Celebrating Maite Alberdi’s Trail of Success
At Chicken & Egg Pictures we are sending egg-stra special congratulations to 2020 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Maite Alberdi. The trail of success for her 2020 Academy® nominated film The Mole Agent, prods. Maite Alberdi and Marcela Santibanez, continued through this fall.
The film received an award for Best Iberoamerican Film by the Mexican Academy of Arts and Motion Pictures (Academia Mexicana de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas), one of the most important film awards in Latin America and better known as “the Ariel.” The Mole Agent also received two Platino Awards (Premios Platino) for Best Iberoamerican Documentary, and the Film in Education and Values award. During her acceptance speech, Maite made powerful remarks about the documentary field, “Documentaries are movies, just like all of them, only we work with reality as raw material. The Mole Agent seems like a fictional film thanks to a team capable of exploring new cinematographic forms.”
In October, Micromundo Producciones, founded and directed by Maite, celebrated the ten year anniversary of their first film The Lifeguard with a brand new website, which includes a video on demand channel with all of her films available worldwide.
Congratulations, Maite!
We cannot wait to see the new windows to different worlds that you will show us.
Post by Communications Intern Mariana Sanson
The Nest is back at DOC NYC PRO FALL 2021!
The line-up for DOC NYC PRO FALL 2021 was recently announced with in-person panels during thematic days taking place from Thursday, November 11 through Thursday, November 18 at Cinépolis Chelsea. Here at Chicken & Egg Pictures, we are proud to see current grantees and AlumNest filmmakers sharing their expertise throughout the week.
Funding Day
Thursday, Nov. 11
The Nuts and Bolts of Equity Investing
Featuring Chicken & Egg Pictures Board member Susan Margolin
Building Budget and Community on Kickstarter
Featuring Nest friend and Brown Girls Doc Mafia Founder Iyabo Boyd
Producing Day
Friday, Nov. 12
Impact Producing: Case Studies
Featuring Storm Lake director and producer Beth Levison (Project: Hatched 2021) and Impact Producers Alice Quinlan and Hoda Hawa.
Cinematography Day
Saturday. Nov. 13
Introducing the Documentary Cinematographers Alliance
Featuring An Act of Worship director Nausheen Dadabhoy (2019 (Egg)celerator Lab) and Made in Boise cinematographer Jenni Morello.
Editing Day
Sunday, Nov. 14
Ade Launches Guidelines and BIPOC Editors Initiative
Moderated by 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Geeta Gandbhir
Case Study: The Rescue
Featuring Co-Founder Senior Creative Consultant Judith Helfand
Finding and Shaping Your Main Character
Moderated by Co-Founder Senior Creative Consultant Judith Helfand
Doc Series Day
Tuesday, Nov. 16
Power Dynamics in Documentary and Journalism
Featuring 2017 Chicken and Egg Award recipient Dawn Porter
Proximity, Access, and Journalistic Distance
Featuring Enemies of the State director Sonnia Kennebeck (2018 (Egg)celerator Lab).
Audience Engagement and Distribution Day
Wednesday. Nov. 17
How to Build Your Audience from Scratch
Featuring And So I Stayed directors Natalie Pattillo and Daniel Nelson (Project: Hatched 2021)
Success?
Featuring Nest friend and Brown Girls Doc Mafia Founder Iyabo Boyd.
Legal for Docs Day
Thursday, Nov. 18
New Trends in Ethics and Documentaries
Featuring the attorneys Nicole Page and Michelle Lamardo our partner Reavis Page Jump LLP Featuring Nest-supported filmmaker and Pray Away (2019 (Egg)celerator Lab) producer Jessica Devaney.
Post by Communications Intern Mariana Sanson.
Meet Our Seven New Project: Hatched Grantees! 🐣
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!
And So I Stayed
Directors & producers: Natalie Pattillo, Daniel A. Nelson (SINGAPORE/UNITED STATES)
And So I Stayed is a documentary about survivors of domestic violence who are unjustly incarcerated for killing their abusers in self-defense.
Daughter of a Lost Bird
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.
Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust
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
Director: Ash Goh Hua (SINGAPORE)
Producer: Arielle Knight
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
Directors: Maya Cueva, Leah Galant (UNITED STATES)
Producers: Melanie Miller, Diane Becker, Amanda Spain, Elizabeth Woodward
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.
Change The Name
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.
Storm Lake
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.
Read more about Project: Hatched.
Post by 2021 Communications Intern Mariana Sanson.
Nest filmmakers and staff at the 2021 Gotham Week Conference!
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)
Free access through IGTV
Gotham Week (Virtual) Project Market
Q (2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee)
dir & prod. Jude Chehab
The Gender Project
dir. Kimberly Reed (2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient)
prods. Louise Rosen & Robin Honan
AlumNest Films
- Boycott, directed by 2019 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Julia Bacha, prods. Suhad Babaa & Danel Chalfen
- HER, directed by 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Geeta Gandbhir, prods. Sonita Gale & Austyn Biggers
- JFK8 (working title), directed by AlumNest filmmaker Brett Story, prods. Marianne Verrone & Samantha Curley
- 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.
The Nest at CIFF
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.”
Ascension
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
Meet Our Team at CIFF
Representing Chicken & Egg Pictures, our External Engagement Manager will be taking in-person filmmaker meetings with projects from CIFF programming including Points North Fellowship, North Star Fellowship, 4th World Media Lab, and American Stories Doc Fund (sponsored by CNN Films).
Our Co-Founder Wendy Ettinger will also be at CIFF, taking virtual meetings. Take a look at Camden International Film Festival full programming here.
Post by 2021 Summer Communications Intern Mariana Sanson
Welcome to the Nest, Sarah Lee!
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.
Meet our 2021 Summer Interns!
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.
Belly of the Beast Receives Four News and Documentary Emmy® Noms!
Nominations for the 42nd Annual News and Documentary Emmy® Awards were announced today by The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS): Project: Hatched 2020 grantee Belly of the Beast received FOUR nominations! Also nominated were two films by Chicken & Egg Award recipients and one produced by our Co-founder & Board President Julie Parker Benello.
Belly of the Beast (Project: Hatched 2020)
dir. Erika Cohn
prods. Nicole Docta, Christen Marquez & Angela Tucker
Nominated for Outstanding Direction: Documentary, Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary, Best Documentary, Outstanding Editing: Documentary
AlumNest Films
The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show
Nominated for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary
dir. Yoruba Richen (2016 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient)
prods. Valerie Thomas & Joan Walsh
Tutwiler
Nominated for Outstanding Short Documentary
dir. Elaine McMillion Sheldon (2016 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient)
prod. Alysia Santo
John Lewis: Good Trouble
Nominated by Outstanding Research: Documentary, Outstanding Historical Documentary, Outstanding Lighting Direction and Scenic Design
dir. Dawn Porter (2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient)
prods. Erika Alexander & Ben Arnon
Special Congratulations
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 & Jen Say). The film was nominated for Best Documentary and Outstanding Investigative Documentary.
Check out the full nomination list here. The awards for Documentary Categories will be presented on Wednesday, September 29, 2021. Post by 2021 Summer Communications Intern Mariana Sanson.
We’re Back to the Cinemas at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival!
The Tribeca Film Festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a return to the cinemas in 2021. The festival runs from Wednesday, June 9 to Sunday, June 20 with programming that can be accessed in person and virtually.
At Chicken & Egg Pictures, we are looking forward to the shared experience of film, as New Yorkers head back to the movies again. Viewers within the US can access Tribeca’s virtual programming through $15 online stream tickets.
We are also thrilled to let you know that films slated to premiere at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival, but postponed due to COVID-19, will also screen at this year’s edition. Granted films featured in the festival include four (Egg)celerator Lab grantees from 2018 and 2019, one Project: Hatched grantee, one Chicken & Egg Award recipient film, three films from the AlumNest, and one VR project. Learn more about the films below, and get your tickets here.
Ascension, dir. 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.
World Premiere │ Tribeca Documentary Competition │ 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab
Enemies of the State, dir. Sonia Kennebeck
An American family becomes entangled in a bizarre web of secrets and lies when their hacker son is targeted by the U.S. government, making them all Enemies of the State.
