QUEER FUTURES
Chicken & Egg Pictures and Multitude Films are proud to announce QUEER FUTURES, a series of four documentary shorts directed by emerging LGBTQ directors. The short films in the QUEER FUTURES series showcase queer and trans, BIPOC, disabled, working-class, and underrepresented experiences as a point of pride and power. Film topics explore gender affirming healthcare, fat beauty and liberation, nonbinary ballroom culture, and the anonymous connections of a decades-old LGBTQ hotline.
“QUEER FUTURES offers audiences a road map to justice and joy rooted in the historically underrepresented perspectives it features. Just as queer lives subvert normative expectations, these shorts present new ways of seeing the queer experience lived out loud and expand the boundaries of nonfiction. Multitude Films looks forward to presenting the industry with a new generation of LGBTQ storytellers to watch with this project.”
– Multitude Films Founder Jessica Devaney.
As a partner in the production of the series, Chicken & Egg Pictures provided a $75,000 grant—the largest single grant disbursed by the organization to date. The program brought the filmmakers together for an in-person story lab facilitated by Chicken & Egg Pictures team members.
Please click on the films below for more information on each grantee and give these visionary filmmakers a warm welcome to the Nest!
- EP 1 - How to Carry WaterMore info >
EP 1 - How to Carry Water
- EP 2 - The ScriptMore info >
EP 2 - The Script
- EP 3 - MnMMore info >
EP 3 - MnM
- EP 4 - The CallersMore info >
EP 4 - The Callers
Partnership with Multitude Films
Multitude Films is a production company dedicated to telling nonfiction stories by and about underrepresented communities. Multitude’s critically-acclaimed films have been programmed at dozens of festivals internationally including Sundance, Tribeca, SXSW, IDFA, and more. Recent releases include Netflix Original Pray Away, Apart on HBO Max, Oscar-shortlisted Call Center Blues, Sundance Award-winning Always In Season, Livingston Award-winning The Feeling of Being Watched, and Peabody-nominated Roll Red Roll.
The Callers
SYNOPSIS
The Callers combines intimate documentary testimony with imagined creative scenes to tell the anonymous stories of those who have called England’s oldest LGBTQ+ phone helpline since it opened in 1974. Callers seek guidance on everything from where to find the nearest leather bar to how to come out, navigate an open relationship, impress a new lover or mend a broken heart. Together with the listening volunteers who answer the phones, they imagine the outcome they dream of.
The Callers was supported through our QUEER FUTURES program.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Lindsey Dryden (she/her) is an Emmy-winning filmmaker from the UK and based in Austin, TX. She directed the feature documentary Lost And Sound (2012, SXSW) which was nominated Best Female-Directed Film at Sheffield DocFest. She produced Sundance Special Jury Award-winning Unrest (2017, PBS/Netflix) and Emmy-winning Trans In America (2019, them), and Executive Produced Ahead Of The Curve (2020, Starz/Netflix). She is a 2024 Concordia Fellow, a 2022 Sundance Documentary Producing Fellow, and is a member of AMPAS, BAFTA, and QueerDoc, and a proud co-founder of FWD-Doc (Filmmakers with Disabilities).
ABOUT THE PRODUCERS
Colleen Cassingham (she/her) is a Producer at Multitude Films focused on politically committed artful nonfiction. Most recently, she produced the IDA Awards-nominated shorts collection QUEER FUTURES (CPH:DOX 2023), Executive Produced by J Wortham. Her past credits include Co-Producer on It’s Only Life After All (Sundance 2023), and Associate Producer on Pray Away (Tribeca 2020), Through Our Eyes: Apart (Provincetown 2020), Call Center Blues (SXSW 2020), Always In Season (Sundance 2019), The Feeling Of Being Watched (Tribeca 2018), and Love The Sinner (Tribeca 2017) which were distributed by Netflix, Topic, HBOMax, POV, and Independent Lens. Colleen’s directorial debut short From Damascus To Chicago was broadcast on POV in 2017 and was an Editor’s Pick at The Atlantic. She is a 2023-2024 Sundance Producing Fellow, selected for her role producing Reid Davenport’s second feature doc Life After. She is also a 2023-2024 Impact Partners Producing Fellow, and was a VC Sony 2021 Mentor at The Video Consortium, a 2019 Points North Fellow, and a 2017–2018 UnionDocs Collaborative Studio fellow. Outside of Multitude Films, she is independently producing Casey Carter’s Sundance-supported debut feature, To Use A Mountain.
