Supported Films at Sheffield DocFest 2024
We are thrilled to see four Nest-supported films in this year’s lineup for Sheffield DocFest and four supported films in the MeetMarket selection. There were also seven films from supported filmmakers across the festival. Among others, 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee The Boy and the Suit of Lights is having its World Premiere. The festival will take place between Wednesday, June 12 to Monday, June 17, 2024, and will be attended by two of our staff members, Kiyoko McCrae and Tobi Phang-Lyn. We hope to see you there!
In the Festival
Farming the Revolution
dir. & prod. Nishtha Jain, Akash Basumatari
prod. Valérie Montmartin
Farming the Revolution was supported through Nishtha Jain’s 2020 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its UK Premiere in the Rebellions section.
Get your tickets here.
The Boy and the Suit of Lights
dir. Inma de Reyes
prod. Aimara Reques
The Boy and the Suit of Lights was a participant of the 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab and is having its World Premiere in the International First Feature Competition.
Get your tickets here.
Our Land, Our Freedom
dir. & prods. Meena Nanji, Zippy Kimundu
Our Land, Our Freedom was a participant of the 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab having its UK Premiere in the Strands section.
Get your tickets here.
Union
dir. & prods. Brett Story, Stephen Maing
prod. Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone, Martin Dicicco
Union was supported through Brett Story’s 2023 Chicken & Egg Award.
Get your tickets here.
In the MeetMarket
The 19th edition of Sheffield DocFest’s flagship pitching forum, the MeetMarket, will take place on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 of June 2024. The slate includes 50 documentary projects, in development or at production stage, to be pitched in one-to-one meetings to international and UK industry representatives and experts. In this year’s lineup, there are three 2024 (Egg)celerator Lab grantees as well as a Research & Development Grantee. Learn more:
Jaripeo
dirs. Efraín Mojica, Rebecca Zweig
prods. Sarah Strunin
Jaripeo is a 2024 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee and is participating in the MeetMarket.
Vena Acuática
dir. Amada Torruella
prods. Seth Gadsden, Brenda Avila-Hanna
Vena Acuática is a 2024 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee and is participating in the MeetMarket.
War on Women
dir. Maris Salumets
prods. Elina Litvinova, Volia Chajkouskaya
War on Women is a 2024 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee and is participating in the MeetMarket.
Green is the Fire’s Tint
dirs. & prods. Arya Rothe, Cristina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi
Green is the Fire’s Tint was supported through our 2023 Research & Development Grant and is participating in the MeetMarket.
From the AlumNest
- Bread & Roses | Festival Lineup
dir. Sahra Mani
prods. Jennifer Lawrence, Justine Ciarrocchi
- My Sweet Land | Festival Lineup
dir. Sareen Hairabedian
prods. Azza Hourani, Sareen Hairabedian, David Rane, Julie Paratian, Beth Levison, Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh
- Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa | Festival Lineup
dir. Lucy Walker
prods. Charlie Corwin, Michael D. Ratner, Miranda Sherman, Dalia Burde, Christopher Newman
- The Age of Water | MeetMarket
dirs. Isabel Alcántara, Alfredo Alcántara
prods. Lindsay Perna, Joe Brewster, Michèle Stephenson
- The Noble Half (working title) | MeetMarket
dir. Khaula Malik
prods. Brit Fryer, Afnahn Khan
- The Shape of Blue | MeetMarket
dir. Sybilla Patrizia
prod. Ina Fichman
- Widow Champion | MeetMarket
dir. & prod. Zippy Kimundu
prod. Heather Courtney
Meet the Team at the Fest!
Program Director Kiyoko McCrae and Industry & Artist Development Manager Tobi Phang-Lyn are going to be in attendance at the festival. They will be taking meetings with filmmakers, watching supported films, participating in roundtable discussions, and hosting an alumni happy hour.
Chicken & Egg Pictures at Getting Real 2024
Chicken & Egg Pictures is proud to be part of the sixth edition of Getting Real, a biennial for documentary practitioners and focused on the business and art of nonfiction storytelling. The event takes place from Monday, April 15 through Friday, April 19 in Los Angeles.
Fourteen supported filmmakers, as well as our Program Director Kiyoko McCrae and Board Members Félix Endara, Marjan Safinia, and Alex Simon, will participate in a four day event designed to provide a space for the field to hold constructive conversations, build lasting relationships, and tackle the ethical, creative, sustainability, production, and distribution challenges facing our growing community. Please take a look at the details below.
