filmed during lockdown, takes the viewer along their journey as the first African Lesbian to address the UN at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing 1995.
Anayansi Prado is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has focused on issues of undocumented immigration, indigenous rights, and race identity. Her feature films have aired nationally on PBS including The Unafraid (2018), Paraiso for Sale (2010), and Maid in America (2005). Anayansi is a Rockefeller Media Fellow and a Creative Capital Artist; her work has been supported by the MacArthur Foundation, Ford Foundation, Chicken & Egg Pictures, amongst others.
Brett Story is an award-winning filmmaker and writer based out of Toronto. She is the director of the critically acclaimed feature documentaries The Prison in Twelve Landscapes (2016) and The Hottest August (2019), both of which have screened around the world. Brett has held fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and Sundance Institute, and she was named one of Variety’s 10 Documentary Filmmakers to Watch 2019.
Margreth Olin is a director and producer with a large cinema audience in Norway. She has made 13 films, which have received critical acclaim, participated at numerous festivals abroad, and won several Norwegian and international awards. Margreth has managed to catalyze important dialogues with the topics her films shed light on. She has personally received 26 honorary awards for her commitment and focus on human rights. Her credits include My Body (Tribeca 2002), EFA-nominated Raw Youth (2004), The Angel (TIFF 2010), Nowhere Home (IDFA 2012), Cathedrals of Culture (Berlinale 2013), Self Portrait (DOC NYC 2020).
Tracy Heather Strain, a two-time Peabody Award-winning and Emmy-nominated filmmaker, explores stories about the ways diverse peoples have experienced life in the US. She won an NAACP Image Award for Motion Picture Directing for Lorraine Hansberry: Sighted Eyes/Feeling Heart, which premiered at TIFF and made its television debut on American Masters. She is presently developing Survival Floating, a hybrid documentary investigating African-descended peoples’ relationships with swimming.
2022 CHICKEN & EGG AWARD FINALIST DEVELOPMENT GRANT RECIPIENTS
Ditsi Carolino studied filmmaking at the National Film & Television School in the UK on a Chevening Scholarship. Her past projects include Life on the Tracks, about a couple who live by the railway slums (IDFA World Premiere, BBC Storyville Broadcast); and Bunso: The Youngest, about three imprisoned boys from 11–13, which was used by child rights advocates to pass the juvenile justice law. Ditsi is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Sonia Kennebeck is an award-winning director and producer and has released three critically-acclaimed independent feature films: National Bird (Berlinale Special 2016), Enemies of the State (TIFF 2020), and United States vs. Reality Winner (SXSW 2021). She received the Adrienne Shelly Excellence in Filmmaking Award and Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize. She is a first-generation college graduate who was born in Malaysia, raised in Germany, and lives in the US.
Read the Women & Hollywood article about the 2022 Chicken & Egg Award.
2022 Chicken & Egg Award Finalist Development Grant Recipient
SONIA KENNEBECK: 2022 CHICKEN & EGG AWARD FINALIST DEVELOPMENT GRANT RECIPIENT
Sonia Kennebeck is an award-winning director and producer and has released three critically-acclaimed independent feature films: National Bird (Berlinale Special 2016), Enemies of the State (TIFF 2020), and United States vs. Reality Winner (SXSW 2021). She received the Adrienne Shelly Excellence in Filmmaking Award and Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize. She is a first-generation college graduate who was born in Malaysia, raised in Germany, and lives in the US.
The Nest is back at DOC NYC PRO FALL 2021!
The line-up for DOC NYC PRO FALL 2021 was recently announced with in-person panels during thematic days taking place from Thursday, November 11 through Thursday, November 18 at Cinépolis Chelsea. Here at Chicken & Egg Pictures, we are proud to see current grantees and AlumNest filmmakers sharing their expertise throughout the week.
Funding Day
Thursday, Nov. 11
The Nuts and Bolts of Equity Investing
Featuring Chicken & Egg Pictures Board member Susan Margolin
Building Budget and Community on Kickstarter
Featuring Nest friend and Brown Girls Doc Mafia Founder Iyabo Boyd
Producing Day
Friday, Nov. 12
Impact Producing: Case Studies
Featuring Storm Lake director and producer Beth Levison (Project: Hatched 2021) and Impact Producers Alice Quinlan and Hoda Hawa.
Cinematography Day
Saturday. Nov. 13
Introducing the Documentary Cinematographers Alliance
Featuring An Act of Worship director Nausheen Dadabhoy (2019 (Egg)celerator Lab) and Made in Boise cinematographer Jenni Morello.
