Seven supported films at Athena Film Fest!
We were thrilled to see seven Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported films and five supported filmmakers on the lineup at this years’ 14th annual Athena Film Festival. The festival took place between February 29 and March 3, at Barnard College. Congratulations all!
Breaking the News
dirs. Chelsea Hernandez, Heather Courtney, Princess A. Hairston
prod. Diane Quon
Breaking the News is a 2022 Critical Issues Fund Grantee.
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.
Is There Anybody Out There?
dir. Ella Glendining
prod. Janine Marmot
2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Is There Anybody Out There? participated in multiple sections, including a panel entitled Keeping the Industry Door Open: Beyond the “Trend” of Disability.
MnM
dir. Twiggy Pucci Garçon
prods. Colleen Cassingham, Jess Devaney
MnM was supported in partnership with Multitude Films as a part of the QUEER FUTURES (2022) series, and streamed in the “Shorts: A Legacy of Change” section.
Q
dir. & prod. Jude Chehab
Q is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
The Script
dir. Brit Fryer, Noah Schamus
prod. Colleen Cassingham, Jess Devaney
The Script was supported in partnership with Multitude Films as part of the QUEER FUTURES (2022) series.
Twice Colonized
dir. Lin Alluna
prods. Emile Hertling Péronard, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Stacey Aglok, Bob Moore
Twice Colonized is a Project: Hatched 2023 grantee.
From the AlumNest
- Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
dirs. & prods. Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster - Periodical
dir. Lina Lyte Plioplyte
prods. Pegah Farahmand, Amanda Spain - The Philadelphia Eleven
dir. & prod. Margo Guernsey
prod. Nikki Bramley - Uncharted
dir. & prod. Beth Aala
prods. Everywoman Studios, Abby Greensfelder - Your Fat Friend
dir. & prod. Jeanie Finlay
prod. Suzanne Alizart
Post written by Communications Assistant Tess Caldwell
Two World Premieres at Tribeca Film Festival
We are proud to see three Nest-supported films and four AlumNest films on the lineup for Tribeca Film Festival this year! The festival will take place from Wednesday, June 7 to Sunday, June 18, 2023 in our home base, New York City.
We are thrilled that for the first time, more than half of feature films in competition (68%) are directed by women, while 41% of all feature films are directed by women.
We are also egg-static that two of the three Nest-supported films on the lineup, Breaking the News and Q are having their world premieres! We hope to see you there.
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 New York premiere in the Spotlight+ section.
Get your tickets here.
Breaking the News
dirs. Chelsea Hernandez, Heather Courtney, Princess A. Hairston
prod. Diane Quon
Breaking the News is a 2022 Critical Issues Fund Grantee having its World Premiere in the Documentary Competition.
Get your tickets here.
Q
dir. & prod. Jude Chehab
Q is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee having its World Premiere in the Documentary Competition.
Get your tickets here.
From the AlumNest
- Kim’s Video – New York Premiere
dirs. & prods. David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
prods. Deborah Smith, Dale Smith, Francesco Galavotti, Rebecca Tabasky - Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food – World Premiere
dir. & prod. Stephanie Soechtig
prods. Ross Girard, Ross Dinerstein, Kristin Lazure, Rebecca Evans - Uncharted – World Premiere
dir. & prod. Beth Aala
prods. Everywoman Studios, Abby Greensfelder - Your Fat Friend – World Premiere
dir. & prod. Jeanie Finlay
prod. Suzanne Alizart
Written by Spring Intern Tess Caldwell
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.
The Nest at the Margaret Mead Film Festival
The American Museum of Natural History’s Margaret Mead Film Festival will run from Thursday, October 17 to Sunday, October 20 in New York City. The festival, which is inspired by anthropologist Margaret Mead, celebrates documentary media that increases our understanding of the complexity and diversity of peoples’ cultures around the world, and you can catch three Nest-supported films there:
Freedom Fields, directed by Naziha Arebi
New York Premiere | Filmmaker in Attendance
Thursday, October 17 at 7:00 PM
Encouraged by the utopian hopes of the Arab Spring, the members of a women’s soccer club in Libya heroically fight for their right to play. Their community refuses to support the team, forcing them to disband. Some women move on, becoming mothers and professionals, while others hold on to their soccer dreams.
Nest-supported Films at AFI Docs
AFI Docs, the all-documentary film festival from American Film Institute, is just around the corner, taking place Wednesday, June 19 to Sunday, June 23 in Washington, DC and Silver Spring, Maryland.
