Look Into My Eyes gives us an intimate view of psychics in New York City. Over a series of interviews and with a camera that is not afraid to get up close and personal, the film highlights the ins and outs of being a psychic and what that entails, while constructing a tender portrayal of the clients. A thoughtfully paced and oftentimes deeply personal piece, it unfolds the grief, turmoil, and loneliness that come along with being a human. On the flip side, the joys of gaining clarity, achieving closure, and even having a pet are experienced.
Lana Wilson (she/her) is a director and writer. Her work includes After Tiller, an Emmy® Award-winning feature documentary about the four most-targeted abortion doctors in America; The Departure, a Spirit Award-nominated feature documentary about a punk-turned-priest who helps suicidal people find reasons to live; A Cure for Fear, an IDA Award-nominated short-form series; and Miss Americana, a critically acclaimed documentary about global icon Taylor Swift. Wilson’s most recent documentary, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, was a New York Times Critic’s Pick and nominated for two Emmy® Awards, including Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program. Wilson is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
ABOUT THE PRODUCER
Kyle Martin (he/him) is the founder of the independent film label Electric Chinoland. He’s produced Lana Wilson’s documentary Look Into My Eyes which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, and is an Executive Producer on the upcoming second season of HBO’s The Jinx. His recent films include the documentary Descendant which was released by Michelle and Barack Obama’s Higher Ground and Netflix, and Independent Spirit Award nominee Cryptozoo. His previous projects include the Independent Spirit Award nominee Donald Cried; the GKids 2017 release My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea; and Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture (Independent Spirit Award Winner 2011). He is a recipient of the Sundance Institute’s Mark Silverman Producing Fellowship, the San Francisco Film Society’s Kenneth Rainin Foundation Fellowship, the IFP/Cannes Marche Du Film Producer’s Network Fellowship, the Sundance Institute/Rotterdam Cinemart Producing Fellowship, and was named one of Variety magazine’s “Ten Producers to Watch.”
The 31st edition of Hot Docs will take place across Toronto this year from Thursday, April 25 to Sunday, May 5. We are thrilled to announce that 2020 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Nishtha Jain’s film, Farming the Revolution, is having its world premiere along with 4 other supported films and 5 films from supported filmmakers are on the lineup this year!
Hot Docs is North America’s largest documentary festival, conference, and market, and embodies a deep commitment to gender parity, with 54% female directors in this year’s official selection, according to their press release. Two of our staff members will be in attendance so be sure to stay in touch via our social media channels for some exclusive content at the festival!
Look Into My Eyes was supported through Lana Wilson’s 2019 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its Canadian Premiere in the Special Presentations section.
Xixi– World Premiere dir. & prod. Fan Wu prods. Sona Jo, Venice De Castro Atienza, Yoonsoo Her
Yintah– Canadian Premiere dirs. & prods. Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano prods. Bob Moore, Katie McKay, Mila Aung-Thwin
Meet Our Team at Hot Docs
We are exhilarated that our Senior Program Manager Elaisha Stokes and Program Assistant Will Tamura will be in attendance at the festival. They will be attending Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported screenings and industry events. Make sure to say hi!
Chicken & Egg Pictures is proud to announce that five supported films and six films from our alumni are included in the second edition of DC/DOX Film Festival. This year’s lineup consists of 60% filmmakers who identify as women or nonbinary. The festival will take place in Washington, DC, from Thursday, June 13, through Sunday, June 16.
The Reality Check Forum at DC/DOX is intended to be a dedicated space for fostering dialogue and collaboration within the documentary film community. This includes numerous panels, workshops, performances and masterclasses offering valuable resources and best practices for keen filmmakers. We are proud to have so many filmmakers from our community and our CEO Jenni Wolfson participating in this year’s forum!
The 31st edition of Hot Docs will take place across Toronto this year from Thursday, April 25 to Sunday, May 5. We are thrilled to announce that 2020 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Nishtha Jain’s film, Farming the Revolution, is having its world premiere along with 5 other supported films and 5 films from supported filmmakers are on the lineup this year!