Editing Day
Sunday, Nov. 14
Ade Launches Guidelines and BIPOC Editors Initiative
Moderated by 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Geeta Gandbhir
Case Study: The Rescue
Featuring Co-Founder Senior Creative Consultant Judith Helfand
Finding and Shaping Your Main Character
Moderated by Co-Founder Senior Creative Consultant Judith Helfand
Doc Series Day
Tuesday, Nov. 16
Power Dynamics in Documentary and Journalism
Featuring 2017 Chicken and Egg Award recipient Dawn Porter
Proximity, Access, and Journalistic Distance
Featuring Enemies of the State director Sonnia Kennebeck (2018 (Egg)celerator Lab).
Audience Engagement and Distribution Day
Wednesday. Nov. 17
How to Build Your Audience from Scratch
Featuring And So I Stayed directors Natalie Pattillo and Daniel Nelson (Project: Hatched 2021)
Success?
Featuring Nest friend and Brown Girls Doc Mafia Founder Iyabo Boyd.
Legal for Docs Day
Thursday, Nov. 18
New Trends in Ethics and Documentaries
Featuring the attorneys Nicole Page and Michelle Lamardo our partner Reavis Page Jump LLP Featuring Nest-supported filmmaker and Pray Away (2019 (Egg)celerator Lab) producer Jessica Devaney.
Post by Communications Intern Mariana Sanson.
Ascension Receives Six Critics Choice Nominations
The Critics Choice Association has announced the nominees for the Sixth Annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards. The winners will be revealed at a gala on Sunday, November 14, in Brooklyn, New York.
At Chicken & Egg Pictures, we are egg-cited to learn that three (Egg)celerator Lab grantees were nominated: Pray Away, Enemies of the State, and Ascension. Ascension is one of the two documentaries leading the Awards with six nominations each.
Ascension
dir. & prod. Jessica Kingdon
prods. Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell
Nominated for Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best First Documentary Feature, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Score
Pray Away
dir. & prod. Kristine Stolakis
prod. Jessica Devaney and Anya Rous
Nominated for Best First Documentary Feature
Enemies of the State
dir. Sonnia Kennebeck
prod. Ines Hofmann Kanna
Nominated for Best Political Documentary
Special Congratulations
Listening to Kenny G, directed by 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Penny Lane, and produced by Gabriel Sedgwick, received a nomination for Best Music Documentary.
A special congratulations to our Board member Susan Margolin, producer of A Crime on the Bayou (dir. & prod. Nancy Buirski, prods. Claire L. Chandler & Susan Margolin). The film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature and Best Historical or Biographical Documentary.
Post by Communications Intern Mariana Sanson.
We’re Back to the Cinemas at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival!
The Tribeca Film Festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a return to the cinemas in 2021. The festival runs from Wednesday, June 9 to Sunday, June 20 with programming that can be accessed in person and virtually.
At Chicken & Egg Pictures, we are looking forward to the shared experience of film, as New Yorkers head back to the movies again. Viewers within the US can access Tribeca’s virtual programming through $15 online stream tickets.
We are also thrilled to let you know that films slated to premiere at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival, but postponed due to COVID-19, will also screen at this year’s edition. Granted films featured in the festival include four (Egg)celerator Lab grantees from 2018 and 2019, one Project: Hatched grantee, one Chicken & Egg Award recipient film, three films from the AlumNest, and one VR project. Learn more about the films below, and get your tickets here.
Ascension, dir. Jessica Kingdon
Ascension examines the contemporary “Chinese Dream” through staggering observations of labor, consumerism and wealth. In cinematically exploring the aspiration that drives today’s People’s Republic of China, the film plunges into universal paradoxes of economic progress.
World Premiere │ Tribeca Documentary Competition │ 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab
Enemies of the State, dir. Sonia Kennebeck
An American family becomes entangled in a bizarre web of secrets and lies when their hacker son is targeted by the U.S. government, making them all Enemies of the State.
US Premiere │ 2018 (Egg)celerator Lab
Pray Away, dir. Kristine Stolakis
Former leaders of the “pray away the gay” movement contend with the aftermath unleashed by their actions, while a survivor seeks healing and acceptance from more than a decade of trauma.