Playing with Reality: Staging Documentary
Tuesday, April 16, 2024 10:30 AM PDT
Panelists: Alison O’Daniel, Cecilia Aldorando, Theo Montoya
Moderator: Ela Bittencourt
Surviving the Aftermath: Protecting Creative Expression
Tuesday, April 16, 2024 10:45 AM PDT
Panelists: Assia Boundaoui, Farihah Zaman, Anam Abbas
Moderator: Aizzah Fatima
Open Breakout Session: From Concept to Catalyst (with A-Doc and BGDM)
Tuesday, April 16, 2024 2:00 PM PDT
Panelists: Grace Lee, Farihah Zaman, Leo Chiang, Iyabo Boyd
Moderators: Sonya Childress, Sahar Driver
Risky Business: Accessing Difficult Places
Tuesday, April 16, 2024 3:45 PM PDT
Moderators: Jennifer Petrucelli, Stephanie Jenkins, and Rachel Antell
Respondents: Dawn Porter, Jon-Sesrie Goff, and more to be announced
The Hot Seat
Tuesday, April 16, 2024 3:45 PM PDT
Panelist: Program Director Kiyoko McCrae, Mads K. Mikkelsen, Bryn Mooser, and Luis Ortiz
Moderator: Abby Sun
Delegation: Is There Independence Out There? (BFI Doc Society)
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 10:00 AM PDT
BFI Doc Society, in partnership with FWD-Doc, is hosting a virtual Delegation of six UK filmmakers, producers, and editors who identify as disabled, D/deaf, and/or neurodivergent. In this virtual discussion on the spirit of independence, filmmakers Ella Glendining, Lindsey Dryden, and other filmmakers will elaborate on what voice, audience, and success mean to them as disabled filmmakers, and how reframing “access” beyond accessibility can create and sustain space for radical new voices in the documentary industry.
Disaster Preparation: Building Your Support System
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 10:15 AM PDT
Panelists: Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, Emily Mkrtichian, and Gema Allen Juarez
Moderator: Zara Meerza
Open Breakout Session: Trans Filmmaker Meetup
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 11:45 AM PDT
Moderator: Board Member Félix Endara
Panelists: Chelsea Moore, Moi Santos, seyi adebanjo, Cary Cronenwett
Workshop: Brands 101
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 11:45 AM PDT
Moderator: Board Member Alex Simon
Facilitator: Brian Newman
Here’s What Really Happened: Your Fat Friend
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 2:00 PM PDT
Panelists: Jeanie Finlay, Suzanne Alizart
Moderator: Keisha Knight
Worth Our Weight In Gold: Identifying Value in Your Production
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 2:15 PM PDT
Panelists: Tabs Breese, Chris Perez, Lexy Altman, and Asmae El Moudir
Moderator: Zeynep Güzel (Berlinale Talents Doc Station)
We Don’t Need to Reinvent the Wheel: Connecting to Audiences
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 4:00 PM PDT
Panelists: Elizabeth Woodward, Pulkit Datta, Lucas Rosant, Paula Ossandón
Moderator: Winnie Wang
Keynote: Kirsten Johnson
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 5:30 PM PDT
Kirsten Johnson is a 2017 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient
Collective Performance: Our Declaration of Independence
Wednesday, April 17, 2024 7:00 PM PDT
Panelists: Board Member Marjan Safinia, Maxine Franklin, Michelle Plascencia
Game Show: What’s the Deal?
Thursday, April 18, 2024 11:15 AM PDT
Panelists: Daresha Kyi, Keith Wilson, Gary Kam, and Vinay Shukla
Moderator: Chase Whiteside (América)
Meet Our Team
Along with our Program Director Kiyoko McCrae, CEO Jenni Wolfson, COO Sarah Anderson, and Senior Program Manager Elaisha Stokes will be attending Getting Real. They will be attending panels and supporting our filmmakers. If you see them, please don’t hesitate to say hello!
Supported Filmmakers at CPH:DOX 2024!
The 21st edition of CPH:DOX took place from Wednesday, March 13 to Sunday, March 24 in Copenhagen, Denmark. We are proud to see that 3 supported films and 13 supported filmmakers were part of the lineup and that many of our supported filmmakers also participated in the CPH:CONFERENCE and CPH: FORUM. Some of our team was also there to participate in person to support our filmmakers. See below for more details.
