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A Dozen Films Screening at CPH:DOX!
The 20th anniversary of CPH:DOX will take place from Wednesday, March 15 to Sunday, March 26 in Copenhagen, Denmark. We are proud to announce that 12 Nest-supported films are part of the lineup and that our AlumNest is also participating in the CPH:CONFERENCE and CPH:FORUM. If you are attending the festival, please say hi to our team who will participate in person to support our filmmakers. See below for more details.
- 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab Finalist Eat Bitter | World Premiere | Dox:Award section | dirs. Ningyi Sun, Pascale Appora-Gnekindy | prod. Mathieu Faure
- 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Is There Anybody Out There? | Highlights section | dir. Ella Glendining | prod. Janine Marmot
- 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Mila Turajlić’s Non-Aligned: Scenes from the Labudović Reels | Artists & Auteurs section | dir. & prod. Mila Turajlić | prod. Carine Chichkowsky
- 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Tonje Hessen Schei’s Praying for Armageddon | F:act Award section | dir. Tonje Hessen Schei | co-dir. Michael Rowley
- 2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Margreth Olin’s Songs of Earth | World Premiere | Dox:Award section | dir. & prod. Margreth Olin
- 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Maite Alberdi’s The Eternal Memory | Highlights section | dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi | prods. Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue
- 2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Elwira Niewira’s The Hamlet Syndrome | Highlights section | dirs. Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski | prod. Magdalena Kaminska
- 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee The Tuba Thieves | Next:Wave section | dir. & prod. Alison O’Daniel
- 2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Jialing Zhang’s Total Trust | World Premiere | Dox: Award and Rewriting the Future sections | dir. & prod. Jialing Zhang | prods. Knut Jager, Michael Grotenhoff, Saskia Kress
QUEER FUTURES
In partnership with Multitude Films, three short documentaries of the QUEER FUTURES series, directed by Brit Fryer & Noah Schamus, Twiggy Pucci Garçon, and Sasha Wortzel that radically imagine future visions of queer life, will have their world premiere. These films expand the boundaries of nonfiction to explore gender affirming care, fat beauty and liberation, and nonbinary ballroom culture. Transcending the rigidity and oppressions of the current moment, these directors locate, build, and inhabit worlds that offer us new ways of being–in the present and the future.
- How to Carry Water
dir. Sasha Wortzel
prods. Jess Devaney, Anya Rous, Colleen Cassingham
- The Script
dirs. Brit Fryer, Noah Schamus
prods. Jessica Devaney, Colleen Cassingham
- MnM
dir. Twiggy Pucci Garçon
prods. Colleen Cassingham, Jessica Devaney
From the AlumNest
- Body Parts
dir. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
prod. Helen Hood Scheer
- Kim’s Video
dirs. & prods. Ashley Sabin, David Redmon
prods. Deborah & Dale Smith, Rebecca Tabasky, Francesco Galavotti
- Victim/Suspect
dir. & prod. Nancy Schwartzman
prods. Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, Alice Henty, Amanda Pike, Rachel de Leon
CPH: FORUM
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. Eight Nest-supported filmmakers will present their new projects: Brett Story, Iryna Tsilyk, Jessica Kingdon, Meena Nanji and Zippy Kimundu, Mila Turajlić, Oksana Karpovych, and Vaishali Sinha.
CPH: CONFERENCE
A 5-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. Our Nest is well represented across the different activities from Monday, March 20 to Friday, March 24.
A DIALOGUE ON CRAFT WITH MAITE ALBERDI AND ANNA HINTS
Monday, March 20
With 2020 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Maite Alberdi
THE TRUST POLICY
Tuesday, March 21
With Chicken & Egg Pictures CEO Jenni Wolfson, Shanida Scotland (Doc Society), Jess Kwan (Concordia Fellowship), and Sean Flynn (Points North Institute).
A DIALOGUE ON CRAFT WITH ALISON O’DANIEL, AXEL DANIELSON & MAXIMILIEN VAN AERTRYCK
Tuesday, March 21
With 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab recipient Alison O’Daniel
A DIALOGUE ON CRAFT WITH JIALING ZHANG, PUK DAMSGÅRD AND SØREN KLOVBORG
Wednesday, March 22
With 2021 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Jialing Zhang
A DISCUSSION WITH JESSICA KINGDON
Thursday, March 23
With 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Jessica Kingdon
CITIZEN FILMMAKERS
Friday, March 24
With 2021 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Elwira Niewira, 2018 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Nanfu Wang, 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Volia Chajkouskaya, and 2023 Critical Issues Fund recipient Alisa Kovalenko
SONGS OF EARTH – LISTENING TO CARE
Friday, March 24
With 2022 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Margreth Olin, Diego Galafassi, Cara Mertes, Bo Øksnebjerg, and Danielle Turkov Wilson
RISE OF INSTITUTIONS
Friday, March 24
With our Senior Creative Consultant Yvonne Welbon, 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Volia Chajkouskaya, and Anne Marie Borsboom.