World Premiere │ 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab
Through the Night, dir. Loira Limbal
To make ends meet, Americans are working longer hours across multiple jobs. This modern reality of nonstop work has resulted in an unexpected phenomenon: the flourishing of 24-hour daycare centers. Through the Night is a verité documentary that explores the personal cost of our modern economy through the stories of two working mothers and a child care provider, whose lives intersect at a 24-hour daycare center in New Rochelle, NY.
New York Premiere │ 2018 (Egg)celerator Lab
Landfall, dir. Cecilia Aldarondo
Through shard-like glimpses of everyday life in post-Hurricane María Puerto Rico, Landfall examines a ruined world at the brink of transformation, spinning a cautionary tale for our times.
Project: Hatched 2020
Stateless, dir. Michèle Stephenson
Through the grassroots campaign of electoral hopeful Rosa Iris, director Michèle Stephenson’s new documentary reveals the depths of racial hatred and institutionalized oppression that divide Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
2016 Chicken & Egg Award
Simple as Water, dir. Megan Mylan
A look at war and displacement through the lens of parenthood from Megan Mylan, Academy-Award winning director of Lost Boys of Sudan and Smile Pinki. This feature documentary unfolds as a sequence of cinematic short stories revolving around Syrian families living in Turkey, Greece, the US, Germany, and Syria. Each chapter is an intimate portrait of parents—often mothers alone—as they work to rebuild their children’s lost sense of security and possibility. It is a story that is both urgent and timeless.
World Premiere │ 2018 Grant
VR Experience
The Changing Same: Episode 1, dirs. Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster & Yasmin Elayat
AlumNest Films
The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show, dir. Yoruba Richen (2016 Chicken & Egg Award recipient)
Selected for the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival
Women In Blue, dir. Deirdre Fishel (AlumNest for Care)
Selected for the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival
Untitled Dave Chappelle Documentary, dirs. Julia Reichert (2016 Chicken & Egg Award recipient) and Steve Bognar
Egg-citing news! This world premiere will be Tribeca’s closing night film.
See you at the cinema! Post by 2021 Summer Communications Intern Mariana Sanson.
Nest-supported Films at the 2020 DOC NYC Film Festival
Our Nest-supported filmmaking community is soaring into DOC NYC Film Festival, which runs virtually from Wednesday, November 11 to Thursday, November 19. Ten supported films across many of our core programs— (Egg)celerator Lab films by emerging filmmakers, projects by advanced-career Chicken & Egg Awardees, and films from our inaugural Project: Hatched completion program—are official selections. Plus A Cops and Robbers Story, directed by directed by Ilinca Calugareanu, will make its world premiere at the New York festival! Learn more about the ten projects below, and get your tickets for DOC NYC here.
Nest-supported Films
9to5: The Story of a Movement, directed by Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar | Tickets here
“In the early 1970s, secretaries and other female office workers were underpaid, undervalued, unable to advance, and often subject to sexual harassment. In the wake of the Women’s Liberation Movement, a group of women in Boston finally had enough, joining together to begin 9to5, a movement that would sweep the nation with irreverent, attention-getting actions to demand meaningful change—and later inspire the eponymous hit film and song.”*
A Cops and Robbers Story, directed by Ilinca Călugăreanu | Tickets here (World Premiere)
In the 1980s, Corey Pegues found himself embroiled in a life of crime as a member of New York’s City’s infamous Supreme Team gang. After an incident forces Pegues away from the streets, he unexpectedly emerges as a rising star in the NYPD, his past unknown to his fellow officers. A decorated 21-year police career is threatened when his political stances and revelations about his former life cause strife within the police community.
The Dilemma of Desire, directed by Maria Finitzo | Tickets here
An exploration of “cliteracy,” and the clash between the gender politics and the imperatives of female sexual desire.
Down a Dark Stairwell, directed by Ursula Liang | Tickets here
In 2014, Peter Liang, a Chinese-American police officer, shot and killed an innocent, unarmed black man named Akai Gurley in the dark stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project. In the midst of high racial tension surrounding police conduct, Liang becomes the first NYPD officer to receive a guilty verdict in such a case in over a decade. The highly publicized incident polarizes New York’s Asian and African American communities’ in this insightful look into the complexities of police reform.
Enemies of the State, directed by Sonia Kennebeck | Tickets here
An average American family becomes entangled in a bizarre web of espionage and corporate secrets when their hacker son is targeted by the US government.
Landfall, directed by Cecilia Aldarondo | Tickets here
Through shard-like glimpses of everyday life in post-Hurricane María Puerto Rico, Landfall examines a ruined world at the brink of transformation, spinning a cautionary tale for our times.