Hot Docs is North America’s largest documentary festival, conference, and market, and embodies a deep commitment to gender parity, with 54% female directors in this year’s official selection, according to their press release. Two of our staff members will be in attendance so be sure to stay in touch via our social media channels for some exclusive content at the festival!
Look Into My Eyes was supported through Lana Wilson’s 2019 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its Canadian Premiere in the Special Presentations section.
Wilfred Buck was supported through Lisa Jackson’s 2023 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its North American Premiere in the Canadian Spectrum Competition.
Xixi– World Premiere dir. & prod. Fan Wu prods. Sona Jo, Venice De Castro Atienza, Yoonsoo Her
Yintah– Canadian Premiere dirs. & prods. Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano prods. Bob Moore, Katie McKay, Mila Aung-Thwin
Meet Our Team at Hot Docs
We are exhilarated that our Senior Program Manager Elaisha Stokes and Program Assistant Will Tamura will be in attendance at the festival. They will be attending Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported screenings and industry events. Make sure to say hi!
We were proud to see Light of the Setting Sun have its world premiere at Full Frame Documentary Festival. There were also three supported films and three alumni filmmakers in this years’ lineup. This edition marked the festival’s return to in-person activities and took place in Durham, North Carolina from April 3 to 6.
We would like to highlight the world premiere of Julia’s Stepping Stones, directed by our beloved Julia Reichert and her partner and longtime co-director Steven Bognarduring thefinal months of Julia’s life.
The 21st edition of CPH:DOX took place from Wednesday, March 13 to Sunday, March 24 in Copenhagen, Denmark. We are proud to see that 3 supported films and 13 supported filmmakers were part of the lineup and that many of our supported filmmakers also participated in the CPH:CONFERENCE and CPH: FORUM. Some of our team was also there to participate in person to support our filmmakers. See below for more details.
Still from Intercepted (Credit: Christopher Nunn)
2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Brett Story’sUnion | International Premiere | F:act Award & Nine to Five sections | dirs. Brett Story, Stephen Maing | prods. Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone
2019 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Lana Wilson’sLook Into My Eyes| International Premiere | Special Premieres & Stranger Than Fiction sections | dir. Lana Wilson | prod. Kyle Martin
2022 Critical Issues Fund Grantee Intercepted| Urgent Matters & Battlefields sections | dir. Oksana Karpovych | prods. Rocío B. Fuentes, Giacomo Nudi
The Stimming Pool| World Premiere dirs. The Neurocultures Collective, Benjamin Brown, Georgia Bradburn, Sam Chown-Ahern, Robin Elliott-Knowles, Lucy Walker, Steven Eastwood prod. Chloe White, Steven Eastwood
At CPH:FORUM, top producers and highly acknowledged directors from all over the world take the stage to pitch 30 carefully selected projects of documentary features and series in the intersection of nonfiction, fiction, visual art, journalism, and science. Six films from our community of filmmakers were presented.
The Listeners, UK/US/FR dir. & prod. Lindsey Dryden | prod. Samantha Steele
Victor, US dir. Stephani Victor | prods. Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, Matt Radecki
CPH: CONFERENCE
A 4-day industry event offering a range of inspiring talks with visionary thinkers, investigating current themes in documentary filmmaking, and creating an interactive and hands-on platform for exchange with other professionals of our documentary community. The theme this year was Re:Building Narratives – Accessibility And Equity In Documentary. Our filmmakers were well represented across the different activities from Tuesday, March 19 to Friday, March 22.
SOCIETY: STORIES OF OUR LIFETIMES
Tuesday, March 19
With Lizzie Gillett and Sigrid Dyekjær, producers of supported film Merkel, as keynote speakers for the Viva Independent Feature Docs section. Clara Vuillermoz, producer of 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee Polaris was a speaker in the A Conflict of Interest or an Interest in Conflict? section. Lindsey Dryden, supported through the QUEER FUTURES program, also participated in the LGBTQIA panel. Curated by 2023 Development grant recipient Derren Lawford.
