Honoring World Refugee Day at Chicken & Egg Pictures
Today is World Refugee Day, a day which calls for the global public to stand with refugees and stand for their safety. In 2017, the number of displaced people worldwide reached a record high of 68.5 million, as reported by The UN Refugee Agency’s annual Global Trends study. At Chicken & Egg Pictures, we are proud to support a number of filmmakers that use intimate storytelling to portray the individuals behind those numbers. Their stories have been and will continue to be an important part of Chicken & Egg Pictures.
Nest-supported film It Will Be Chaos, will be broadcast tonight on HBO in conjunction with World Refugee Day. Directed by Lorena Luciano and Filippo Piscopo, the film is an epic, yet intimate portrait of lives in transit and the human consequences of the refugee crisis spanning the Mediterranean. The story unfolds between Italy and the Balkan corridor, focusing on two unforgettable refugee stories of human strength and resilience in search of a better and safer future. It Will Be Chaos premiered on HBO on June 18, will have an encore presentation tonight at 5:55 pm ET, and is now available for streaming on HBO.
More powerful films to watch in honor of World Refugee Day include:
Dalya’s Other Country, directed by Julia Metzger, a story about Dalya and her mother Rudanya who arrived in Los Angeles from Aleppo as war took over (available on DVD);
Eventual Salvation, directed by Dee Rees about her 80-year-old American-born grandmother who barely escaped Liberia with her life as she returns to rebuild her community after their devastating civil war (on Netflix);
Children in No Man’s Land, directed by Anayansi Prado, which chronicles the journey of Maria de Jesus and her cousin Rene (ages 13 and 12) as they attempt to cross the US/Mexico border alone to reunite with their mothers in the Midwest (on Kanopy);
And This is Home: A Refugee Story*, directed by Chicken & Egg Board of Directors member Alexandra Shiva, an intimate portrait of four Syrian families arriving in Baltimore (premieres Friday, June 22 on Epix).
And other Nest-supported projects to watch out for in the near future are:
MUHI – Generally Temporary (2015 Accelerator Lab grantee), directed by Rina Castelnuovo and Tamir Elterman—on the festival circuit and just finished a theatrical tour in Germany; Unaccompanied Children (2017 Accelerator Lab grantee), directed by Alexandra Codina—currently in production; The Guardian of Memory (2017 Accelerator Lab Grantee), directed by Marcela Arteaga—currently in production; Number 387 (2018 Accelerator Lab Grantee), directed by Madeleine Leroyer—currently in production; Breathe (2018 Impact & Innovation Initiative Grantee), directed by Milica Zec and Winslow Porter—currently in development.
*Chicken & Egg Pictures did not support This is Home but director Alexandra Shiva is a member of the Chicken & Egg Pictures Board of Directors.
Post by 2018 Communications Intern Morgan Lee Hulquist.
Chicken & Egg Pictures Films and Filmmakers in 2017 POV Lineup!
Check out Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported films and filmmakers featured in the 2017 POV lineup:
Dalya’s Other Country
Directed by Julia Meltzer
Dalya’s Other Country tells the nuanced story of members of a family displaced by the Syrian conflict who are remaking themselves after the parents separate. Effervescent teen Dalya goes to Catholic high school and her mother, Rudayna, enrolls in college as they both walk the line between their Muslim values and the new world in which they find themselves. A co-presentation with the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM).
PBS Premiere: June 26, 2017
Motherland
Directed by Ramona Diaz
Motherland is an absorbingly intimate, vérité look at the busiest maternity hospital on the planet, in one of the world’s most populous countries: the Philippines. Women share their stories with other mothers, their families, doctors and social workers. In a hospital that is literally bursting with life, we witness the miracle and wonder of the human condition. Winner, 2017 Sundance World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Commanding Vision.
PBS Premiere: October 16, 2017
Cameraperson
Directed by Kirsten Johnson (2017 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award recipient)
A boxing match in Brooklyn; life in postwar Bosnia; the daily routine of a Nigerian midwife; an intimate family moment at home: these scenes and others are woven into a tapestry of footage captured over the twenty-five-year career of cinematographer Kirsten Johnson. A work that combines documentary, autobiography, and ethical inquiry, Cameraperson is a thoughtful examination of what it means to train a camera on the world. Official Selection, 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
PBS Premiere: October 23, 2017
Check your local listings for the schedule in your time zone.