If I received support from Chicken & Egg Pictures in the past (either for this film or for another film), am I eligible to apply to Project: Hatched 2024?

Previously-supported AlumNest filmmakers are eligible to apply to Project: Hatched 2024, whether they are applying with a film that has already received support or a completely new film.

Can I apply again if I applied to previous versions of Project: Hatched?

No. There is no overlap in film premiere timeframe between last year’s Project: Hatched application and this current application. This means that if you were eligible to apply last year, you are not eligible to apply this year. If there were any changes or delays to your premiere date from what you had submitted in a prior cycle, you can contact us at ph_opencall@chickeneggpics.org for additional consideration.

Who is eligible to apply to Project: Hatched 2024?

Project: Hatched 2024 supports women (cis and trans) and gender-expansive directors who are implementing an impact campaign for their completed film. Co-directing teams, where one director is a woman or gender-expansive filmmaker are eligible. In this case, please note that the primary contact of the application should be the woman or gender expansive director.

Cis (or cisgender) refers to people whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were given at birth. 

Trans (or transgender) is a term used broadly as an umbrella term to describe anyone whose gender identity differs from their assigned sex. It can also be used more narrowly as a gender identity that reflects a binary gender identity that is “opposite” or “across from” the sex they were assigned at birth. 

Our working definition of gender-expansive is that it is an umbrella term that includes any person whose gender identity (including but not limited to non-binary, trans, third gender/two spirit, agender) or gender expression does not comply with the socially defined gender norms and roles of their culture. 

If you are unsure about if you are eligible, please refer to additional information on the gender expansion page of our website.

Do shorts, medium-length, and feature-length documentaries receive the same grant amount through Project: Hatched?

Yes. All selected projects will receive a $30,000 USD grant, with at least $15,000 USD allocated for an impact campaign. While shorts typically have smaller production budgets than feature-length films, the cost of strategizing, building, and launching an impact campaign can be similar.

The deadline to apply for the Project: Hatched 2024 grant is approaching, and I haven’t yet received confirmation of a premiere for my film. Can I still submit?

You can start an application at anytime during the open call period, but you can only submit an application for consideration if you have a confirmed premiere that has taken place/will take place between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024.

Please refrain from submitting an application if your film premiere has not taken place within the specified timeframe. By the application deadline of April 1, 2024, applicants should be aware of whether their film premiere already took place.

If your film premiered before April 1, 2023, you are not eligible to apply to the current Project: Hatched cycle.

If your film is scheduled to premiere after March 31, 2024, you will be eligible to apply to the next Project: Hatched cycle.

Announcing our Project: Hatched 2023 Grantees!

Graphic with eight stills from films of the Critical Issues Fund

Chicken & Egg Pictures announced today, via Variety, the newest grantees of Project: Hatched, a program designed to support directors as they develop and launch strategic impact campaigns. Ten films will receive $30,000 each toward their completion funding and impact campaigns. This was the first year that the grant’s criteria were expanded to include international projects and an increase in the number of projects supported, raising total funds disbursed from $240,000 in 2022 to $300,000 in 2023. 

Project: Hatched 2023 films showcase the work of courageous filmmakers who have uncovered powerful stories, through artful visual storytelling, and who have a clearly articulated impact plan to reach broad audiences. Chicken & Egg Pictures believes all nonfiction films, from the overtly political to the abstract or personal, hold the power to impact their viewers, their communities and beyond, and to continue conversations around important and timely topics.

“We are seeking filmmakers with a strategic vision for the impact they wish to achieve. However, we also value a willingness to embrace diverse interpretations of what constitutes impact and engagement for each individual filmmaker, and how this work can evolve throughout the life of a film,” said Associate Director of Program Sabine Fayoux Cantillo. “All the films supported in this year’s cohort have the potential to create meaningful and specific impact on the lives of the people most affected by the issues being portrayed. Each of them has thought deeply about developing their goals and strategies in collaboration with their film’s core audiences and participants, informed by mutually beneficial opportunities. We are proud to contribute to the larger ecosystem that enables filmmakers to carry this important work forward.”

Please click the film titles for more information on each project, and give these passionate and committed directors a warm welcome to the Nest! 