- 2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Brett Story’s Union | International Premiere | F:act Award & Nine to Five sections | dirs. Brett Story, Stephen Maing | prods. Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone
- 2019 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Lana Wilson’s Look Into My Eyes | International Premiere | Special Premieres & Stranger Than Fiction sections | dir. Lana Wilson | prod. Kyle Martin
- 2022 Critical Issues Fund Grantee Intercepted | Urgent Matters & Battlefields sections | dir. Oksana Karpovych | prods. Rocío B. Fuentes, Giacomo Nudi
From the AlumNest
- And So It Begins
dir. & prod. Ramona Diaz - Bottlemen
dir. & prod. Nemanja Vojinovic
prod. Marija Stojnic - La Base | International Premiere
dir. Vadim Dumesh
prod. Quentin Laurent
- Night of Nights | World Premiere
dir. Truman
prod. Violet Feng - Marching in the Dark | World Premiere
dir. Kinshuk Surjan
prods. Evelien De Graef, Hanne Phlypo, Digna Sinke, Arya Rothe - Phantoms of the Sierra Madre | World Premiere
dir. & prod. Håvard Bustnes
prod. Christian Aune Falch, Bird Runningwater - Power | International Premiere
dir. & prod. Yance Ford
prods. Netsanet Negussie, Sweta Vohra, Jess Devaney - Silent Trees | World Premiere
dir. & prod. Agnieszka Zwiefka
prods. Heino Deckert, Sigrid Dyekjaer, Zofia Kujawska - Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story | European Premiere
dirs. Peter Ettedgui & Ian Bonhôte
prods. Lizzie Gillett, Ian Bonhôte, Robert Ford - The Black Garden | World Premiere
dir. Alexis Pazoumian
prod. Clara Vuillermoz - The Bones | World Premiere
dir. Jeremy Xido
prod. Ina Fichman - The Stimming Pool | World Premiere
dirs. The Neurocultures Collective, Benjamin Brown, Georgia Bradburn, Sam Chown-Ahern, Robin Elliott-Knowles, Lucy Walker, Steven Eastwood
prod. Chloe White, Steven Eastwood - Your Fat Friend
dir. & prod. Jeanie Finlay
prod. Suzanne Alizart
CPH: FORUM
At CPH:FORUM, top producers and highly acknowledged directors from all over the world take the stage to pitch 30 carefully selected projects of documentary features and series in the intersection of nonfiction, fiction, visual art, journalism, and science. Six films from our community of filmmakers were presented.
2023 Research & Development Grant recipient Cinderella Unbound, UK/RO
dir. & prod Ilinca Calugareanu | prod. Anamaria Antoci
Freedom (WT), DK
dir. Camilla Nielsson | prod. Signe Byrge Sørensen
In Praise of Invasive Species, CA
dir. Mila Aung-Thwin | prod. Bob Moore
The Dirty Dream, IN
dirs. & prods. Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh
The Listeners, UK/US/FR
dir. & prod. Lindsey Dryden | prod. Samantha Steele
Victor, US
dir. Stephani Victor | prods. Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, Matt Radecki
CPH: CONFERENCE
A 4-day industry event offering a range of inspiring talks with visionary thinkers, investigating current themes in documentary filmmaking, and creating an interactive and hands-on platform for exchange with other professionals of our documentary community. The theme this year was Re:Building Narratives – Accessibility And Equity In Documentary. Our filmmakers were well represented across the different activities from Tuesday, March 19 to Friday, March 22.
SOCIETY: STORIES OF OUR LIFETIMES
Tuesday, March 19
With Lizzie Gillett and Sigrid Dyekjær, producers of supported film Merkel, as keynote speakers for the Viva Independent Feature Docs section. Clara Vuillermoz, producer of 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee Polaris was a speaker in the A Conflict of Interest or an Interest in Conflict? section. Lindsey Dryden, supported through the QUEER FUTURES program, also participated in the LGBTQIA panel. Curated by 2023 Development grant recipient Derren Lawford.
FILM:MAKERS IN DIALOGUE
Wednesday, March 20
With 2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Brett Story, Stephen Maing, producer of supported film Union, and Yance Ford, director of supported film Strong Island.
