Three Chicken & Egg Pictures Supported Films at FIFDH!
Chicken & Egg Pictures was proud to see three supported films and two alumni films at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights Geneva (FIFDH) held from March 11 and March 15. The annual festival runs parallel to the main session of the UN Human Rights Council, utilizing cinema’s power to highlight struggles and denounce violations wherever they occur.
Members of our community also participated in the forum and pro sessions. 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee Ella Glendining participated in the panel For an inclusive and antivalidist sexuality, and our Senior Program Manager Elaisha Stokes in the keynote Measuring and Reporting Impact.
Our Land, Our Freedom
dirs. & prods. Meena Nanji, Zippy Kimundu
prod. Eliane Ferreira
Our Land, Our Freedom is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
The Mind Game
dirs. Eefje Blankevoort , Els van Driel, Sajid “SK” Khan Nasiri
prod. Laura Verduijn
The Mind Game is a Project: Hatched 2023 grantee.
Total Trust
dir. Jialing Zhang
prod. Knut Jäger
Total Trust was supported through Jialing Zhang’s 2021 Chicken & Egg Award.
From the AlumNest
- Another Body
dirs. & prods. Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn
prod. Elizabeth Woodward - We Will Not Fade Away
dir. Alisa Kovalenko
prods. Valery Kalmykov, Oleksiy Kobelev
15 Chicken & Egg Supported films at IDFA!
We are extremely proud to see 15 Chicken & Egg Supported films and 17 films from our community of alumni featured in the lineup and Forum sections of this year’s International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). The festival will take place between Wednesday, November 8 to Sunday, November 19 in Amsterdam. If you are attending the festival, feel free to say hi to our team who will participate in person to support our filmmakers. See below for more details.
- 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab Participant Against The Tide | Dutch Premiere | Best of Fests | dir. & prod. Sarvnik Kaur | prod. Koval Bhatia
- 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab Finalist Alis | Online Program | dirs. & prods. Clare Weiskopf, Nicolas van Hemelryck
- Project: Hatched 2023 Participant Bad Press | Dutch Premiere | Best of Fests | dir. & prod. Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler | prods. Conrad Beilharz, Garrett Baker, Tyler Graim
- Nest-supported film Blue ID | School Program | dirs. & prods. Burcu Melekoglu, Vuslat Karan
- 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee Machtat | Dutch Premiere | Best of Fests | dir. Sonia Ben Slama | prods. Tania el Khoury, Elise Hug, Cécile Lestrade
- 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee Milisuthando | Dutch Premiere | Best of Fests | dir. & prod. Milisuthando Bongela | prod. Marion Isaacs
- Our Land, Our Freedom | World Premiere | dirs. & prods. Meena Nanji, Zippy Kumundu |
prod. Eliane Ferreira
- 2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Margreth Olin’s Songs of Earth | Dutch Premiere | Signed | dir. & prod. Margreth Olin | prod. Lena Faye-Lund Sandvik
- 2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Tatiana Huezo’s The Echo | Dutch Premiere | Signed | dir. & prod. Tatiana Huezo Sánchez | prods. Dalia Rocío Reyes Campos, Viviana Zuñiga
- 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Maite Alberdi’s The Eternal Memory | Dutch Premiere | Signed | dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi | prods. Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue
- 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee The Tuba Thieves | Dutch Premiere | Best of Fests | dir. & prod. Alison O’Daniel | prods. Su Kim, Maya E. Rudolph
IDFA Forum
At the IDFA Forum, innovators, including filmmakers, creators, producers, and industry professionals, unite to present their pioneering creative feature documentaries and new media projects. Over its 30-year history, this event has evolved into a global hub for discussing co-production, co-financing, and distribution strategies. The IDFA Forum offers backing to film and XR production teams at various production stages across four presentation categories. We take pride in having Chicken & Egg Pictures Supported films featured in three out of these four categories.