Project: Hatched 2023 grantees

 

Bad Press (US)
co-dirs. Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler
prods.  Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler
When the Muscogee Nation censors its free press, a rogue reporter races to expose her government’s corruption in a historic battle with ramifications for all of Indian Country.
Sundance U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Freedom of Expression

Big Fight in Little Chinatown (CANADA)
dir. Karen Cho
prods. Bob Moore, Katie McKay
Residents, businesses, and community organizers fight to save their Chinatown neighborhoods from erasure in this story of resistance and resilience.
Premiered at DOC NYC 2022, Montreal International Documentary Film Festival (RIDM) Women Inmate Jury Award 2022, Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival Honourable Mention Best Canadian Feature Film 2022

Freedom Hill (US)
dir. & prod. Resita Cox
In North Carolina, residents of Princeville—the first town in America incorporated by formerly enslaved freed Africans—resist the steady erosion of both flooding and environmental racism.
Premiered at Full Frame Documentary Festival 2022; acquired by WORLD

From the Shadows #missingirls (INDIA)
dir. & prod. Miriam Chandy Menacherry
prods. Sheena Matheiken, Aalia Furniturewala, Anand Ramayya, Gary Byung-Seok Kam
impact prod. Triparna Banerjee
An artist and an activist find glimmers of hope as they seek justice for survivors of India’s rampant child sex trafficking.
International premiere as a special International Women’s Day 2023 screening hosted by South Asian House and Film Independent’s Global Media Makers in Austin, acquired by TV2 Denmark and KBS (Korea)

Liquor Store Dreams (US)
dir. & prod. So Yun Um
prod. Eddie Kim
Two Korean American children of liquor store owners in Los Angeles set out to bridge generational divides with their immigrant parents. 
Premiered at Tribeca Festival 2022, CAAMFest 2023 Honorable Mention for Best Documentary; acquired by POV

Now That We Are Together (MEXICO)
dir. & prod. Patricia Balderas Castro
co-prod. Claudia Ruiz Capdevielle
impact prods. Merle Iliná, Michelle Plascencia
After an unexpected encounter with a group of women taking back the streets, a filmmaker begins an intimate-yet-collective journey to understand her own experience with violence.
Premiered at Morelia International Film Festival 2022, where it won Best Movie Directed by a Woman and Audience Favorite

PAY OR DIE (AUSTRALIA, CANADA, US)
dirs. & prods. Rachael Dyer, Scott Alexander Ruderman
prod. Yael Melamede
Three families facing life-or-death decisions reveal the harrowing reality of America’s insulin affordability crisis, where 2 million people are being held ransom to pharmaceutical profits. 
Premiered at SXSW 2023, acquired by MTV Documentary Films, streaming premiere launch on Paramount+ 

Suddenly TV (US)
dir. & prod. Roopa Gogineni
At a besieged protest in Khartoum, young revolutionaries create an imaginary television station to confront the violence of the regime and conjure a new Sudan.
Premiered at IDFA 2022, SXSW 2023 Documentary Short Competition Special Jury Award, IndieLisboa Short Film Grand Prize

The Mind Game (AFGHANISTAN, CANADA, NETHERLANDS)
dirs. Eefje Blankevoort, Els van Driel, Sajid Khan Nasiri 
prod. Laura Verduijn
impact prods. Els van Driel, Eefje Blankevoort, Tina Farifteh, Nienke Huitenga, Lara Aerts, Khadidja Benouataf
An Afghan teenager’s first-hand, cell-phone filmed perspective reveals the psychological pressure facing unaccompanied minor refugees. 
Premiered at Movies that Matter Festival 2023, upcoming broadcast on Dutch public television KRO-NCRV

Twice Colonized (DENMARK)
dir. Lin Alluna
prods. Emile Hertling Péronard, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Stacey Aglok MacDonald
Renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter, who has led a lifelong fight for the rights of Indigenous people, delves into her own origins to mend the wounds of dislocation, colonization, and loss.
Premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2023, Movies that Matter Festival 2023 Camera Justitia Award

I received support from Chicken & Egg Pictures in the past. Am I eligible for Project: Hatched 2023?

Previously-supported AlumNest filmmakers are eligible for Project: Hatched 2023 if they are applying with a project that has not been supported by Chicken & Egg Pictures.

The deadline to apply for the Project: Hatched 2023 grant is approaching and I haven’t heard back from the festival I submitted my film to. Can I send a roughcut and let you know when I hear back from the festival?

