(She/Her)

As Program Director Kiyoko works closely with the CEO and Program staff to strategize, plan and oversee the implementation of all Chicken & Egg programs. Previously, Kiyoko was Director of Documentary Programming and Filmmaker Labs at the New Orleans Film Society. There, she led the documentary film programming for the New Orleans Film Festival and worked to connect Southern filmmakers to resources and relationships through the Emerging Voices Directors Lab, Southern Producers Lab, and South Pitch. Prior to that, she was the Managing Director of Junebug Productions, a nonprofit organization that produces and presents art that questions and confronts inequitable conditions that have historically impacted the Black community in New Orleans. She has worked as an organizational development consultant for social justice arts organizations and is an award-winning film and theater director. Her films have screened at AFI Docs, Calgary, Hot Springs, Flickers Rhode Island, IndieMemphis, Cucalorus, and Milwaukee and have been supported by the Center for Asian American Media, Firelight Media, Reel South, World Channel, Southern Documentary Fund, and others. She is a 2017-2018 Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow, a 2020 John O’Neal Cultural Arts Fellow, and a member of A-Doc.

Kiyoko received her BFA in Theatre Arts from NYU’s Tisch School. She was raised in Tokyo and has also lived in London and New Orleans. She is happy to be returning to New York with her husband and two children.

(She/Her)

As Operations Manager, Sarah manages Chicken & Egg Pictures’ financial, office, operational, and human resource functions. She researches innovations for operational effectiveness, seeking out insightful approaches, solutions, and tools to strengthen internal systems. Prior to joining Chicken & Egg Pictures, Sarah began her career as an actuary seeking to examine and improve the current healthcare landscape. With interests in housing and food insecurity, Sarah organized with Hotels Not Hospitals, a community based housing model rising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the Emeryville Citizens Assistance Program, a local food bank serving the Emeryville and surrounding Bay Area communities.

(She/Her/Ella)

As Associate Director of Program, Sabine oversees the design and implementation of several programs in support of women and non-binary documentary filmmakers, including the (Egg)celerator Lab for first- and second-time filmmakers, and Project: Hatched for films reaching completion and in the process of launching an impact campaign. She also works closely with the Program Director on internal management to ensure effective and equitable practices and processes for the Program department. Since 2016, she has managed a range of programs and program activities at Chicken & Egg Pictures, including the Chicken & Egg Award for advanced-career filmmakers.

In 2019, Sabine was selected to be a participant in Film at Lincoln Center’s 4th annual Industry Academy and participated in Creative Capital’s Taller, a career development program for Spanish-speaking Latinx artists in New York City. She is Colombian and French, and holds a BA in Sociology from the Université Paris-Diderot, as well as a MA in Visual Anthropology from the University of Barcelona.

(She/Her)

As Program Manager, Iva oversees the application, selection, and evaluation activities for all programs and grants, and is the first point of contact for applicants seeking support from Chicken & Egg Pictures. More broadly, her role is focused on the iterative improvement of internal processes to ensure transparent, equitable, and affirming experiences for filmmakers across key touchpoints with the organization.

Since joining Chicken & Egg Pictures in 2019, Iva has supported program logistics as program assistant and program coordinator, and prior to that, she worked as the Oral History Coordinator at the University of Georgia Special Collections Libraries. She has undergraduate degrees in Anthropology and Mass Media Arts, and is a first-generation Bulgarian-American immigrant.

Working closely with the Chief Executive Officer, Rebecca directs Chicken & Egg Pictures’ fundraising strategies by writing grant proposals and reports, building relationships with institutional funders, and overseeing the development department’s workflow. Rebecca manages our film circle The Coop— connecting funders to filmmakers—and organizes gatherings, talks, educational opportunities, and screenings. Rebecca previously served as Director of Sales + Acquisitions at Cargo Film & Releasing, a documentary distributor and sales agent. She brings experience in film programming and in writing arts criticism for journals including Agnes Films, Precog, and Duplex Magazine. Rebecca holds a BA from Colorado College, where she studied Sociology and Film. The findings of her undergraduate thesis on gender bias in film criticism were published in a letter in the New York Times.

