The Nest at Tribeca Film Festival
We are proud to see three Nest-supported films and five AlumNest films at The Tribeca Film Festival. The festival will run in-person and online from Wednesday, June 8 to Sunday, June 19, in New York City.
If you happen to be around the NYC area don’t miss these screenings:
World Premiere
An Act of Worship
dir. Nausheen Dadabhoy
prods. Sofian Khan, Kristi Jacobson, Heba Elorbany
An Act of Worship is an exploration of the last 30 years of Muslim life in America, weaving together observational footage of three activist women who came of age after 9/11 with news archival footage, community-sourced home videos, and audio interviews along with evocative recollections of individuals impacted by Islamophobic policy. From the perspective of Muslim Americans, he film revisits pivotal moments in US history that have shaped their lives, such as the first Gulf War, 9/11, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and Trump’s travel ban, creating a prismatic counter-narrative and opening a window into their world through collective memory. This is what it means to be a Muslim in America.
An Act of Worship participated in the 2018 Diversity Fellows Initiative (past program) and is a 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Get your tickets with this link.
World Premiere
Hidden Letters
dir. & prod. Violet Feng
prods. Mette Cheng Munthe-Kaas, Jean Tsien, Su Kim
Our story began hundreds of years ago in a secluded village in China where women’s lives were completely controlled by men. They created a secret written language called Nushu that men didn’t understand. They wrote poems and songs to give each other strength and dignity, and vowed to be lifetime sisters in this prose. At the brink of extinction, Nushu is now being commodified in the context of capitalism. Hidden Letters is a film about two young women trying to reclaim the power of Nushu, despite the new threats in a world of revived patriarchy.
Hidden Letters a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Get your tickets with this link.
And see Violet Feng speak at TRIBECA TALKS: Speaking in Codes: Storytelling that Codifies Gender Equitable Systems in China and the U.S.
Women filmmakers and artists around the world face a parallel challenge in navigating industries that are codified by male decision-makers and storytelling customs. This panel will explore how women and marginalized genders work to support one another to re-codify a more equitable system through investment in storytelling.* Panelists include director Violet Feng, Gloria Steinem, and Robin Morgan. Panel hosted by InMaat, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and Independent Lens.
Get your tickets with this link.
BEBA
dir. & prod. Rebeca Huntt
prod. Sofia Geld
A stunning self-portrait, tough, raw, stubborn, and powerful. Beba stares down the curses of her ancestry, probing the psychic wounds she has inherited, while simultaneously embracing the vastness of her multitudes, occupying many spaces, and demanding to be seen in all of them.
BEBA is a Project: Hatched 2022 grantee.
Get your tickets with this link.
From the AlumNest
- Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices From a Plantation Prison
prod. Catherine Gund
dir. Cinque Northern - Body Parts (World Premiere)
dir. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
prod. Helen Hood Scheer - Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (World Premiere)
dirs. Geeta Gandbhir, Sam Pollard
prods. Jessica Devaney, Anya Rous, Dema Paxton Fofang - To The End
dir. Rachel Lears
prod. Sabrina Schmidt Gordon - Unfinished Business (World Premiere)
dir. & prod. Alison Klayman
prods. Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Christopher Clements, Nicholas Ma, Mishka Brown
- The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (World Premiere)
dirs. Yoruba Richen, Johanna Hamilton
prod. Christalyn Hampton
Check out the full line-up with this link.
*Text courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival
AlumNest Filmmakers are DOC NYC PRO’s
The line-up for the 2019 DOC NYC PRO conference was recently released, and the eight day industry conference will feature documentary panels, master classes, and an expanded initiative to support works-in-progress called “Only in New York”, co-presented by SHOWTIME® Documentary Films. This year features a record number of AlumNest filmmakers and Nest industry friends sharing their insight and expertise at the conference from Thursday, November 7 to Friday, November 15.
Check out the Nest-full DOC NYC PRO line-up below:
DOC NYC PRO: First-Time Filmmaker
Thursday, Nov. 7 from 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM | Cinepolis Chelsea
Panels such as “Developing Your Story” and “Funding an Independent Documentary” feature Malika Zouhali-Worrall (2019 Chicken & Egg Award), Chelsi Bullard (2017 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee for Kids Can Spit), and former Chicken & Egg Pictures Program Intern Netsanet Negussie (now Creative Development & Production Associate at Catalyst Films, helmed by 2016 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Kristi Jacobson).
DOC NYC PRO: The Short List: Features
Friday, Nov. 8 from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM | IFC Center
2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Nanfu Wang will discuss politics in One Child Nation, with directors of The Edge of Democracy, The Kingmaker and For Sama. Plus AlumNest filmmakers Steve Bognar (co-director of American Factory) and Rachel Lears (Knock Down the House) discuss the art of observation in documentary.
DOC NYC PRO: Editing
Saturday, Nov. 9 from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM | Cinepolis Chelsea
Hear from AlumNest filmmaker (The Hand That Feeds) and Knock Down the House director Rachel Lears and the film’s editor Robin Blotnick on the “Anatomy of a Scene: Knock Down the House” panel.
DOC NYC PRO: Cinematography
Saturday, Nov. 9 from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM | Cinepolis Chelsea
AlumNest filmmaker Alison Klayman, whose subjects span Ai Weiwei and Steve Bannon will discuss the art of observation in intimate settings on the “Building Rapport” panel. An Act of Worship director Nausheen Dadabhoy (2019 (Egg)celerator Lab) will share her insights on building a career on cinematography, and Nanfu Wang will speak on her experience as a director and cinematographer in the “In-depth with Nanfu Wang” panel.
DOC NYC PRO: Distribution and Audience Impact
Sunday, Nov. 10 from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM | Cinepolis Chelsea
Join Nancy Schwartzman (Roll Red Roll) at “Impact Case Studies: Eating Animals and Roll Red Roll.”
DOC NYC PRO: Pitch Perfect
Monday, Nov. 11 9:00 AM | Cinepolis Chelsea
Eight filmmakers with works-in-progress selected from DOC NYC’s Only in New York, including Silent Beauty director Jasmin Lopez (2019 Egg)celerator Lab), will pitch to industry professionals from A&E IndieFilms, ESPN Films, Impact Partners, NEON, and TIME Studios. The session will be moderated by our Co-Founder and Senior Creative Consultant Judith Helfand and will include our Program Director Lucila Moctezuma.
DOC NYC PRO: Producing
Tuesday, Nov. 12 9:00 AM | Cinepolis Chelsea
Beth Levison, producer of Made in Boise, will participate in the “Creative Producing Panel”, plus Julie Goldman (producer on One Child Nation) and 2016 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Kristi Jacobson discuss career-building.
DOC NYC PRO: Funding a Documentary
Wednesday, Nov. 13 9:00 AM | Cinepolis Chelsea
Chicken & Egg Pictures Executive Director Jenni Wolfson is on the Funder + Filmmaker Relationships panel from 10:00 – 11:10 AM.
DOC NYC PRO: Legal for Docs
Thursday, Nov. 14 9:00 AM | Cinepolis Chelsea
Nicole Page of Reavis Page Jump LLP, our legal team at Chicken & Egg Pictures, will educate audience members on topics like defamation and privacy claims, relating to true crime documentary films.