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.
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.
At Chicken & Egg Pictures, we congratulate 2021 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Cristina Ibarra on her 2021 MacArthur Fellowship. Cristina is an award-winning filmmaker with a 20-year storytelling practice rooted in her border-crossing homeland along the Texas-Mexico border.
I grew up along the U.S.-Mexico border. This is a “third space” where you learn to live with contradictions. It is both English and Spanish, Indigenous and colonized, surreal and ordinary. Despite attempts to control them, the borderlands are porous and in a constant state of movement. In my films, I consider the border as more than geography; it is a perspective. I offer this way of seeing to any of us searching for a way to rebuild, reimagine, and update the narratives of our day. — Cristina Ibarra
Cristina, we admire and celebrate your creativity and perseverance! You are a true Genius!
Post by 2021 Communications Intern Mariana Sanson.
The ceremony for the 42nd News & Documentary Emmys® Awards was held on Wednesday, September 29.
At Chicken & Egg Pictures we are egg-static to congratulate Project: Hatched 2020 grantee Belly of the Beast, dir. Erika Cohn, prods. Nicole Docta, Christen Marquez & Angela Tucker on their Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary Emmy®.
A special congratulations to our Co-Founder & Board President Julie Parker Benello, producer of Athlete A (dirs. Bonni Cohen & Jon Shenk, prods. Serin Marshall, Julie Parker Benello & Jennifer Say) for receiving an Outstanding Investigative Documentary Emmy®.
Take a look at our 2021 Project: Hatched grantees here and read the full Award winners list here.
Chicken & Egg Pictures proudly announced via Women & Hollywood seven new grantees of our 2021 Project: Hatched program. Both short- and feature-length projects will participate. Each project receives $20,000 toward film completion and impact campaigns and filmmaking teams participate in a six-month program with tailored mentorship and goal-setting.
“From water rights to reproductive health, the subjects of Chicken & Egg Pictures’ newest grantees are ones that come up constantly in our cultural and political conversations. These seven films push past the headlines to reveal intimate character studies that investigate how social issues impact everyday lives,” said Program Director Lucila Moctezuma. “For the first time in our Project: Hatched program, two short films were selected alongside features. Not only can shorts act as critical stepping stones to help emerging filmmakers build careers, but they also have strong potential to create impact and engage broader audiences.”
Please click the granted films titles for more information on each project, and give these passionate and committed women and gender nonconforming directors a warm welcome to the Nest!
Director & producer: Brooke Pepion Swaney (UNITED STATES) Producers: Jeri Rafter, Kendra Mylnechuk Potter
A Native adoptee reconnects with her birth family and her Lummi heritage—confronting her identity. Her singular story represents many affected by the Indian Child Welfare Act and Indian Adoption Project in the US.
Director & producer: Ann Kaneko (UNITED STATES) Producer: Jin Yoo-Kim
This film poetically weaves together memories of Payahuunadü, “the land of flowing water,” where Native Americans, Japanese-Americans, and environmentalists defend land and water from Los Angeles.
I’m Free Now, You Are Free is a short documentary about the reunion and repair between Mike Africa Jr. and his mother Debbie Africa—a formerly incarcerated political prisoner of the MOVE 9.
On The Divide follows the story of three Latinx people living in McAllen, Texas who, despite their views, are connected by the most unexpected of places: the last abortion clinic on the US/Mexico border. As threats to the clinic and their personal safety mount, these three are forced to make decisions they never could have imagined.
Director & producer: Cai Thomas (UNITED STATES) Producer: Donald Conley
Student activists and educators from Village Leadership Academy campaign to change the name of a park from a slaveholder to abolitionists Anna Murray and Frederick Douglass in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood.
Directors: Beth Levison, Jerry Risius (UNITED STATES) Producer: Beth Levison
Pulitzer Prize-winner Art Cullen and his family fight to protect their Iowan farming community through their biweekly newspaper, The Storm Lake Times—come hell or pandemic.
The 2021 Gotham Week Conference started this Sunday, September 19 and will run through Friday, September 24, with public panels and workshops exploring storytelling through film, TV, and audio. This year’s edition will focus on how the pandemic pushed media and entertainment to reinvent itself as well as focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Their programming will feature the work of a number of filmmakers from the AlumNest: Amber Fares, Jessica Devaney, Nanfu Wang, and Beth Levison; plus 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantees Jude Chehab and 2019 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Kimberly Reed are participating in theGotham Week (Virtual) Project Market.