FILM:MAKERS IN DIALOGUE
Wednesday, March 20
With 2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Brett Story, Stephen Maing, producer of supported film Union, and Yance Ford, director of supported film Strong Island.
SCIENCE: WAYS OF KNOWING AND SEEING
Thursday, March 21
With 2023 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Lisa Jackson as a keynote speaker in the Stars: Indigenous Ways of Knowing section, and Mila Aung-Thwin, producer of 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab participant Midwives, as a speaker in the Action: Legacies of science, cinematic justice section.
2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Margreth Olin is also considered an expert at the conference.
Meet our Team at CPH:DOX
Our Senior Program Manager Elaisha Stokesand Program Director Kiyoko McCraeattended and took 1:1 meetings with filmmakers.
We are proud to congratulate a longtime collaborator and advisor in our labs, Carla Gutierrez, for the international premiere of her new documentary, Frida.
Post written by Communications Assistant Tess Caldwell
We were extremely proud to see two (Egg)celerator Lab premieres in the lineup of this years’ True/False festival. The lineup also included two films supported through the Chicken & Egg Award and two shorts by supported filmmakers featuring in the lineup of this years’ True/False festival! The festival took place between February 29 and March 3, in Colombia, Missouri. Congratulations to all of the films featured!
We are proud to have two Chicken & Egg-supported films and three films from our filmmaker community at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Additionally, we are thrilled to see 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Maite Alberdi being honored with the annual Vanguard Award during the Opening Night Gala at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The festival’s US documentary competition slate is made up of 50% women, and the World Competition slate is made up of 67% women. Chicken & Egg Pictures is committed to supporting women and non-binary filmmakers and we’re proud to see so much representation in this years’ competitions. The festival will take place from Thursday, January 18 through Sunday, January 28, 2024, in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. We hope to see you there!
We are thrilled to see 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Maite Alberdi being honored with the annual Vanguard Award during the Opening Night Gala. The award annually honors artists whose work highlights the art of storytelling and creative independence. In an interview with Variety about receiving the award, Maite said, “The Eternal Memory is a film that has taught me so much about the infinite ways of telling, looking at and working with real-life stories and I am proud and humbled to be among such an extraordinary group of filmmakers who have been given this recognition.” Congratulations, Maite!
We are also proud to have two longtime collaborators featuring films in the lineup this year. An Eggspert on our team, Joslyn Barnes is executive producing Conbody VS Everybody, and Carla Gutierrez, an advisor in our labs, is directing FRIDA. Congratulations!
Meet Our Staff
We are also excited that our Chief Executive Officer Jenni Wolfson, Program Director Kiyoko McCrae, and Associate Director of Development Rebecca Celli will be in attendance at the festival. They will be attending Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported screenings and industry events. Make sure to say hi!
Post written by Communications Intern Tess Caldwell
Julie is the Founder of Secret Sauce Media, her latest venture to produce and invest in surprising and timeless film projects. She co-founded Chicken & Egg Pictures in 2005 with a shared belief that diverse women and gender-expansive nonfiction storytellers have the power to catalyze change at home and around the globe. She produced Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s Academy Award®, Gotham, and Independent Spirit-winning feature documentary American Factory as well as Bonni Cohen & Jon Shenk’s Emmy® Award-winning USA Gymnastics documentary Athlete A, both streaming on Netflix.
Most recently, she executive produced Lana Wilson’s latest film Look Into My Eyes about psychic mediums and their clients which premiered at Sundance 2024 and was picked up by A24. She served as a producer on longtime collaborator Judith Helfand’s feature documentary Love & Stuff, which broadcast on POV in 2022, and Sarah Jones’ feature debut Sell Buy Date (SXSW 2022, Cinedigm). Earlier in her career, she co-produced Blue Vinyl, served as a Production Executive for Non Fiction Films, and was an archival researcher for the Discovery Channel series Cronkite Remembers. Julie lives in San Francisco, is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Documentary Branch and the Producers Guild of America.