- 2023 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Jeanie Finlay’s All Rivers Spill Their Secrets (to the Sea) | Pitch Project | In Production | dir. & prod. Jeanie Finlay | prod. Charlie Phillips
- 2022 Critical Issue Fund Grantee Displaced (working title) | Rough Cut Project | In Production | dir. Olha Zhurba | prods. Darya Bassel, Anne Köhncke, Kerstin Übelacker
- 2022 Critical Issue Fund Grantee Red Zone | Producers Connection Project | Development | dir. Darya Bassel | prod. Iryna Tsilyk
- 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab Finalist There Was, There Was Not | Rough Cut Project | In Post-Production | dir. & prod. Emily Mkrtichian | prod. Brock Williams
From the AlumNest
In the program:
- (this conversation is) Off the Record | World Premiere
dirs. Nirit Peled, Anne Maike Mertens
prod. Nienke Huitenga, Titus Nouwens
- Another Body | Dutch Premiere
dirs. & prods. Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn
prod. Elizabeth Woodward
- The Burden | World Premiere
dir. Elvis Ngaibino Sabin
prod. Quentin Laurent, Makongo Films
- Facing Darkness | Dutch Premiere
dir. Jean-Gabriel Périot
prod. Cécile Lestrade
- Four Holes | World Premiere
dir. & prod. Daniela Muñoz Barroso
prod. Boris Prieto
- Girl Away from Home | World Premiere
dirs. Alisa Kovalenko, Simon Lereng Wilmont
prod. Maria Westergren, Knut Skoglund, Karl Emil Rikardsen
- We Will Not Fade Away | Dutch Premiere
dir. Alisa Kovalenko
prods. Valery Kalmykov, Yana Kalmykova, Oleksiy Kobelev
- Last Train Home
dir. Lixin Fan
prod. Mila Aung-Thwin, Daniel Cross
- Nieuw
dir. Eefje Blankevoort
prod. Iris Lammertsma
- Our Land, Our Freedom | World Premiere
dirs. & prods. Meena Nanji, Zippy Kumundu
prod. Eliane Ferreira
- małni – towards the ocean, towards the shore
dir & prod Sky Hopinka (2018 Art of Nonfiction fellow)
- Zinder
dir. Aicha Mackyprod. Clara Vuillermoz, Ousmane Samassekou, Erik Winker
In the forum:
- Coexistence My Ass | Rough Cut Project
dir. & prod. Amber Fares
prod. Rachel Leah Jones
- The Long Cuban Night | Pitch Project
dir. Sergio Fernández Borrás
prods. Clare Weiskopf, Nicolas van Hemelryck, Sergio Fernández Borrás
- Untitled Mary Kathryn Nagle Project | Producers Connection Project
dir. Sky Hopinka (2018 Art of Nonfiction fellow)
prods. Karin Chien, Maya E. Rudolph
- Shadows of the Forest | Pitch Project
dirs. Akash Basumatari, Shrutiman Deori
prod. Nishtha Jain
- To Use a Mountain | Rough Cut Project
dir. Casey Carter
prod. Colleen Cassingham, Brett Story
- Queens Ballroom | Producers Connection Project
dir. Siyi Chen, Hansen Lin
prod. Siyi Chen, Violet Feng
Meet our Team at IDFA
Our Program Director Kiyoko McCrae and Senior Program Manager Elaisha Stokes will be in attendance at the festival. They will be speaking at the IDFA academy (a training program for 110 selected emerging filmmakers coming to IDFA), taking 1:1 meetings and giving presentations on our programs and funding opportunities at the Industry Hub. They will also be hosting an IDFA industry lunch as an opportunity for us to celebrate our 2023 Chicken & Egg Award recipients.
Announcing our Project: Hatched 2023 Grantees!
Chicken & Egg Pictures announced today, via Variety, the newest grantees of Project: Hatched, a program designed to support directors as they develop and launch strategic impact campaigns. Ten films will receive $30,000 each toward their completion funding and impact campaigns. This was the first year that the grant’s criteria were expanded to include international projects and an increase in the number of projects supported, raising total funds disbursed from $240,000 in 2022 to $300,000 in 2023.
Project: Hatched 2023 films showcase the work of courageous filmmakers who have uncovered powerful stories, through artful visual storytelling, and who have a clearly articulated impact plan to reach broad audiences. Chicken & Egg Pictures believes all nonfiction films, from the overtly political to the abstract or personal, hold the power to impact their viewers, their communities and beyond, and to continue conversations around important and timely topics.
“We are seeking filmmakers with a strategic vision for the impact they wish to achieve. However, we also value a willingness to embrace diverse interpretations of what constitutes impact and engagement for each individual filmmaker, and how this work can evolve throughout the life of a film,” said Associate Director of Program Sabine Fayoux Cantillo. “All the films supported in this year’s cohort have the potential to create meaningful and specific impact on the lives of the people most affected by the issues being portrayed. Each of them has thought deeply about developing their goals and strategies in collaboration with their film’s core audiences and participants, informed by mutually beneficial opportunities. We are proud to contribute to the larger ecosystem that enables filmmakers to carry this important work forward.”
