Half a Dozen Nest-Supported Films at Camden International Film Festival!

We are thrilled to announce that six Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported films and two AlumNest filmmakers are included in this year’s lineup for Camden International Film Festival. The festival opens today and runs through Sunday, September 17, 2023. Part of our Program team will be in attendance, we hope to see you there!

Joonam

dir. Sierra Urich

prod. Keith Wilson

A mother and daughter stand under opposite ends of a grape arbor together, harvesting grape leaves. A grandmother is seen sitting in the background with a walker in front of her. Each woman appears to be separately lost in thought.
Still from Joonam

Joonam is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.

Get your tickets here.

graphic of a film reel

Machtat

dir. Sonia Ben Slama

prods. Tania El Khoury, Cécile Lestrade, Elise Hug

Still from Machtat

Machtat is a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.

Get your tickets here.

graphic of a film reel

Milisuthando

dir. Milisuthando Bongela

prod. Marion Isaacs

Still from Milisuthando. Aerial shot of a person braiding their hair.
Still from Milisuthando

Milisuthando is a 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.

Get your tickets here.

graphic of a film reel

Non-Aligned: Scenes From the Labudović Reels

dir. & prod. Mila Turajlić

prod. Carine Chichkowsky

Still from Non-Aligned: Scenes From the Labudović Reels

Non-Aligned: Scenes From the Labudović Reels was supported through Mila Turajlić’s 2020 Chicken & Egg Award.

Get your tickets here.

graphic of a film reel

Q

dir. & prod. Jude Chehab

Still from Q
Still from Q

Q is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee.

Get your tickets here.

graphic of a film reel

Suddenly TV

dir. & prod. Roopa Gogineni

prods. Reem Haddad, Trevor Snapp, Fiona Lawson-Baker

A young Sudanese protester points a cardboard camera towards an interview unfolding on a bridge in the middle of a large sit-in demonstration.
Still from Suddenly TV

Suddenly TV is a participant of Project: Hatched 2023.

Get your tickets here.


Chicken & Egg Pictures | POV Shorts Co-Production Fund

POV Shorts and Chicken & Egg Pictures announced today via DEADLINE the five recipients of the inaugural Chicken & Egg Pictures | POV Shorts Co-Production Fund, which granted $120,000 for development and production funding to three short documentary projects helmed by women and non-binary filmmakers. The initiative marks the two organizations’ first joint content development project, and all films are co-productions of POV Shorts and Chicken & Egg Pictures. In partnership with Points North, the institute will welcome the grantees as an official fellowship cohort at the 2023 Camden International Film Festival (CIFF2023). 

Chicken & Egg Pictures and POV Shorts each contributed $60,000 to finance the fund which awarded three non-recoupable $40,000 grants to new nonfiction short-form works in progress or already in production. In addition to financial support, each project will receive creative, strategic, and editorial advice from the Chicken & Egg Pictures and POV Shorts teams. The completed shorts will be considered for launch on PBS via national linear broadcast and PBS Digital, which reaches an audience of 44.7 million people monthly.


Chicken & Egg Pictures | POV Shorts Co-Production Fund Grantees

En Travesti

dirs. Brit Fryer, Lydia Cornett

En Travesti explores the entangled relationship between voice, gender, and opera through those who contend with these connections daily––a trans opera singer switching voice types, a musicologist delving into the legacy of Castrati singers, a cisgender vocalist challenging conventional voice categorizations, and an otolaryngologist specializing in vocal procedures for performers. From the history of trouser roles to breakthroughs in vocal feminization surgery, the film weaves together a tapestry of present-day stories while recognizing a long history of gender nonconformity in an art form bound by the binary. 

graphic of a film reel

Hold Me Close

dirs. Aurora Brachman, LaTajh Weaver

As winter gives way to spring, and spring to summer, two Queer Black women in love experience rituals of care, joy, and unavoidable pain, and a season of life together.  

graphic of a film reel

The Roost (working title)

dir. Imani Dennison 

The Roost (working title) is an experimental documentary exploring the rich history of a roller skate community in Louisville, KY. Through an intimate video lens, we delve into key community members’ personal recollections of the sport and its role in navigating life amidst the challenges of a gun-violence-affected city.

En Travesti explores the entangled relationship between voice, gender, and opera through those who contend with these connections daily––a trans opera singer switching voice types, a musicologist delving into the legacy of Castrati singers, a cisgender vocalist challenging conventional voice categorizations, and an otolaryngologist specializing in vocal procedures for performers. From the history of trouser roles to breakthroughs in vocal feminization surgery, the film weaves together a tapestry of present-day stories while recognizing a long history of gender nonconformity in an art form bound by the binary. 


From the AlumNest


Meet Our Program Team at Camden International Film Festival

Representing Chicken & Egg Pictures, our Program Director Kiyoko McCrae, Senior Program Manager Elaisha Stokes and Industry & Artist Development Manager Tobi Phang-Lyn will be in attendance at this year’s Camden International Film Festival. They will be bringing the Chicken & Egg Pictures | POV Shorts Co-Production Fund grantees to the festival, supporting our alumni and hosting a gathering, meeting with new filmmakers during 1-on-1 meetings, and watching as many docs as they can!


Post written by Communications Intern Tess Caldwell

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

Still from film Ascension
Still from 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

Penny Lane 2017 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award

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

Chicken & Egg Pictures-Supported Filmmakers Win at CIFF

The 2018 Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) hosted its annual awards ceremony on Sunday, September 16, and we are excited to announce that two Nest-supported filmmakers took home the top prizes at the awards!

On Her Shoulders Alexandria Bombach
On Her Shoulders, directed by Alexandria Bombach

The 2018 Harrell Award for Best Documentary Feature went to On Her Shoulders, directed by Alexandria Bombach (2018 SXSW LUNA / Chicken & Egg Pictures Award recipient) *

This empowering documentary presents 23-year-old Nadia Murad, a Yazidi genocide survivor determined to tell the world her story. Determined advocate and reluctant celebrity, she becomes the voice of her people and their best hope to spur the world to action.

The Feeling of Being Watched Assia Boundaoui 2016 Accelerator Lab
The Feeling of Being Watched, directed by Assia Boundaoui

The Feeling of Being Watched, directed by Assia Boundaoui (participant of the 2016 Accelerator Lab and recipient of The Whickers Chicken & Egg Pictures Award) received the Audience Award.

In the Arab-American neighborhood outside of Chicago where director Assia Boundaoui grew up, most of her neighbors think they have been under surveillance for over a decade. With unprecedented access, The Feeling of Being Watched weaves the personal and the political as it follows the filmmaker’s examination of why her community fell under blanket government surveillance.

Congratulations Alexandria and Assia!

For more about the other Nest-supported projects at the 2018 Camden International Film Festival, see our previous blog post.

* Chicken & Egg Pictures did not support On Her Shoulders but supported director Julia Alexandria Bombach through the SXSW LUNA / Chicken & Egg Pictures Award.