The Callers combines intimate documentary testimony with imagined creative scenes to tell the anonymous stories of those who have called England’s oldest LGBTQ+ phone helpline since it opened in 1974. Callers seek guidance on everything from where to find the nearest leather bar to how to come out, navigate an open relationship, impress a new lover or mend a broken heart. Together with the listening volunteers who answer the phones, they imagine the outcome they dream of.
The Callerswas supported through our QUEER FUTURES program.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Lindsey Dryden (she/her) is an Emmy-winning filmmaker from the UK and based in Austin, TX. She directed the feature documentary Lost And Sound (2012, SXSW) which was nominated Best Female-Directed Film at Sheffield DocFest. She produced Sundance Special Jury Award-winning Unrest (2017, PBS/Netflix) and Emmy-winning Trans In America (2019, them), and Executive Produced Ahead Of The Curve (2020, Starz/Netflix). She is a 2024 Concordia Fellow, a 2022 Sundance Documentary Producing Fellow, and is a member of AMPAS, BAFTA, and QueerDoc, and a proud co-founder of FWD-Doc (Filmmakers with Disabilities).
ABOUT THE PRODUCERS
Colleen Cassingham (she/her) is a Producer at Multitude Films focused on politically committed artful nonfiction. Most recently, she produced the IDA Awards-nominated shorts collection QUEER FUTURES (CPH:DOX 2023), Executive Produced by J Wortham. Her past credits include Co-Producer on It’s Only Life After All (Sundance 2023), and Associate Producer on Pray Away (Tribeca 2020), Through Our Eyes: Apart (Provincetown 2020), Call Center Blues (SXSW 2020), Always In Season (Sundance 2019), The Feeling Of Being Watched (Tribeca 2018), and Love The Sinner (Tribeca 2017) which were distributed by Netflix, Topic, HBOMax, POV, and Independent Lens. Colleen’s directorial debut short From Damascus To Chicago was broadcast on POV in 2017 and was an Editor’s Pick at The Atlantic. She is a 2023-2024 Sundance Producing Fellow, selected for her role producing Reid Davenport’s second feature doc Life After. She is also a 2023-2024 Impact Partners Producing Fellow, and was a VC Sony 2021 Mentor at The Video Consortium, a 2019 Points North Fellow, and a 2017–2018 UnionDocs Collaborative Studio fellow. Outside of Multitude Films, she is independently producing Casey Carter’s Sundance-supported debut feature, To Use A Mountain.
Samantha Steele (she/her) is a production manager and producer for Little by Little Films based between London, UK and Marseille, France. She has worked across documentaries and digital projects for Al Jazeera, CNBC and Facebook, and films for Channel 4. Her experience also includes development, and working across feature documentaries and short-films commissioned by the BFI.
Lana Wilson (she/her) is a director and writer. Her work includes After Tiller, an Emmy® Award-winning feature documentary about the four most-targeted abortion doctors in America; The Departure, a Spirit Award-nominated feature documentary about a punk-turned-priest who helps suicidal people find reasons to live; A Cure for Fear, an IDA Award-nominated short-form series; and Miss Americana, a critically acclaimed documentary about global icon Taylor Swift. Wilson’s most recent documentary, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, was a New York Times Critic’s Pick and nominated for two Emmy® Awards, including Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program. Wilson is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Kyle Martin (he/him) is the founder of the independent film label Electric Chinoland. He’s produced Lana Wilson’s documentary Look Into My Eyes which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, and is an Executive Producer on the upcoming second season of HBO’s The Jinx. His recent films include the documentary Descendant which was released by Michelle and Barack Obama’s Higher Ground and Netflix, and Independent Spirit Award nominee Cryptozoo. His previous projects include the Independent Spirit Award nominee Donald Cried; the GKids 2017 release My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea; and Lena Dunham’s Tiny Furniture (Independent Spirit Award Winner 2011). He is a recipient of the Sundance Institute’s Mark Silverman Producing Fellowship, the San Francisco Film Society’s Kenneth Rainin Foundation Fellowship, the IFP/Cannes Marche Du Film Producer’s Network Fellowship, the Sundance Institute/Rotterdam Cinemart Producing Fellowship, and was named one of Variety magazine’s “Ten Producers to Watch.”