SCIENCE: WAYS OF KNOWING AND SEEING
Thursday, March 21
With 2023 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Lisa Jackson as a keynote speaker in the Stars: Indigenous Ways of Knowing section, and Mila Aung-Thwin, producer of 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab participant Midwives, as a speaker in the Action: Legacies of science, cinematic justice section.
2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Margreth Olin is also considered an expert at the conference.
Meet our Team at CPH:DOX
Our Senior Program Manager Elaisha Stokes and Program Director Kiyoko McCrae attended and took 1:1 meetings with filmmakers.
We are proud to congratulate a longtime collaborator and advisor in our labs, Carla Gutierrez, for the international premiere of her new documentary, Frida.
Post written by Communications Assistant Tess Caldwell
Celebrating Executive Director Jenni Wolfson and Nest-supported Filmmakers Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Memberships
Chicken & Egg Pictures is egg-cited and proud to share some big news: our dearest Executive Director Jenni Wolfson, 2018 (Egg)celerator Lab recipients Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh (Writing With Fire), 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab recipient Jessica Kingdon (Ascension), 2021 Chicken & Egg Award recipients Cristina Ibarra and Jialing Zhang, and 2022 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Brett Story have been invited to become members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
We also want to congratulate Bob Moore (producer of Project: Hatched 2021 grantee Dope Is Death) and Nathan Truesdell (producer of 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab recipient Ascension) for their invitations!
The Class of 2022 is 44% women, 37% percent underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 50% hail from outside of the United States.
Congratulations to the Class of 2022!
Ascension and Writing With Fire Nominated for the 94th Academy Awards!
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed their 2022 Oscar® nominations list on Tuesday, February 8. We are egg-static and sending massive congratulations to the two (Egg)celerator Lab grantees nominated for Best Documentary Feature: Ascension and Writing With Fire.
The in-person ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 27 at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, and will be televised on ABC. Please join us and celebrate these films and filmmakers!
Ascension
dir. & prod. Jessica Kingdon
prods. Kira Simon-Kennedy, Nathan Truesdell
Ascension examines the contemporary “Chinese Dream” through staggering observations of labor, consumerism and wealth. In cinematically exploring the aspiration that drives today’s People’s Republic of China, the film plunges into universal paradoxes of economic progress.
Ascension participated in the 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab.
Writing With Fire
dirs. & prods. Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh
In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions, be it on the frontlines of India’s biggest issues or within the confines of their homes, redefining what it means to be powerful.
Writing With Fire participated in the 2018 (Egg)celerator Lab.
Check out a video of the filmmakers receiving the news with this link.
Read the full nomination list visiting this link.
Nest-supported Films on the SIMA 2022 Finalists’ List
Congratulations to the two Nest-supported films and four AlumNest projects for being finalists for the 10th Annual Social Impact Media Awards (SIMA 2022). The SIMA Awards recognize storytelling that ignites social change and portrays the most pressing social issues. Chicken & Egg Pictures was the proud recipient of the SIMA Vanguard Award in 2020 and we’re thrilled to see so many supported films recognized this year.
Winners will be announced on Thursday, February 10, in the meantime take a look at the 2022 finalists from our community and check the full list with this link.
Writing With Fire
dirs. & prods. Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh
Documentary Feature finalist
Pray Away
dir. & prod. Kristine Stolakis
prods. Jessica Devaney and Anya Rous
Documentary Feature finalist
From the AlumNest
Documentary Feature
A Thousand Cuts
dir. & prod. Ramona S. Diaz
prod. Leah Marino
Documentary Shorts
Lost World
dir. Kalyanee Mam
prods. Emmanuel Vaughn-Lee, Adam Loften, Kalyanee Mam
Witness – Reckoning With Laughter
dirs. Amber Fares
prods. Rhana Nator, Samantha Adler de Oliveira, Rachel Leah Jones, Aine Pennello, Maria Costea, Reem Haddad, Fiona Lawson-Baker
Impact Videos
Video Visit
dir. & prod. Malika Zouhali-Worrall
Ascension, Simple As Water & Writing With Fire on the 94th Oscars® shortlist
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday, December 21 their shortlist for documentary features and documentary short subject. At Chicken & Egg Pictures we are sending massive congratulations to the 3 Nest-supported films on the list: Ascension, Simple As Water, and Writing With Fire, as well as to the 5 films from the AlumNest.