Meet our Team at CPH:DOX
Our CEO Jenni Wolfson is participating in the CPH: CONFERENCE, and our Associate Director of Program Sabine Fayoux Cantillo will be taking 1:1 meetings with filmmakers.
We are sending huge congratulations to our International Program Consultant Tereza Simikova, CPH:DOX Head of Industry & Training, and to her team, for putting together this fantastic edition.
Welcome to the Nest, Ames Stevens!
Meet the newest member of our team: Production Assistant Ames Stevens
As Production Assistant, Ames provides cross-departmental logistic support for Doc Nest 2023 (formerly Next Gen Egg), 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.
“Chicken & Egg Pictures is that rare organization that gears every aspect of its existence towards a love for artists and filmmakers. It is constantly heartening to work with an organization that deeply cares about women and non-binary artists behind the camera. As a community member and filmmaker, I am thrilled to be working with Chicken & Egg Pictures!”
We are excited to welcome an egg-stra special new team member in our Nest. To learn more about them, visit our team page.
Meet our Spring 2023 Communications Intern, Tess Caldwell!
Chicken & Egg Pictures welcomes an eggs-tra special Spring Intern: Tess Caldwell. She brings a passion for social justice and social media savviness, which permeates through her work. We greatly appreciate everything she brings to our team.
As a Communications Intern, 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.
“I am enthusiastic about joining an innovative social impact-oriented organization that is committed to elevating marginalized voices and stories while cultivating such a diverse, talented community.”
We are excited to welcome an egg-stra special new team member in our Nest. To learn more about her, visit our team page.
Three Nest-supported Filmmakers at TiDF25
Chicken & Egg Pictures is egg-static to see three Nest-supported films in the 25th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival lineup. The festival takes place from Thursday, March 2 to Sunday, March 12.
Blue Id
dirs. & prods. Burcu Melekoglu, Vuslat Karan
Blue Id is a Nest-supported film having its Greek Premiere.
Available in person and online. Get your tickets here.
Is There Anybody Out There?
dir. Ella Glendining
prod. Janine Marmot
2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Is There Anybody Out There? is having its European premiere.
Available in person and online. Get your tickets here.
It’s Only Life After All
dir. & prod. Alexandria Bombach
prods. Kathlyn Horan, Jess Devaney, Anya Rous
It’s Only Life After All was supported through Alexandria Bombach’s 2019 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its international premiere.
Get your tickets here.
From the AlumNest
- Divorce Iranian Style
dir. & prod. Kim Longinotto
dir. Ziba Mir-Hosseini - Kim’s Video
dirs. & prods. David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
prods. Deborah Smith, Dale Smith, Francesco Galavotti, Rebecca Tabasky - Gumbo Coalition
dir. & prod. Barbara Kopple
prods. David Cassidy, Williams Cole, Ray Nowosielski - My ne zgasnemo / We Will Not Fade Away
dir. Alisa Kovalenko
prods. Valery Kalmykov, Oleksiy Kobelev - The Dazzling Light of Sunset
dir. & prod. Salomé Jashi
Meet our Team at Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival
Representing Chicken & Egg Pictures, our Program Manager Iva Dimitrova will be in attendance at TiDF25. She will be participating on the panel for the Thessaloniki Pitching Forum on March 6, taking 1:1 meetings through Agora Film Market, and participating as an expert in Doc Counseling providing consultancy sessions to attending filmmakers.
Post written by Spring intern Tess Caldwell
Four Nest-supported films at True/False Film Fest 2023
Chicken & Egg Pictures is egg-cited to see four Nest-supported and two AlumNest films in the lineup of the 20th edition of True/False Film Fest, which takes place from Thursday, March 2 to Sunday, March 5 in Columbia, Missouri.
Hummingbirds
dirs. Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía “Beba” Contreras
co-dirs. & prods. Jillian Schlesinger, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Diane Ng, Ana Rodriguez-Falco
prods. Leslie Benavides, Rivkah Beth Medow
Hummingbirds is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist.
Get your tickets here.
How to Have an American Baby
dir. and prod. Leslie Tai
prod. Jillian Schultz
How to Have an American Baby was supported through the 2017 Diversity Fellows Initiative (past program).
