Nine Supported Filmmakers Awarded IDA Production Grants

The IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund recently announced their 2023 Production Grantees and we are proud to have nine Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported filmmakers on the list, as well as three Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported films. The IDA Enterprise Documentary Fund offers production funds and tailored resources to support feature-length documentaries that delve into contemporary stories, prioritize journalistic practices, and emphasize inclusion and diversity in filmmaking. Congratulations!

  • Petra Costa, 2023 Research & Development Grant Recipient and 2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient, for her Chicken & Egg-supported film
  • Lorena Luciano and Filippo Piscopo, directors of Chicken & Egg-supported film It Will Be Chaos
  • Ivan MacDonald and Ivy MacDonald, for their film, When They Were Here, 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab Finalist

Post written by Communications Intern Tess Caldwell

Congratulations to Communications Assistant Mariana on her Documentary Magazine Fellowship!

The International Documentary Association (IDA) announced “four emerging writers who will participate in the Documentary Magazine Editorial Fellowship Program. This is the second edition of the fellowship, funded in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.” And one of the four is Chicken & Egg Pictures’ 2021–2022 Communications Assistant & Graphic Designer Mariana Sanson.


A graphic with headshots of the 2022 Documentary Editorial Fellows. From L to R: Imani Altemus-Williams, Emerson Goo, Wilfred Okiche and Mariana Sanson.

Read more about the fellowship:

“The fellowship is designed to enhance opportunities for writers from underserved and underrepresented communities and broaden perspectives covering the nonfiction form. Fellows will participate in IDA’s editorial planning process led by Editor Tom White and Managing Editor Bedatri Datta Choudhury, receive a quarterly stipend to write articles for the publication, partake in eight mentorship sessions with documentary industry leaders , and attend the Getting Real Documentary Film Conference in September 2022.”

Documentary Magazine

Born and raised in Mexico City, Mariana Sanson has worked as a film festival producer, international guest coordinator, and national volunteer liaison. She is deeply interested in women’s representation, documentary intersectionality, working towards the creation of a more equitable documentary industry, and society’s relationship with media. Mariana assists our External Relations team by helping to tell the story of Chicken & Egg Pictures in design and communications. Congratulations, Mariana! We love seeing you soar in the documentary industry.

Nest-supported Filmmakers Nominated for IDA Documentary Awards!

The Annual IDA Documentary Awards, the world’s most prestigious awards event dedicated to the documentary genre, announced their nominees and honorees

Here at Chicken & Egg Pictures, we are sending egg-stra special congratulations to the Nest-supported films that received a nomination: Writing With Fire, Ascension, Simple As Water, Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust, and from the AlumNest: In the Same Breath and Witness. Massive congratulations to the Nest-supported filmmakers that received a 2021 Awards Honorees: Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh (Writing With Fire) and Cecilia Aldarondo (Landfall). 

The awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, February 5, 2022 at Paramount Studios, Los Angeles; tickets will be accessible to the public in January 2022. Take a look at the nominees and honorees:

Writing With Fire

dirs. & prods. Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh

Writing With Fire, directed by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh 2018 Accelerator Lab
Still from Writing With Fire

Nominated for Best Feature

Ascension

dir. & prod. Jessica Kingdon 

prods. Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell

Still from Ascension
Still from Ascension

Nominated for Best Cinematography
Cinematographers: Jessica Kingdon and Nathan Truesdell

Simple As Water

dir. & prod. Megan Mylan

prod.  Robin Hessman

Simple As Water still
Still from Simple As Water

Nominated for Best Editing
Editors: Purcell Carson and Megan Mylan

Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust

dir. & prod. Ann Kaneko

prod. Jin Yoo-Kim

Still from Manzanar Diverted
Still from Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust

Nominated for Best Music Score
Composers: Lori Goldston, Steve Fisk and Alexander Miranda


2021 Awards Honorees

Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh

2018 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Writing With Fire directors & producers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh will receive the Courage Under Fire Award. 

Cecilia Aldarondo
Cecilia Aldarondo

Project: Hatched 2020 grantee Landfall director Cecilia Aldarondo will receive the Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award.