Samantha Steele (she/her) is a production manager and producer for Little by Little Films based between London, UK and Marseille, France. She has worked across documentaries and digital projects for Al Jazeera, CNBC and Facebook, and films for Channel 4. Her experience also includes development, and working across feature documentaries and short-films commissioned by the BFI.
The Script
SYNOPSIS
Blending personal interviews with dramatized genre recreations, The Script explores the troubled relationship between trans communities and medical providers in healthcare settings. With a playful approach toward experimentation, the film offers a vision of how physicians and trans patients can meet one another on equal footing.
The Script was supported through our QUEER FUTURES program.
ABOUT THE DIRECTORS
Brit Fryer (he/him) is an award-winning queer and trans filmmaker based in Brooklyn. His film, Caro Comes Out, premiered on HBOMax after winning the 2021 Knight Made in MIA Award at the Miami International Film Festival. His other films include Across, Beyond, and Over, I-57, and Trans·ience. He produced Crystal Kayiza’s Rest Stop (Toronto IFF 2022, Sundance 2023). Brit has been supported by Sundance Ignite, Creative Culture, Chicken and Egg, GLAAD’s Equity in Media and Entertainment Initiative, and HBO / Gotham’s Documentary Development Initiative.
Noah Schamus (they/them) is a filmmaker of documentary and narrative films. Their first feature Summer Solstice had its World Premiere at Provincetown Film Festival in June 2023. Their short films have been presented at film festivals including BFI Flare, Outfest, Inside Out, NewFest, Indie Memphis, Maryland Film Festival and New Orleans Film Festival. Across, Beyond, and Over, co-directed with Brit Fryer, was featured on NoBudge and is a Vimeo Staff Pick.
ABOUT THE PRODUCERS
Colleen Cassingham (she/her) is a Producer at Multitude Films focused on politically committed artful nonfiction. Most recently, she produced the IDA Awards-nominated shorts collection QUEER FUTURES (CPH:DOX 2023), Executive Produced by J Wortham. Her past credits include Co-Producer on It’s Only Life After All (Sundance 2023), and Associate Producer on Pray Away (Tribeca 2020), Through Our Eyes: Apart (Provincetown 2020), Call Center Blues (SXSW 2020), Always In Season (Sundance 2019), The Feeling Of Being Watched (Tribeca 2018), and Love The Sinner (Tribeca 2017) which were distributed by Netflix, Topic, HBOMax, POV, and Independent Lens. Colleen’s directorial debut short From Damascus To Chicago was broadcast on POV in 2017 and was an Editor’s Pick at The Atlantic. She is a 2023-2024 Sundance Producing Fellow, selected for her role producing Reid Davenport’s second feature doc Life After. She is also a 2023-2024 Impact Partners Producing Fellow, and was a VC Sony 2021 Mentor at The Video Consortium, a 2019 Points North Fellow, and a 2017–2018 UnionDocs Collaborative Studio fellow. Outside of Multitude Films, she is independently producing Casey Carter’s Sundance-supported debut feature, To Use A Mountain.
Jess Devaney (they/she) is an Emmy-winning producer and Founder & President of Multitude Films. Their latest films include How We Get Free (HBO); the Indigo Girls documentary It’s Only Life After All (Sundance 2023); Emmy-nominated Lowndes County And The Road To Black Power (Peacock); Emmy-nominated Netflix Original Pray Away; Oscar-shortlisted Call Center Blues (Topic Studios); and Apart, the Emmy-winning episode of the series Through Our Eyes (HBO Max). Jess created the Ford Foundation-supported QUEER FUTURES series and produced Sundance Award-winning and IDA-nominated Always In Season (Independent Lens) as well as The Feeling Of Being Watched (POV), dubbed “a real-world conspiracy thriller” by Variety. Additional credits include Critics’ Choice-nominated Speed Sisters and Milisuthando, among others. Her films have been programmed at top festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, BlackStar, and Telluride. Jess founded QueerDoc and was a Sundance Institute Documentary Edit and Story Lab fellow, Women at Sundance fellow, and Sundance Institute Creative Producing Lab advisor. They have been recognized with the Cinereach Producers Award, DOC NYC and Topic Studios’ inaugural 40 Under 40 Award, Doc10’s inaugural Vanguard Award, and the 2023 Sundance Institute Amazon Studios Nonfiction Producers Award.