US Premiere │ 2018 (Egg)celerator Lab
Pray Away, dir. Kristine Stolakis
Former leaders of the “pray away the gay” movement contend with the aftermath unleashed by their actions, while a survivor seeks healing and acceptance from more than a decade of trauma.
World Premiere │ 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab
Through the Night, dir. Loira Limbal
To make ends meet, Americans are working longer hours across multiple jobs. This modern reality of nonstop work has resulted in an unexpected phenomenon: the flourishing of 24-hour daycare centers. Through the Night is a verité documentary that explores the personal cost of our modern economy through the stories of two working mothers and a child care provider, whose lives intersect at a 24-hour daycare center in New Rochelle, NY.
New York Premiere │ 2018 (Egg)celerator Lab
Landfall, dir. Cecilia Aldarondo
Through shard-like glimpses of everyday life in post-Hurricane María Puerto Rico, Landfall examines a ruined world at the brink of transformation, spinning a cautionary tale for our times.
Project: Hatched 2020
Stateless, dir. Michèle Stephenson
Through the grassroots campaign of electoral hopeful Rosa Iris, director Michèle Stephenson’s new documentary reveals the depths of racial hatred and institutionalized oppression that divide Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
2016 Chicken & Egg Award
Simple as Water, dir. Megan Mylan
A look at war and displacement through the lens of parenthood from Megan Mylan, Academy-Award winning director of Lost Boys of Sudan and Smile Pinki. This feature documentary unfolds as a sequence of cinematic short stories revolving around Syrian families living in Turkey, Greece, the US, Germany, and Syria. Each chapter is an intimate portrait of parents—often mothers alone—as they work to rebuild their children’s lost sense of security and possibility. It is a story that is both urgent and timeless.
World Premiere │ 2018 Grant
VR Experience
The Changing Same: Episode 1, dirs. Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster & Yasmin Elayat
AlumNest Films
The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show, dir. Yoruba Richen (2016 Chicken & Egg Award recipient)
Selected for the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival
Women In Blue, dir. Deirdre Fishel (AlumNest for Care)
Selected for the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival
Untitled Dave Chappelle Documentary, dirs. Julia Reichert (2016 Chicken & Egg Award recipient) and Steve Bognar
Egg-citing news! This world premiere will be Tribeca’s closing night film.
See you at the cinema! Post by 2021 Summer Communications Intern Mariana Sanson.
2019 Sundance Festival Winners
A huge congratulations to Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported films and filmmakers who won big at Sundance this year:
One Child Nation
Dirs. Nanfu Wang & Jialing Zhang
Grand Jury Prize – US Documentary Competition
Always in Season
Dir. Jacqueline Olive
Special Jury Award for Moral Urgency – US Documentary Competition
American Factory
Dir. Julia Reichert & Steven Bognar
Directing – US Documentary Competition
It was a big weekend for these incredible filmmakers in more ways than one, with Amazon acquiring One Child Nation and Netflix acquiring American Factory. And a special congratulations to former Nest grantees Rachel Lears (dir. of Knock Down the House – US Documentary Competition Audience Award), Alma Har’el (dir. of Honey Boy – US Dramatic CompetitionSpecial Jury Award for Vision and Craft); and Laura Nix (executive producer of Sea of Shadows – World Cinema Documentary Audience Award).
We couldn’t be prouder of our Nest friends. Learn more about American Factory, Always in Season, and One Child Nation—and the amazing women that made them—through these reads:
‘One Child Nation’: How Nanfu Wang Defied China to Expose Its Dark Side – Indiewire
Sundance 2019 Women Directors: Meet Nanfu Wang – “One Child Nation”– Women and Hollywood
Sundance 2019 Women Directors: Meet Jacqueline Olive – “Always in Season”– Women and Hollywood
Sundance 2019: Always in Season an exceptional documentary on communities of memory, history of lynchings – The Utah Review
‘American Factory’: Sundance Review – Screen Daily
Sundance: Netflix Nabs ‘American Factory’ Doc for $3 Million – The Hollywood Reporter