From the AlumNest

In the Same Breath, directed & produced by 2018 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Nanfu Wang, produced by 2021 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Jialing Zhang, Carolyn Hepburn, Sara Rodriguez, Julie Goldman, and Christopher Clements, was nominated for Best Feature. Witness, produced by Nest-supported filmmaker Amber Fares, Lisa Camillo, Saad Zuberi, Emile Guertin and Reem Haddad, was nominated for Best Short Series. 

Post by Communications Intern Mariana Sanson

IDA Shortlist Features Five Supported Films

International Documentary Association (IDA) revealed their annual IDA Documentary Awards shortlists for the Best Documentary Feature and Best Documentary Short categories.

Congratulations to these five Nest-supported films which are shortlisted for this top honor:

American Factory
Directed by Julia Reichert (2016 Chicken & Egg Award) and Steven Bognar
Produced by Julia Reichert, Steven Bognar, Jeff Reichert, and Chicken & Egg Pictures Co-Founder Julie Parker Benello

Hail Satan?
Directed by Penny Lane (2017 Chicken & Egg Award)
Produced by Gabriel Sedgwick

One Child Nation
2017 (Egg)celerator Lab 
Directed by Nanfu Wang (2018 Chicken & Egg Award) and Jialing Zhang
Produced by Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang, Christoph Jörg, Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, and Carolyn Hepburn

Roll Red Roll
Directed by Nancy Schwartzman
Produced by Nancy Schwartzman, Steven Lake, and Jessica Devaney

The Feeling of Being Watched
2016 (Egg)celerator Lab
The Whickers / Chicken & Egg Pictures Award
Directed by Assia Boundaoui
Produced by Jessica Devaney

At Chicken & Egg Pictures, we’re wishing all the shortlisted filmmakers good luck! IDA will announce the final 10 nominees for Best Documentary Feature on Wednesday, October 23, with the awards ceremony on Saturday, December 7.

Want to gear up for the IDA Awards nominations announcement? Check out these streaming links for the Nest-supported films mentioned above: Roll Red Roll on NetflixThe Feeling of Being Watched on POVOne Child Nation on Amazon Prime, Hail Satan? on Hulu, and American Factory on Netflix.

Chicken & Egg Pictures Receives IDA Amicus Award

Earlier this month, Nest-supported Dark Money and United Skates were included in the International Documentary Association (IDA) Shortlist for Top Feature and as well as nominated for the IDA Award for Best Feature of 2018.

And last week, we received more good news from the International Documentary Association. Chicken & Egg Pictures is being recognized with the prestigious Amicus Award. We’re in good company too, with past recipients including Stephen Spielberg, Norman and Lyn Lear, and our dear Nest friend and Fork Films President and CEO Abigail Disney.

The Amicus Award “honors individuals or organizations in recognition of their work supporting the essential needs of the nonfiction media landscape,” and we humbly thank IDA for this extraordinary recognition. In an environment where the need to amplify women’s voices is receiving much needed attention, this award will serve to further elevate the importance of their stories.

Julia Reichert 2016 Breakthrough Filmmaker AwardWe would like to extend a special congratulations to 2016 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award Recipient Julia Reichert for her well-earned Career Achievement Award. Thank you Julia, for your incredible contributions to documentary filmmaking. We are so happy for you and cannot wait to celebrate your achievements.

Dawn Porter 2017 Breakthrough Filmmaker AwardWe also congratulate 2017 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award Recipient Dawn Porter for her nomination for Best Limited Series for her Netflix doc series Bobby Kennedy for President. Chicken & Egg Pictures did not directly support Bobby Kennedy for President but supported Dawn during her breakthrough year and past projects Trapped and The Chosen Life. Congratulations Dawn and good luck!

The IDA Awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, December 8 at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles.  We’ll see you there!

Dark Money and United Skates Make the IDA Shortlist

Dark Money and United Skates are two of the 31 shortlisted films for the International Documentary Association’s award for top feature of 2018.

We are so proud to have supported these films and wish the filmmakers behind them the best of luck.

Dark Money Kimberly Reed Accelerator Lab 2018

Dark Money, directed by Kimberly Reed

A century ago, corrupt money swamped Montana’s legislature, but Montanans rose up to prohibit corporate campaign contributions. Today, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision —which allows unlimited, anonymous money to pour into elections nationwide—Montana is once again fighting to preserve open and honest elections. Following an investigative reporter through a political thriller, Dark Money exposes one of the greatest threats to American democracy.