68% of their slate of films are produced by women and almost half have a woman director or co-director. The lineup features 72 documentaries from 17 countries, including six world premieres—one of them being Nest-supported film Made In Boise.
Made In Boise, directed by Beth Aala (2018 Discretionary Grant) unveils a surprising—and booming—industry which has emerged in Boise, Idaho. In this idyllic, all-American city, nurses, nail technicians, and stay-at-home mothers are having babies for strangers—in record numbers. Boise’s own St. Luke’s Medical Center founded and runs the first and best surrogacy program of its kind, in all the US. But everything is not as it appears, surrogacy is not without its health risks, and the practice is not without its emotional complications. Character-driven and stylized in its approach, Made In Boise introduces audiences to the unique world of surrogacy in the most unexpected of places.
The film will have its world premiere with director, producer Beth Aala and producer Beth Levison in attendance, as part of the Spectrum selection of AFI Docs for “filmmakers pushing the boundaries of storytelling and exploring more unconventional subject matter.”
Three other Nest-supported films are also on the list:
American Factory, directed by Julia Reichert (2016 Chicken & Egg Award recipient) and Steve Bognar will screen as the AFI Docs Centerpiece screening, with a conversation with co-directors Steven and Julia and NBC Meet The Press’s Chuck Todd to follow.
Always In Season (2018 (Egg)celerator Lab), directed by Jacqueline Olive will screen as part of the Truth and Justice selection, with director Jacqueline Olive in attendance for both screenings.
One Child Nation (2017 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee), directed by Nanfu Wang (also a 2018 Chicken & Egg Award recipient) and Jialing Zhang will also screen as part of the Truth and Justice selection, with co-director Jialing Zhang in attendance.
And don’t miss these films by former Nest grantees: Picture Character, directed by Ian Cheney and Martha Shane (co-director of Nest-supported After Tiller) and The Great Hack, directed by Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim (Nest-supported The Square).
Nest-Supported Projects at IFP Week
The Independent Filmmaker Project announced its 40th annual IFP Project Forum slate highlighting films, series, digital, and audio projects from around the world. We are honored to announce that four Chicken & Egg-supported projects from our 2018 programs year were included.
An Act of Worship, directed by Nausheen Dadabhoy (2018 Diversity Fellows Initiative)
An Act of Worship follows young Muslim women activists at a time when hate crimes against Muslims have reached their highest level since 9/11. The travel ban has sent the message that Muslims are not welcome in the US. Now, a new generation has been galvanized into action to reclaim their space in the American landscape.
The In Between, directed by Robie Flores (2018 Diversity Fellows Initiative)
At the intersection of the northern Mexico desert and the plains of southwest Texas exists a symbiotic community. Here, people’s lives are spread across two countries, connected by a bridge that everyone must travel. For some, crossing to the other side means getting to work or school. For others, life straddling the border is the only way to keep their family together. Through a collection of interweaving vignettes, The In Between is a poetic ode to a greater reality of the border than the one portrayed on the news, offering a nuanced and intimate portrait of a place and its people at the heart of Mexican-American identity.
Made in Boise, directed by Beth Aala (2018 Discretionary Grant)
A surprising—and booming—industry has emerged in Boise, Idaho. In this idyllic, all-American city, nurses, nail technicians, and stay-at-home mothers are having babies for strangers—in record numbers. Boise’s own St. Luke’s Medical Center founded and runs the first and best surrogacy program of its kind, in all the US. But everything is not as it appears, surrogacy is not without its health risks, and the practice is not without its emotional complications. Character-driven and stylized in its approach, Made In Boise introduces audiences to the unique world of surrogacy in the most unexpected of places.
People’s Hospital, directed by Siyi Chen (2018 Accelerator Lab)
As the Chinese society criticizes dysfunctional hospitals, a doctor’s daughter revisits the small-town hospital where she grew up — this time with a camera, in the middle of a chaotic ER.
And a special congratulations to filmmakers who were previously supported by Chicken & Egg Pictures.
Women in Blue, directed by Deirdre Fishel (Care, 2014) and executive produced by Gini Reticker (The Trials of Spring, 2014)
A female police chief and a determined band of women officers work to redefine “protect and serve,” when a tragic shooting upends their progress.*
Narrowsburg, directed by Martha Shane (After Tiller co-director)
Narrowsburg tells the story of a French producer and a mafioso-turned-actor who attempted to turn a small Catskills town into the “Sundance of the East.”*
*Synopses from the IFP website.
Filmmakers will attend the IFP Project Forum during the 40th anniversary of IFP Week happening September 15 – 20 in Brooklyn.
Post by 2018 Communications Intern Morgan Lee Hulquist.