Will TAMURA
Program Assistant
As Program Assistant, Will ensures accurate administrative and logistical support for the growing Program team’s efforts. These include application and selection processes; filmmaker retreats and events; and program, team, and filmmaker travel.
Prior to Chicken & Egg Pictures, Will resided in the San Francisco Bay Area, working as a Civil Rights Legal Assistant and Assistant Manager of an independent bookstore. They have also held Marketing and Distribution intern positions at Cinetic Media and A24 in New York City. Will holds a BA in Film and a BA in Political Science from UC Berkeley, and an MA in Film and Media Studies from Columbia University. Outside of Chicken & Egg, Will can be found at any repertory cinema or perusing the shelves of a used bookstore.
ELAISHA STOKES
Senior Program Manager

As the Senior Program Manager at Chicken & Egg Pictures, Elaisha oversees the Chicken & Egg Award and the Research & Development grants for mid-career filmmakers. She believes that the documentary craft is a means to increase gender diversity and inclusion, both in the arts and in the zeitgeist.
Prior to this position, Elaisha served as Senior Producer for CBS Original Documentaries, where she oversaw several documentary series for Paramount+ and streaming platforms. Her documentary work has been featured on National Geographic, CNN, The New York Times, and Vice. She has received awards and grants from the Nation Institute, the Pulitzer Family, the Emmy Foundation, and the Ontario Arts Council. In 2018, she was a Sundance New Voices fellow and a Cine Qua Non screenwriting fellow. Her films have screened at BFI London, the Maryland Film Festival, the Brooklyn Film Festival, London Shorts, and Planet in Focus. Elaisha holds a Master’s degree in Documentary Filmmaking from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.
AMES STEVENS
Production Assistant
As Production Assistant, Ames provides cross-departmental logistic support for Doc Nest 2023, a large-scale event for filmmakers to receive industry opportunities. Prior to joining Chicken & Egg Pictures, Ames worked with DiverseToons, a nonprofit devoted to uplifting animators of color, and film festivals such as RIIFF and DOC NYC. Additionally, they have been a PA for a variety of content from HBO, Netflix, and Universal NBC. They are also a filmmaker and a founding member of the queer film collective, SetRise Studios. Ames holds a BA in Film from Vassar College. In their free time, they can be found at any local theater or gallivanting in Inwood Hill Park.
MARIANA SANSON
Communications Manager
As Communications Manager Mariana tells the story of Chicken & Egg Pictures in social media, digital communications, and design. She joined Chicken & Egg Pictures after finishing an MA in Media Studies at The New School, where she also collaborated with the Documentary Studies program as Teaching Assistant and focused her studies on nonfiction media. Mariana worked for six years at Ambulante Documentary Film Festival, and also collaborated with Morelia International Film Festival. She was a 2022 Documentary Magazine Editorial Fellow. Mariana is a firm believer in the power of documentary as a tool for social change and the creation of collectivity.
KIYOKO MCCRAE
Program Director

As Program Director Kiyoko works closely with the CEO and Program staff to strategize, plan and oversee the implementation of all Chicken & Egg programs. She is committed to supporting women and non-binary filmmakers and believes that films have the power to shift narratives and create social and cultural change.
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, where she taught an accredited community-based theater course with founder John O’Neal through Tulane University and Xavier University and directed and produced several touring theater productions and award-winning films. She has also served on review committees for ITVS, NEA, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, National Performance Network, Alternate ROOTS, and has been a speaker at The Gotham, Palm Springs International Short Film Festival, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Neighborhood Funders Group, among others. She has served as an organizational development consultant for several social justice arts organizations.
Kiyoko 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 where she studied under Jan Cohen Cruz, a leading practitioner of activist and community-based performance. 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.
SARAH LEE
Operations Manager
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.
SABINE FAYOUX CANTILLO
Associate Director of Program
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.
IVA DIMITROVA
Program Manager
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.