Get your tickets here.
Joonam
dir. Sierra Urich
prod. Keith Wilson
Joonam is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Get your tickets here.
Milisuthando
dir. Milisuthando Bongela
prod. Marion Isaacs
Milisuthando is a 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Get your tickets here.
From the AlumNest
- Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
dirs. & prods. Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster
U.S. Documentary Competition
- The Feeling of Being Close to You
dir. & prod. Ash Goh Hua
Part of the Short Films program
Check out the full lineup with this link.
The Nest at Big Sky Documentary Film Fest
The 20th annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival took place from February 17 through February 26 in Montana. We were proud to see four Nest-supported films and seven AlumNest films in the line-up, as well as a retrospective dedicated to 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Penny Lane.
Black Mothers Love & Resist
dir. & prod. Débora Souza Silva
prod. David Felix Sutcliffe, Adina Luo
Black Mothers Love & Resist is a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
The Hamlet Syndrome
dirs. Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski
prod. Magdalena Kaminska
The Hamlet Syndrome was supported through Elwira Niewira’s 2021 Chicken & Egg Award.
From the AlumNest
Nest-supported filmmaker Penny Lane was selected as the 2023 Retrospective artist. The retrospective includes six films directed by Lane from 2010 to today, including Nest-supported Hail Satan?, The Pain of Others; and Nuts!, Our Nixon, and The Voyagers.
- For the Record
dir. & prod. Heather Courtney
prod. Paul Stekler - Sealed in Blood
dir. Sofian Khan
prod. J. Motts - Lily Gladstone: Far Out There
dir. & prod. Brooke Pepion Swaney
prod. Jeri Rafter
Lily Gladstone: Far Out There will being having its World Premiere
Post written by Spring intern Tess Caldwell
Four Nest-supported Films at Berlinale 2023
Chicken & Egg Pictures is proud to see three Nest-supported films in Berlinale 2023 lineup. El eco/The Echo and Hummingbirds will have their world premiere, and the recent Sundance winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary The Eternal Memory will have its European premiere. The festival takes place from Wednesday, February 16 to Sunday, February 26.
El eco / The Echo
dir. & prod. Tatiana Huezo
prod. Dalia Reyes
El eco / The Echo will have its world premiere in the Encounters section and was supported through Tatiana Huezo’s 2021 Chicken & Egg Award.
Get your tickets here.
The Eternal Memory
dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi
prods. Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue
The Eternal Memory will have its European Premiere in the Panorama Section and was supported through Maite Alberdi’s 2020 Chicken & Egg Award.
Get your tickets here.
Hummingbirds
dirs. Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía “Beba” Contreras
co-dirs. & prods. Jillian Schlesinger, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Diane Ng, Ana Rodriguez-Falco
prods. Leslie Benavides, Rivkah Beth Medow
Hummingbirds will have its world premiere in the Generation 14plus section and is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist.
Get your tickets here.
From the AlumNest
- My ne zgasnemo / We Will Not Fade Away
dir. Alisa Kovalenko
prods. Valery Kalmykov, Oleksiy Kobelev
World premiere in the 14plus competition of Berlinale Generation
Alisa is also participating in the Berlinale Talents Event A Closer Look: Current Docs from Ukraine - 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Kirsten Johnson is participating in the Berlinale Talents Event Simply Absurd: Subversive Screenwriting
Welcome to the Nest, Will Tamura!
Meet the newest member of our team: Program Assistant Will Tamura
As Program Assistant, Will supports the Program team’s growing efforts.
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.
“I’m delighted to join an organization that imbues social responsibility and equity in its films. The sheer talent and commitment to our mission within our team, as well as our supported filmmakers, is truly inspiring!”
We are excited to welcome an egg-stra special new team member in our Nest. To learn more about them, visit our team page.
Two Nest-supported Films Win Awards at Sundance World Cinema Documentary Competition!
Chicken & Egg Pictures is egg-static to see 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Against the Tide, 2020 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Maite Alberdi, and Nest-supported filmmaker Michèle Stephenson receive Jury awards. We were also proud to see AlumNest filmmaker Jess Devaney be the recipient of the 2023 Amazon Studios Nonfiction Producers Award.
Congratulations to all awardees and their teams!
Winner of the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Verite Filmmaking
Against the Tide
dir. & prod. Sarvnik Kaur
prod. Koval Bhatia
Against the Tide is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
The Eternal Memory
dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi
prods. Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue
The Eternal Memory was supported through Maite Alberdi’s 2020 Chicken & Egg Award.