Unfortunately, we are only able to consider films who will have a confirmed premiere by Tuesday, January 17, 2023. We have seen that films premiering by March 2023 will likely have received their premiere confirmation by the time Project: Hatched 2023 Open Call closes, on Tuesday,  January 17. We understand delays may happen– if your film receives a festival premiere confirmation within two weeks after the deadline, please contact us to discuss the possibility of considering your application. 

Please note that without a festival premiere or confirmed premiere, your application will be marked ineligible and removed from our review process. Due to the volume of applications we receive, we will not be able to notify you that your application has been disqualified.

Announcing our Project: Hatched 2022 Grantees and Finalists!

Banner with film stills of the Project: Hatched 2022 grantees that says Meet our Project: Hatched 2022 grantees
Banner with film stills of the Project: Hatched 2022 grantees that says Meet our Project: Hatched 2022 grantees

Chicken & Egg Pictures proudly announced via Women & Hollywood six new grantees of our 2022 Project: Hatched program. Each film will receive $30,000 toward its completion and impact campaign and will participate in a seven-month program with tailored mentorship for impact strategy and professional development. Additionally, two films will each receive a $15,000 finalist grant.

This year, Chicken & Egg Pictures invited previously supported filmmakers in our alumni community, AlumNest, to participate in the Project: Hatched selection process.

“These processes are always complex and we receive more applications worthy of consideration than we can support. Sharing the power and responsibility that comes with making these selections with our AlumNest filmmakers was a very special and illuminating experience.”

Said Program Director Lucila Moctezuma.

Please click the film titles for more information on each project, and give these passionate and committed directors a warm welcome to the Nest!

Project: Hatched 2022 grantees:

A Woman on the Outside

Directors: Lisa Riordan Seville, Zara Katz 
Producers: Kiara C. Jones, Lisa Riordan Seville, Zara Katz
Kristal is a young ambitious Philadelphian driven to keep families connected to their incarcerated loved ones. But when her father and brother return from prison, she confronts the ultimate question: can she reunite her own family?

Any Given Day

Director: Margaret Byrne 
Producer: Margaret Byrne
Producer/Impact Producer: Latesha Dickerson
A filmmaker and three Chicagoans navigate the complexities of living with mental illness.

BEBA

Director: Rebeca Huntt 
Producers: Rebeca Huntt, Sofia Geld
Impact Producer: Mia Bruno
A stunning self-portrait, tough, raw, stubborn, and powerful “Beba” stares down the curses of her ancestry, probing the psychic wounds she has inherited, while simultaneously embracing the vastness of her multitudes.

Crossings

Director: Deann Borshay Liem 
Producers: Deann Borshay Liem, Ramsay Liem, Sarah Kim, Gay Dillingham
Thirty women peacemakers, including Gloria Steinem, undertake a risky crossing of the demilitarized zone (DMZ), from North to South Korea, to end America’s longest-running war.

Mama Has a Mustache

Director: Sally Rubin 
Producer: Sally Rubin
Impact Producer: Nick Kelso
Mama Has a Mustache is a short animated documentary about identity and family outside of the traditional gender binary, as seen through children’s eyes.

Takeover

Director: Emma Francis-Snyder 
Producer: Tony Gerber 
In 1970, the Young Lords, a group of activists, took over a decrepit hospital in the South Bronx, launching a battle for their lives, their community, and healthcare for all.


Project: Hatched 2022 finalists

Powerlands

Director: Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso
Producers: Jordan Flaherty, Emily Faye Ratner, Ewa Jasiewicz
A Navajo filmmaker investigates the global displacement of Indigenous people and the devastation of the environment by corporations that have exploited the land where she was born.

The Janes

Directors: Tia Lessin, Emma Pildes
Producers: Emma Pildes, Daniel Arcana, Jessica Levin
The Janes is the story of an underground network of women in Chicago in the ‘60s and early ‘70s who provided safe, affordable, illegal abortions

Who is eligible to apply to Project: Hatched 2023?

Project: Hatched 2023 supports US and international women and non-binary directors who are exploring a range of social justice themes and issues taking place globally through their film and impact campaign. Co-directing teams where one director is a woman or non-binary filmmaker are eligible. In this case, please note that the primary contact of the application should be the woman or non-binary director.