Dark Money screened at the AFI Docs Film Festival last summer, had its broadcast premiere on POV on PBS, and recently received a  Doc Society / Threshold Impact Funding grant.

United Skates Tina Brown Dyana Winkler 2016 Diversity Fellows Initiative

United Skates, directed by Tina Brown and Dyana Winkler (2016 Diversity Fellows Initiative)

When America’s last standing roller rinks are threatened with closure, a community of thousands battle in a racially charged environment to save an underground subculture—one that has remained undiscovered by the mainstream for generations, yet has given rise to some of the world’s greatest musical talent.

United Skates won the 2018 Tribeca Audience Award in April, was recently acquired by HBO, and will screen at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival on October 26.

The 34th annual IDA Awards will take place Saturday, December 8 at the Paramount Theatre in Los Angeles.

Chicken & Egg Pictures is Getting Real

Getting Real 2018

Getting Real, a biennial conference on documentary media presented by the International Documentary Association, will take place September 25-27 in Los Angeles. The three-day conference attracts over 1,000 filmmakers, industry professionals, mentors, and thought leaders and addresses themes of sustainability, transparency, and creativity.

At Chicken & Egg Pictures, we were ecstatic to see so many women documentary filmmakers and professionals featured throughout the conference. See below for the full slate of Nest-supported filmmakers and friends at Getting Real, including Keynote Speaker Michele Stephenson and our very own Director of Programs Lucila Moctezuma.

Therapeutic Interventions In Documentary Panel: Kristi Jacobson (2016 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award Participant) Tuesday Sep 25, 11:45 AM – 1:15 PM, Pickford Center

Keynote Speaker: Michele Stephenson  (2016 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award Participant) Wednesday Sep 26, 9:00 – 9:30 AM, Cinerama Dome

Decolonize Docs – The Filmmaker Panel: Lyric R Cabral (The Rashomon Effect and (T)ERROR); Deborah S. Esquenazi (Southwest of Salem) Wednesday Sep 26,  9:30 -11:00 AM, Arclight Hollywood

Reenactment Reconsidered: Staged Realities and Nonfiction Fantasies Panel: Yance Ford (Strong Island) Wednesday Sep 26, 11:45 AM – 1:15 PM, Pickford Center

Not Your Grandmother’s Historical Doc Panel: Julia Bacha (Budrus) Wednesday Sep 26, 1:45 – 3:15 PM, Pickford Center

After #MeToo Panel: Michele Stephenson (2018 Breakthrough Award Participant); Nancy Schwartzman (Roll Red Roll) Wednesday Sep 26, 3:30 – 5:00 PM, ArcLight Hollywood

Creative Courage In Nonfiction Storytelling Panel: Yance Ford (Strong Island); Jennie Livingston (Earth Camp One) Thursday Sep 27,  9:45 – 11:15 AM, Arena Cinelounge

National Minority Consortia panel: Renee Tajima-Peña (No Más BebésThursday Sep 27 11:45 AM – 1:30 PM, Pickford Center

Making The Most Of Mentorship panel: Nico Opper (The F Word: A Foster to Adopt Story), Lucila Moctezuma (Chicken & Egg Pictures Director of Programs) Thursday Sep 27 1:45 – 3:15 PM, ArcLight Hollywood

A-Doc, The Asian American Documentary Network Convening: Grace Lee (2017 Breakthrough Award Recipient and American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs) Thursday Sep 27 2:30 – 3:30 PM, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions

Equity Investment In Documentary Film: Brenda Robinson (Chicken & Egg Pictures Board Member) Thursday Sep 27  1:45 – 3:15 PM, ArcLight Hollywood

International Co-Producing: That Summer panel: Joslyn Barnes (Chicken & Egg Pictures Eggspert) Thursday Sep 27  3:00 – 4:30 PM, Arena Cinelounge

The Ramp Less Traveled panel: Jennifer Brea (Unrest) Thursday Sep 27, 2:00 – 3:30 PM, Pickford Center

See you in LA!

Post by 2018 Communications Intern Morgan Lee Hulquist.