Stateless (Apátrida), directed by Michèle Stephenson | Tickets here
Through the grassroots campaign of electoral hopeful Rosa Iris, director Michèle Stephenson’s new documentary reveals the depths of racial hatred and institutionalized oppression that divide Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Through the Night, directed by Loira Limbal |Tickets here
Through the Night is a verité documentary that explores the personal cost of our modern economy through the stories of two working mothers and a child care provider, whose lives intersect at a 24-hour daycare center in New Rochelle, NY.
The Letter, directed by Maia von Lekow and Chris King | Tickets here
Along the coast of Kenya, a frenzied mix of consumerism and Christianity is turning hundreds of families against their elders, branding them as witches as a means to steal their land. Ninety-two-year-old Margaret Kamango stands accused by her sons, while her strong-willed daughters try to protect her. This dangerous dispute is seen through the eyes of Margaret’s grandson, Karisa, who returns home from the city to investigate and is ultimately forced to choose which side he is on.
Once Upon A Time In Venezuela, directed by Anabel Rodríguez Ríos | Tickets here
Once Upon A Time In Venezuela follows residents of a small fishing village as they prepare for parliamentary election. Once the village of Congo Mirador was prosperous. Now it is decaying and disintegrating—a prophetic reflection of Venezuela itself.
AlumNest Films
AlumNest filmmaker Tiffany Hsiung’s short film Sing Me A Lullaby will make its US premiere; Call Center Blues, directed by Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Geeta Gandbhir will screen in the Shorts program; Dick Johnson is Dead (Kirsten Johnson), A Thousand Cuts (Ramona Diaz), and The Fight (Elyse Steinberg, Eli Despres, Josh Kriegman) are on the DOC NYC Short List for feature films; and our Co-Founder & Senior Creative Consultant Judith Helfand’s film Love & Stuff is an official selection under the Masters program (co-produced with our Co-Founder Julie Parker Benello).
*Language courtesy of DOC NYC.
A Full Nest at Tribeca Film Festival
The 2020 Tribeca line-up for feature films is out! And there’s plenty to see from the Nest. Making their world premieres at Tribeca Film Festival this year are three films (Enemies of the State, Pray Away, and Through the Night) from our (Egg)celerator Lab program in 2018 and 2019, one film supported through our Chicken & Egg Award (Stateless), and one film supported through a grant in 2018 (Simple As Water).
AlumNest filmmakers screening at Tribeca include directors such as Chicken & Egg Award recipients Dawn Porter (premiering John Lewis: Good Trouble) and Yoruba Richen (premiering The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show).
Here is your Nest guide to the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival, from Wednesday, April 15 to Sunday, April 26:
Nest-supported films
Enemies of the State, directed by Sonia Kennebeck
2018 (Egg)celerator Lab
An average American family becomes entangled in a bizarre web of espionage and corporate secrets when their hacker son is targeted by the US government.
Pray Away, directed by Kristine Stolakis
2019 (Egg)celerator Lab
Former leaders of the “pray away the gay” movement contend with the aftermath unleashed by their actions, while a survivor seeks healing and acceptance from more than a decade of trauma
Simple As Water, directed by Megan Mylan
2018 Grant
Megan Mylan’s closely observed fragments of lives cut between Turkey, Greece, Germany, and the US. Each unfolding scene portrays the elemental bonds holding together Syrian families pulled apart by war, searching for a new life.
Stateless (Apátrida), directed by Michèle Stephenson
2016 Chicken & Egg Award
Through the grassroots campaign of electoral hopeful Rosa Iris, director Michèle Stephenson’s new documentary reveals the depths of racial hatred and institutionalized oppression that divide Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Through the Night, directed by Loira Limbal
2018 (Egg)celerator Lab
Through the Night is a verité documentary that explores the personal cost of our modern economy through the stories of two working mothers and a child care provider, whose lives intersect at a 24-hour daycare center in New Rochelle, NY.
AlumNest films
John Lewis: Good Trouble, directed by Dawn Porter (2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient)
The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show, directed by Yoruba Richen
Picture a Scientist, directed by Ian Cheney and Sharon Shattuck (From This Day Forward)
Women in Blue, directed by Deirdre Fishel (Care)
Also premiering at Tribeca is Athlete A, directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk, which is produced by our Co-Founder Julie Parker Benello, along with Serin Marshall and Jen Sey.
Congratulations to these filmmakers on their premieres!