From the AlumNest
- Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
dirs. & prods. Michele Stephenson, Joe Brewster
U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - Jess Devaney received the 2023 Amazon Studios Nonfiction Producers Award
Announcing our 2022 Critical Issues Fund Grantees!
We are proud to present the twelve grantees selected for the 2022 Critical Issues Fund. The Critical Issues Fund supports filmmakers, with more than $250,000 in funding, whose work is focused on important and topical issues that are currently having a decided and material impact on communities domestically and internationally. The 2022 grant awardees have projects exploring some of the most pressing issues of the moment: the war in Ukraine, gun violence, reproductive justice, and climate emergencies.
“Through the Critical Issues Fund, we have identified films that have the potential to drive social change by sharing these stories with the world now—not years down the line. Chicken & Egg Pictures cares deeply about these issues and believes that a more equitable and just world can be shaped by the power of documentary films. Our hope is that through highlighting these stories told by talented women filmmakers, others will be motivated to action to support the films and the issues they highlight,” said CEO of Chicken & Egg Pictures, Jenni Wolfson. “We live in a world that’s not doing enough to prevent war, gun violence, climate change, or advance reproductive justice. We firmly believe these films can help in the fight for these issues.”
We are thrilled to give these filmmakers a warm welcome to the Nest. The 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantees are:
After Roe (Working title)
Directors: Amber Fares, Geeta Gandbhir (US/CANADA)
After Roe explores the ongoing nationwide battle playing out after the Supreme Court left the fate of tens of millions of women in the hands of politicians across the country.
Breaking the News
Directors: Heather Courtney, Chelsea Hernandez, Princess Hairston (US)
Producer: Diane Quon
Breaking the News follows a group of women and non-binary journalists, bucking the white male status quo, to launch The 19th*—a digital news startup that asks who has been omitted from mainstream coverage and how they can be included.
Displaced
Director: Olha Zhurba (UKRAINE)
Producer: Darya Bassel
Displaced captures a collective portrait of Ukrainians fleeing the grindstones of war, and those who stayed and are forced to adapt to life under constant shelling.
Frontline
Director: Alisa Kovalenko (UKRAINE)
Producer: Katarzyna Kuczyńska
Co-producers: Monica Hellström, Valeryi Kalmykov
Frontline is a diary from the frontline of the Russian invasion of Ukraine by a director and mother turned soldier.
Hollywood Does Abortion (Working title)
Directors & Producers: Barbara Attie, Mike Attie, Janet Goldwater (US)
Producer: Eliza Licht
Hollywood Does Abortion explores descriptions of abortion in film and television, revealing how Hollywood both reflects and distorts this safe but controversial medical procedure.
Intercepted
Director: Oksana Karpovych (UKRAINE/CANADA)
Producer: Les Films Cosmos
Intercepted is a journey through Ukraine that reveals the banality of evil behind the Russian invasion.
Plan C
Director & Producer: Tracy Droz Tragos (US)
Plan C follows the journey of a grassroots network, with a controversial visionary at the helm, as they fight to expand access to abortion pills across the United States, and keep hope alive during a global pandemic and the fall of Roe v. Wade.
Razing Liberty Square
Director: Katja Esson (GERMANY/US)
Razing Liberty Square features Miami as ground zero for sea level rise. When residents of the Liberty Square public-housing community learn about a $300-million revitalization project in 2015, they soon discover that this sudden interest comes from the fact that their neighborhood is located on the highest and driest ground in the city. Now they must prepare to fight a new form of racial injustice: climate gentrification.
Red Zone
Director: Iryna Tsilyk (UKRAINE)
Producer: Darya Bassel
Red Zone shares Tsilyk’s very intimate and female perspective on the question—what does it mean to be a woman in the war times?
Sol in the Garden
Directors: Emily Cohen Ibañez, Débora Souza Silva (US/COLOMBIA/BRAZIL)
Sol in the Garden features Sol—who is released from prison after 16 years of incarceration—and follows her journey as she discovers that coming into her own freedom can be as challenging as living behind bars. Through a community gardening collective of formerly incarcerated horticulturalists in East Oakland, Sol strives to recover her humanity and sense of self.
Untitled Baby Doe Film
Director: Jessica Earnshaw (CANADA)
Producer: Holly Meehl Chapman
Untitled Baby Doe Film intimately explores the phenomena of pregnancy denial through the stories of two women, a generation apart, given life sentences for the deaths of their newborns.
Untitled Uvalde Documentary
Director & Producer: Anayansi Prado (PANAMA/US)
Note: The parentheses next to the directors’ names indicate the directors’ country or countries of origin.