Kirsten Johnson is the Special Guest of Visions du Réel!
We are egg-cited to see Nest-supported filmmakers participating at Visions du Réel (International Film Festival Nyon, Switzerland): 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Kirsten Johnson, who is the Special Guest, and 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee All of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars (previously titled Stories from Debris), which is having its world premiere. The in-person festival will take place in the city of Nyon from Thursday, April 7 to Sunday, April 17, and online from Monday, April 11 through Monday, April 18.
Kirsten Johnson
Special Guest of Visions du Réel
2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Kirsten Johnson will give a masterclass in partnership with Le Temps, and her work as director as well as a selection of films to which she contributed will be featured in a retrospective. Plus, the posters and visual identity of the festival were taken from Kirsten’s body of work.
- Masterclass
Thursday, April 14 - Cameraperson (Nest-supported)
dir. & prod. Kirsten Johnson, prod. Marilyn Ness
Get your tickets with this link. - Bintou in Paris
dirs. Kirsten Johnson & Julia Pimsleur, prod. Julia Pimsleur - Deadline
dirs. Kirsten Johnson & Katy Chevigny, prods. Katy Chevigny & Dallas Brennan - The Above
dir. & prod. Kirsten Johnson, prod. Marilyn Ness - Dick Johnson is Dead (Nest-supported)
dir. Kirsten Johnson, prods. Katy Chevigny & Marilyn Ness - Derrida
*Cinematography by Kirsten Johnson
dirs. Kirby Dick & Amy Ziering Kofman, prod. Amy Ziering Kofman
All of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars
(previously titled Stories From Debris)
dir. Jennifer Rainsford
prods. Mirjam Gelhorn, David Herdies, Michael Krotkiewski
On March 11, 2011, a tsunami devastated the coasts of Japan, claiming thousands of lives. Today, the scars of this tragedy remain visible. Yet in spite of this, people, plants and animals alike continue to exist. Through striking images shot on land and in the sea, Jennifer Rainsford’s film celebrates human resilience and the endless beauty of our planet.*
All of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars is a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee and is having its world premiere in the International Feature Film Competition .
Get your tickets with this link.
Check out the trailer with this link.
Take a look at the full line-up with this link.
*Text courtesy of Cineuropa.
Celebrating Alison O’Daniel’s Guggenheim Fellowship!
At Chicken & Egg Pictures, we congratulate 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Alison O’Daniel on her 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship. Alison is a filmmaker and visual artist, and Assistant Professor of Film at California College of the Arts. She is currently working on her first feature film The Tuba Thieves.
Huge congratulations, Alison. We are so proud of you!
The Last Nomads Wins Best Pitch at CPH:DOX!
Chicken & Egg Pictures is proud to see 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee The Last Nomads receive the €20,000 Eurimages Co-Production Development Award for the best pitch of this year’s CPH:FORUM, announced on Friday, April 1.
“We were impressed by this project which brings us to a place we didn’t know existed, a place of striking beauty and importance to humanity. A story of the human being in a David against Goliath battle, urgently reminding us not to lose our way in the fog of war.”
–Jury Statement
Through the story of a a mother and daughter defending their land against becoming a military polygon, the film illustrates how violence against women echoes in violence against nature.
This project is currently in development and looking for €624,000 ($659,428 USD) in funding.
The Last Nomads
dir.co-dirs. Biljana Tutorov & Petar Glomazić
prods. Biljana Tutorov & Veliša Popović
Check out the full list of winners with this link.
*Photo courtesy of CPH:DOX
Ascension Soars at Cinema Eye Honors!
Huge congratulations to the Ascension team for picking up three awards at the 15th Annual Cinema Eye Honors: Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography, Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score, and Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film.
Plus a special shoutout to AlumNest filmmakers Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang, and the In the Same Breath team for their win in the award for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Film For Broadcast.
Ascension
dir. & prod. Jessica Kingdon
prods. Kira Simon-Kennedy, Nathan Truesdell
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography
Jessica Kingdon and Nathan Truesdell
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score
Dan Deacon
Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film
Jessica Kingdon
Ascension examines the contemporary “Chinese Dream” through staggering observations of labor, consumerism and wealth. In cinematically exploring the aspiration that drives today’s People’s Republic of China, the film plunges into universal paradoxes of economic progress.
Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Film For Broadcast
In the Same Breath
dir. Nanfu Wang
prods. Jialing Zhang, Carolyn Hepburn, Sara Rodriguez, Julie Goldman, and Christopher Clements
Take a look at the complete list of award winners by visiting this link.
Ascension and Writing With Fire Nominated for the 94th Academy Awards!
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed their 2022 Oscar® nominations list on Tuesday, February 8. We are egg-static and sending massive congratulations to the two (Egg)celerator Lab grantees nominated for Best Documentary Feature: Ascension and Writing With Fire.
The in-person ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 27 at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, and will be televised on ABC. Please join us and celebrate these films and filmmakers!
Ascension
dir. & prod. Jessica Kingdon
prods. Kira Simon-Kennedy, Nathan Truesdell
Ascension examines the contemporary “Chinese Dream” through staggering observations of labor, consumerism and wealth. In cinematically exploring the aspiration that drives today’s People’s Republic of China, the film plunges into universal paradoxes of economic progress.
Ascension participated in the 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab.
Writing With Fire
dirs. & prods. Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh
In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions, be it on the frontlines of India’s biggest issues or within the confines of their homes, redefining what it means to be powerful.
Writing With Fire participated in the 2018 (Egg)celerator Lab.
Check out a video of the filmmakers receiving the news with this link.
Read the full nomination list visiting this link.
AlumNest filmmakers nominated for the NAACP Image Awards!
We were honored to see three Chicken & Egg Award filmmakers on the nominations list for the 53rd annual NAACP Image Awards, recognizing achievements by Black artists across film, TV, literature, music, and more.
Congratulations to all the nominees! Tune in to the live ceremony on Saturday, February 26 at 8 pm ET on BET.
Rise Again: Tulsa and the Red Summer
dir. and prod. Dawn Porter
2017 Chicken and Egg Award recipient Dawn Porter was nominated for Outstanding Directing in a Documentary (Television or Motion Picture).
Black and Missing
dirs. Samantha Knowles, Yoruba Richen, Geeta Gandbhir, Nadia Hallgren
prods. Samantha Knowles, Nimco Sheikhaden
Two Chicken & Egg Award recipients Yoruba Richen and Geeta Gandbhir were nominated for Outstanding Directing in a Documentary (Television or Motion Picture). Both were directors on the four-part HBO documentary.
Yoruba Richen was also honored with nominations for Outstanding Documentary for her films American Masters: How It Feels To Be Free*, prod. Julie Sacks, and High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America**, prods. Jonathan Clasberry, Christina Lenis, Lauren Vance.
Check the full nomination list with this link.
*Film developed during Yoruba Richen’s Chicken & Egg Award year
**Yoruba directed the episode: Freedom.
Nest-supported Films on the SIMA 2022 Finalists’ List
Congratulations to the two Nest-supported films and four AlumNest projects for being finalists for the 10th Annual Social Impact Media Awards (SIMA 2022). The SIMA Awards recognize storytelling that ignites social change and portrays the most pressing social issues. Chicken & Egg Pictures was the proud recipient of the SIMA Vanguard Award in 2020 and we’re thrilled to see so many supported films recognized this year.
Winners will be announced on Thursday, February 10, in the meantime take a look at the 2022 finalists from our community and check the full list with this link.
Writing With Fire
dirs. & prods. Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh
Documentary Feature finalist
Pray Away
dir. & prod. Kristine Stolakis
prods. Jessica Devaney and Anya Rous
Documentary Feature finalist
From the AlumNest
Documentary Feature
A Thousand Cuts
dir. & prod. Ramona S. Diaz
prod. Leah Marino
Documentary Shorts
Lost World
dir. Kalyanee Mam
prods. Emmanuel Vaughn-Lee, Adam Loften, Kalyanee Mam
Witness – Reckoning With Laughter
dirs. Amber Fares
prods. Rhana Nator, Samantha Adler de Oliveira, Rachel Leah Jones, Aine Pennello, Maria Costea, Reem Haddad, Fiona Lawson-Baker
Impact Videos
Video Visit
dir. & prod. Malika Zouhali-Worrall
Ascension, Simple As Water & Writing With Fire on the 94th Oscars® shortlist
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday, December 21 their shortlist for documentary features and documentary short subject. At Chicken & Egg Pictures we are sending massive congratulations to the 3 Nest-supported films on the list: Ascension, Simple As Water, and Writing With Fire, as well as to the 5 films from the AlumNest.