(She/Her)

As Communications Assistant, Tess supports the communications team with social media and website promotion, graphics creation, and administrative support. Currently, Tess is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Media and Screen Studies at Northeastern University, and is excited to join the team as a part of her co-op curriculum. Prior to joining Chicken & Egg Pictures, Tess had a keen interest in providing individuals and organizations with the tools and resources to run successful media campaigns. She launched her career by dedicating herself to providing support to over a dozen nonprofits, organizations, and campaigns on a consultancy basis. With social justice at the core of her work, she strives to deepen the intersection of arts and social justice. Ultimately, she hopes to take these learnings and apply them to work on criminal justice reform as well as to create engaging documentary films surrounding human rights and environmental injustices.

(She/Her)

Sarah works in close partnership with the CEO on the strategy and achievement of goals for organizational effectiveness, good governance, team development, and financial performance. Sarah oversees the design and implementation of holistic, adaptive internal systems to support Chicken & Egg Pictures’ mission and values, working with the CEO to create an environment that inspires and guides staff, Board, and other stakeholders. In addition, she manages high-level strategic planning and works cross departmentally in operational decision-making and organizational planning. As the primary liaison to the Board of Directors, she collaborates on the strategy and supports activities for growth and engagement.

Prior to Chicken & Egg Pictures, Sarah worked for the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), a human rights and accountability organization, where she managed the Program Office and the media initiative Pivot Pictures. Originally from Detroit, she holds a BA in History from the University of Michigan and Diplôme du Programme International from the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po).

(She/Her)

Julie is the Founder of Secret Sauce Media, her latest venture to produce and invest in surprising and timeless film projects. Julie co-founded Chicken & Egg Pictures in 2005 with a shared belief that diverse women and nonbinary nonfiction storytellers have the power to catalyze change at home and around the globe. She is a producer on Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s Academy Award®, Gotham, and Independent Spirit-winning feature documentary American Factory, streaming on Netflix in partnership with Higher Ground Productions and Participant Media. She produced Bonni Cohen & Jon Shenk’s Emmy® Award-winning USA Gymnastics documentary – Athlete A (Tribeca 2020, Netflix). More recently, she served as a producer on longtime collaborator Judith Helfand’s feature documentary Love & Stuff, which broadcasted on POV in 2022, and Sarah Jones’ feature debut Sell Buy Date (SXSW 2022, Cinedigm). She was an Executive Producer of United Skates (Tribeca 2018, HBO) and The Tale for Gamechanger Films (Sundance 2018, HBO). Earlier in her career, she co-produced Blue Vinyl, served as a Production Executive for the company Non Fiction Films, and was an archival researcher for the Discovery Channel series Cronkite Remembers. Julie lives in San Francisco, serves on the Board of SFFILM, and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Documentary Branch and the Producers Guild of America.

(She/Her)

Wendy Ettinger has been producing and executive producing narrative films and documentaries for over twenty years. In 2005, she co-founded Chicken & Egg Pictures to fund and mentor women documentary directors. In 2013, Wendy co-founded Gamechanger Films, the first equity fund established to finance and invest in women narrative directors. Her films have premiered or screened at festivals such as Sundance, SXSW, and Tribeca, and have won numerous awards. She has served on international juries, and is humbled to have received accolades for her work in film and social impact. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

(She/Her)

Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand is best known for her ability to take on the dark and cynical worlds of chemical exposure, heedless corporate behavior, and environmental injustice and make them personal, resonant, and even entertaining. Three of her award-winning films had world premieres at Sundance, and all have been nationally broadcast on PBS, HBO, and The Sundance Channel and linked to rigorous engagement. Her films include The Uprising of ’34 (co-directed with esteemed veteran George Stoney), her groundbreaking personal film A Healthy Baby Girl, and its Sundance award-winning sequel Blue Vinyl, followed by Everything’s Cool (both co-directed with Daniel B. Gold). She has taught the art of documentary film at New York University, New School, and was the Filmmaker-in-Residence at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies in 2007 and 2009. As much an educator and field-builder as she is a filmmaker, Judith co-founded Working Films and sits on the boards of Great Small Works and The Lower East Side Girls Club. Her latest film in progress is Cooked, a feature documentary about the politics of disaster for which she was awarded a MacArthur grant.