Collaboration in convergence
Sunday, September 19
4:00 – 5:00 pm EDT
A conversation with the filmmaking team behind Netflix’s Convergence: Courage In A Crisis, where they will discuss the tools and tactics they used to create a globally collaborative film. Featuring Nest-supported filmmaker Amber Fares (Speed Sisters)
Women Owned Production Companies — Creating Your Path to Career Sustainability
Monday, September 20
10:00 am – 11:00 am EDT
A conversation between the leaders of women owned production companies discussing the difficulties they face to produce the work they want to make and build a strategic and long-lasting career. Featuring Nest-supported filmmaker and friend Jessica Devaney (Love the Sinner)
Exploring In the Same Breath
Dir. Nanfu Wang, prods. Nanfu Wang, Christopher Clements, Carolyn Hepburn, Sara Rodriguez, and Jialing Zhang
Thursday, September 23
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EDT
A conversation with the production team of In the Same Breath, directed by 2017 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Nanfu Wang and produced by current Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Jialing Zhang.
More than money: How film commissioners and other partnerships can help nurture your next project sponsored
Friday, September 24
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT
Panel: learn how a film commissioner can become a meaningful partner to help build the collaborations that give a more authentic dimension to film projects. Featuring Beth Levison (producer of Made in Boise)
Coexistence, My Ass!, directed by Nest-supported filmmaker Amber Fares, prods. Rachel Leah Jones & Rabab Haj Yahya
Meet Our Team at CIFF
Representing Chicken & Egg Pictures, our Program Coordinator Iva Dimitrova and Filmmaker Engagement Manager Jaad Asante will be participating in the Gotham Week (Virtual) Project Market and taking meetings with women and gender nonconforming filmmakers and producers with projects in all stages of production.
Check the 2021 Gotham Week Conference here and get your tickets here.
Post by 2021 Summer Communications Intern Mariana Sanson.
Camden International Film Festival will take place in person in Maine this Thursday, September 16 through Sunday, September 19, and online from September 19 to Sunday, September 26. Here at Chicken & Egg Pictures, we are egg-cited to participate and to see (Egg)celerator Lab film Ascension and AlumNest film Listening to Kenny G.
Special congratulations to the CIFF team who have been diligently working to bring us an immersive in-person festival experience “to share cinema as it was intended, on the big screen and surrounded by community.”
dir. Jessica Kingdon prods. Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy & Nathan Truesdell Available for in-person screening on Friday, September 17 at 3:00 pm ET | Tickets here
From the AlumNest
Listening to Kenny G, directed by 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Penny Lane, and produced by Gabriel Sedgwick, will be available for in-person (including Drive-in🙌) and virtual screenings | Tickets here
The ceremony for the 73rd Primetime Emmy® Awards was held on Sunday, September 12.
Here at Chicken & Egg Pictures, we are egg-cited to send massive congratulations to 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Kirsten Johnson on her Outstanding Directing For A Documentary/Nonfiction Program win for Dick Johnson Is Dead, prods. Katy Chevigny & Marilyn Ness.
Congratulations Kirsten! 🥳
Read the full award winners list here, and check out the list of Nest-supported nominees here.
Post by 2021 Communications Intern Mariana Sanson.
Meet the newest member of our team: Operations Coordinator Sarah Lee.
As Operations Coordinator, Sarah Lee 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.
Before joining the Chicken & Egg Pictures Operations team, Sarah worked as an actuary seeking to examine and improve the current healthcare landscape. Her interest in housing and food insecurity, led her to organize 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.
We are excited to welcome an egg-stra special new team member in our Nest. To learn more about her, visit our team page.
Post by 2021 Summer Communications Intern Mariana Sanson.
The film is Huezo’s fiction debut, based on the novel Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement and set in a small town in the mountains of Mexico. Noche de Fuego/Prayers for the Stolen tells the story of what it is like to be a young woman growing up in a rural town marked by violence, where three girls forge their friendship learning how to hide to survive.
Chicken & Egg Pictures welcomes two eggs-tra special Summer Interns: Lindsay Allen and Mariana Sanson. Each of them brings a passion for nonfiction filmmaking, which permeates through their work. We greatly appreciate everything they bring to our team.
Lindsay Allen
Program Intern
As Program Intern, Lindsay assists our Program Team on various projects, including the (Egg)celerator Lab and Project: Hatched program. She also works closely with our Filmmaker Engagement Manager Jaad Asante and Program Assistant Iva Dimitrova to coordinate with AlumNest filmmakers and provide logistical support for virtual programming. Lindsay graduated from Temple University in 2020 with a BFA in Film Directing and is a writer, director, and producer with experience in short-form narratives. As a filmmaker, she is specifically interested in creating opportunities on screen for individuals living with disabilities in accurate and positive portrayals.
Mariana Sanson
Communications Intern
As Communications Intern, Mariana assists our Communications Coordinator and External Relations Director by writing, copy editing, proofreading, fact checking, and designing communications materials. 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 and focused her studies on nonfiction media. She worked at Ambulante Documentary Film Festival for six years, as well as at Morelia International Film Festival. Mariana is a firm believer in the power of documentary as a tool for social change and the creation of collectivity.
Post by 2021 Summer Communications Intern Mariana Sanson.