We are egg-cited to see these films on these lists and look forward to the Nominations list, which will be announced on Tuesday, February 8. Nominations voting begins on Thursday, January 27 and concludes on Tuesday, February 1.
The 94th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, March 27 and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide. Take a look at the shortlisted films below and checkout the full list with this link.
Ascension
Directed by Jessica Kingdon
Produced by Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy, and Nathan Truesdell
Simple As Water
Directed by Megan Mylan
Produced by Robin Hessman & Megan Mylan
Writing With Fire
Directed and produced by Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh
From the AlumNest
Documentary Feature
President
dir. Camilla Nielsson
prods. Joslyn Barnes, Signe Byrge Sørensen
In the Same Breath
dir. Nanfu Wang
prods. Jialing Zhang, Carolyn Hepburn, Sara Rodriguez, Julie Goldman, and Christopher Clements
Documentary Short Subject
Águilas
dir. & prod. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
co-dir. & prod. Maite Zubiaurre
Terror Contagion
dir. & prod. Laura Poitras
prods. Anonymous, Yoni Golijov
International Feature Film
Prayers for the Stolen
dir. Tatiana Huezo
prods. Nicolás Celis, Jim Stark
Ascension, Simple As Water & Writing With Fire nominated for 2022 PGA Awards
Congratulations to the Nest producers who were selected as 2022 Documentary Motion Picture nominees; their films—Ascension, Simple As Water, and Writing With Fire—will advance to the final round of voting for the 33rd Annual Producers Guild Awards. The Awards ceremony is on Saturday, February 26, so stay tuned and root for the following Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported projects.
Ascension
Produced by Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy, and Nathan Truesdell
Directed by Jessica Kingdon
Simple As Water
Produced by Robin Hessman & Megan Mylan
Directed by Megan Mylan
Writing With Fire
Produced and directed by Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh
A special congratulations to 2021 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Jialing Zhang for her nomination as producer of 2018 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Nanfu Wang’s film In The Same Breath. In The Same Breath is also produced by Christopher Clements, Carolyn Hepburn, Sara Rodriguez, and Nanfu Wang.
Nest-supported Filmmakers Nominated for IDA Documentary Awards!
The Annual IDA Documentary Awards, the world’s most prestigious awards event dedicated to the documentary genre, announced their nominees and honorees.
Here at Chicken & Egg Pictures, we are sending egg-stra special congratulations to the Nest-supported films that received a nomination: Writing With Fire, Ascension, Simple As Water, Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust, and from the AlumNest: In the Same Breath and Witness. Massive congratulations to the Nest-supported filmmakers that received a 2021 Awards Honorees: Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh (Writing With Fire) and Cecilia Aldarondo (Landfall).
The awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, February 5, 2022 at Paramount Studios, Los Angeles; tickets will be accessible to the public in January 2022. Take a look at the nominees and honorees:
Writing With Fire
dirs. & prods. Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh
Nominated for Best Feature
Ascension
dir. & prod. Jessica Kingdon
prods. Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell
Nominated for Best Cinematography
Cinematographers: Jessica Kingdon and Nathan Truesdell
Simple As Water
dir. & prod. Megan Mylan
prod. Robin Hessman
Nominated for Best Editing
Editors: Purcell Carson and Megan Mylan
Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust
dir. & prod. Ann Kaneko
prod. Jin Yoo-Kim
Nominated for Best Music Score
Composers: Lori Goldston, Steve Fisk and Alexander Miranda
2021 Awards Honorees
2018 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Writing With Fire directors & producers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh will receive the Courage Under Fire Award.
Project: Hatched 2020 grantee Landfall director Cecilia Aldarondo will receive the Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award.
From the AlumNest
In the Same Breath, directed & produced by 2018 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Nanfu Wang, produced by 2021 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Jialing Zhang, Carolyn Hepburn, Sara Rodriguez, Julie Goldman, and Christopher Clements, was nominated for Best Feature. Witness, produced by Nest-supported filmmaker Amber Fares, Lisa Camillo, Saad Zuberi, Emile Guertin and Reem Haddad, was nominated for Best Short Series.
Post by Communications Intern Mariana Sanson