Please click the film titles for more information on each project, and give these passionate and committed directors a warm welcome to the Nest!
Project: Hatched 2023 grantees
Bad Press (US)
co-dirs. Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler
prods. Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler
When the Muscogee Nation censors its free press, a rogue reporter races to expose her government’s corruption in a historic battle with ramifications for all of Indian Country.
Sundance U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Freedom of Expression
Big Fight in Little Chinatown (CANADA)
dir. Karen Cho
prods. Bob Moore, Katie McKay
Residents, businesses, and community organizers fight to save their Chinatown neighborhoods from erasure in this story of resistance and resilience.
Premiered at DOC NYC 2022, Montreal International Documentary Film Festival (RIDM) Women Inmate Jury Award 2022, Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival Honourable Mention Best Canadian Feature Film 2022
Freedom Hill (US)
dir. & prod. Resita Cox
In North Carolina, residents of Princeville—the first town in America incorporated by formerly enslaved freed Africans—resist the steady erosion of both flooding and environmental racism.
Premiered at Full Frame Documentary Festival 2022; acquired by WORLD
From the Shadows #missingirls (INDIA)
dir. & prod. Miriam Chandy Menacherry
prods. Sheena Matheiken, Aalia Furniturewala, Anand Ramayya, Gary Byung-Seok Kam
impact prod. Triparna Banerjee
An artist and an activist find glimmers of hope as they seek justice for survivors of India’s rampant child sex trafficking.
International premiere as a special International Women’s Day 2023 screening hosted by South Asian House and Film Independent’s Global Media Makers in Austin, acquired by TV2 Denmark and KBS (Korea)
Liquor Store Dreams (US)
dir. & prod. So Yun Um
prod. Eddie Kim
Two Korean American children of liquor store owners in Los Angeles set out to bridge generational divides with their immigrant parents.
Premiered at Tribeca Festival 2022, CAAMFest 2023 Honorable Mention for Best Documentary; acquired by POV
Now That We Are Together (MEXICO)
dir. & prod. Patricia Balderas Castro
co-prod. Claudia Ruiz Capdevielle
impact prods. Merle Iliná, Michelle Plascencia
After an unexpected encounter with a group of women taking back the streets, a filmmaker begins an intimate-yet-collective journey to understand her own experience with violence.
Premiered at Morelia International Film Festival 2022, where it won Best Movie Directed by a Woman and Audience Favorite
PAY OR DIE (AUSTRALIA, CANADA, US)
dirs. & prods. Rachael Dyer, Scott Alexander Ruderman
prod. Yael Melamede
Three families facing life-or-death decisions reveal the harrowing reality of America’s insulin affordability crisis, where 2 million people are being held ransom to pharmaceutical profits.
Premiered at SXSW 2023, acquired by MTV Documentary Films, streaming premiere launch on Paramount+
Suddenly TV (US)
dir. & prod. Roopa Gogineni
At a besieged protest in Khartoum, young revolutionaries create an imaginary television station to confront the violence of the regime and conjure a new Sudan.
Premiered at IDFA 2022, SXSW 2023 Documentary Short Competition Special Jury Award, IndieLisboa Short Film Grand Prize
The Mind Game (AFGHANISTAN, CANADA, NETHERLANDS)
dirs. Eefje Blankevoort, Els van Driel, Sajid Khan Nasiri
prod. Laura Verduijn
impact prods. Els van Driel, Eefje Blankevoort, Tina Farifteh, Nienke Huitenga, Lara Aerts, Khadidja Benouataf
An Afghan teenager’s first-hand, cell-phone filmed perspective reveals the psychological pressure facing unaccompanied minor refugees.
Premiered at Movies that Matter Festival 2023, upcoming broadcast on Dutch public television KRO-NCRV
Twice Colonized (DENMARK)
dir. Lin Alluna
prods. Emile Hertling Péronard, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Stacey Aglok MacDonald
Renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter, who has led a lifelong fight for the rights of Indigenous people, delves into her own origins to mend the wounds of dislocation, colonization, and loss.
Premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2023, Movies that Matter Festival 2023 Camera Justitia Award