How to Carry Water
SYNOPSIS
This punk rock fairytale doubles as a portrait of Shoog McDaniel — a fat, queer, and disabled photographer working in and around northern Florida’s vast network of freshwater springs, the state’s source of precious drinking water. For over a decade, Shoog’s photographs have transformed the way fat people view themselves and how a fat phobic society views fat bodies. Bringing Shoog’s photography to life, the film immerses audiences in a world of fat beauty and liberation, one in which marginalized bodies — including bodies of water — are sacred.
How to Carry Water was supported through our QUEER FUTURES program.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Sasha Wortzel (she/they) uses video, sculpture, installation, and sound to explore how this country’s past and present are inextricably linked through resonant spaces and their hauntings. Wortzel’s films have screened at the MOMA DocFortnight, True/False, BAMcinemaFest, Wexner Center for the Arts, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and Berlinale, among others. Wortzel’s film This Is An Address (2020) is distributed by Field of Vision. Happy Birthday Marsha! (2018; co-director Tourmaline) won special mention at Outfest and is distributed by Frameline.
ABOUT THE PRODUCERS
Colleen Cassingham (she/her) is a Producer at Multitude Films focused on politically committed artful nonfiction. Most recently, she produced the IDA Awards-nominated shorts collection QUEER FUTURES (CPH:DOX 2023), Executive Produced by J Wortham. Her past credits include Co-Producer on It’s Only Life After All (Sundance 2023), and Associate Producer on Pray Away (Tribeca 2020), Through Our Eyes: Apart (Provincetown 2020), Call Center Blues (SXSW 2020), Always In Season (Sundance 2019), The Feeling Of Being Watched (Tribeca 2018), and Love The Sinner (Tribeca 2017) which were distributed by Netflix, Topic, HBOMax, POV, and Independent Lens. Colleen’s directorial debut short From Damascus To Chicago was broadcast on POV in 2017 and was an Editor’s Pick at The Atlantic. She is a 2023-2024 Sundance Producing Fellow, selected for her role producing Reid Davenport’s second feature doc Life After. She is also a 2023-2024 Impact Partners Producing Fellow, and was a VC Sony 2021 Mentor at The Video Consortium, a 2019 Points North Fellow, and a 2017–2018 UnionDocs Collaborative Studio fellow. Outside of Multitude Films, she is independently producing Casey Carter’s Sundance-supported debut feature, To Use A Mountain.
Jess Devaney (they/she) is an Emmy-winning producer and Founder & President of Multitude Films. Their latest films include How We Get Free (HBO); the Indigo Girls documentary It’s Only Life After All (Sundance 2023); Emmy-nominated Lowndes County And The Road To Black Power (Peacock); Emmy-nominated Netflix Original Pray Away; Oscar-shortlisted Call Center Blues (Topic Studios); and Apart, the Emmy-winning episode of the series Through Our Eyes (HBO Max). Jess created the Ford Foundation-supported QUEER FUTURES series and produced Sundance Award-winning and IDA-nominated Always In Season (Independent Lens) as well as The Feeling Of Being Watched (POV), dubbed “a real-world conspiracy thriller” by Variety. Additional credits include Critics’ Choice-nominated Speed Sisters and Milisuthando, among others. Her films have been programmed at top festivals including Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, BlackStar, and Telluride. Jess founded QueerDoc and was a Sundance Institute Documentary Edit and Story Lab fellow, Women at Sundance fellow, and Sundance Institute Creative Producing Lab advisor. They have been recognized with the Cinereach Producers Award, DOC NYC and Topic Studios’ inaugural 40 Under 40 Award, Doc10’s inaugural Vanguard Award, and the 2023 Sundance Institute Amazon Studios Nonfiction Producers Award.