We are egg-cited to see these films on these lists and look forward to the Nominations list, which will be announced on Tuesday, February 8. Nominations voting begins on Thursday, January 27 and concludes on Tuesday, February 1.
The 94th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, March 27 and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide. Take a look at the shortlisted films below and checkout the full list with this link.
Ascension
Directed by Jessica Kingdon
Produced by Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy, and Nathan Truesdell
Simple As Water
Directed by Megan Mylan
Produced by Robin Hessman & Megan Mylan
Writing With Fire
Directed and produced by Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh
From the AlumNest
Documentary Feature
President
dir. Camilla Nielsson
prods. Joslyn Barnes, Signe Byrge Sørensen
In the Same Breath
dir. Nanfu Wang
prods. Jialing Zhang, Carolyn Hepburn, Sara Rodriguez, Julie Goldman, and Christopher Clements
Documentary Short Subject
Águilas
dir. & prod. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
co-dir. & prod. Maite Zubiaurre
Terror Contagion
dir. & prod. Laura Poitras
prods. Anonymous, Yoni Golijov
International Feature Film
Prayers for the Stolen
dir. Tatiana Huezo
prods. Nicolás Celis, Jim Stark
Ascension, Simple As Water & Writing With Fire nominated for 2022 PGA Awards
Congratulations to the Nest producers who were selected as 2022 Documentary Motion Picture nominees; their films—Ascension, Simple As Water, and Writing With Fire—will advance to the final round of voting for the 33rd Annual Producers Guild Awards. The Awards ceremony is on Saturday, February 26, so stay tuned and root for the following Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported projects.
Ascension
Produced by Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy, and Nathan Truesdell
Directed by Jessica Kingdon
Simple As Water
Produced by Robin Hessman & Megan Mylan
Directed by Megan Mylan
Writing With Fire
Produced and directed by Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh
A special congratulations to 2021 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Jialing Zhang for her nomination as producer of 2018 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Nanfu Wang’s film In The Same Breath. In The Same Breath is also produced by Christopher Clements, Carolyn Hepburn, Sara Rodriguez, and Nanfu Wang.
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
Nominated for Best Feature
Ascension
dir. & prod. Jessica Kingdon
prods. Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell
Nominated for Best Cinematography
Cinematographers: Jessica Kingdon and Nathan Truesdell
Simple As Water
dir. & prod. Megan Mylan
prod. Robin Hessman
Nominated for Best Editing
Editors: Purcell Carson and Megan Mylan
Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust
dir. & prod. Ann Kaneko
prod. Jin Yoo-Kim
Nominated for Best Music Score
Composers: Lori Goldston, Steve Fisk and Alexander Miranda
2021 Awards Honorees
2018 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Writing With Fire directors & producers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh will receive the Courage Under Fire Award.
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
Supported Films at DOC NYC Film Festival
Chicken & Egg Pictures is part of DOC NYC 2021 line up. With an in-person return to theatrical screenings and virtual options available throughout the US, the festival will run from Wednesday, November 10 to Thursday, November 18. Take a look at the five Nest-supported films, and projects from the AlumNest below and get your tickets with this link.
Nest-supported Films
Once Upon a Time in Uganda
dir. Cathryne Czubek, co-dir. Hugo Perez
prods. Gigi Dement, Cathryne Czubek, Matt Porwoll, Hugo Perez, Kyaligamba Ark Martin
US Premiere
Friday, Nov. 12
Tickets here
Against all odds, former bricklayer and teacher Isaac Nabwana has turned his small home in the slums of Uganda’s capital city into the Wakaliwood action movie studio. After 10 years and 40+ films, Wakaliwood has become an overnight international media sensation, inspiring others around the world to follow in his footsteps. When New York film nerd Alan Hofmanis shows up on his doorstep one day, everything is bound to change.
Storm Lake
dirs. Beth Levison & Jerry Risius
prod. Beth Levison
NYC Premiere
Friday, Nov. 12
Sunday, Nov. 14
Tickets here
Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Art Cullen and his family fight to unite and inform their rural Iowan farming community through their biweekly newspaper, The Storm Lake Times—even as the paper hangs on by a thread. Twice a week, they work as civic watchdogs to protect their hometown and the legacy of credible journalism, at large—come hell or pandemic.
Writing With Fire
dirs. & prods. Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh
NYC Premiere
Thursday, Nov. 11
Tickets here
In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions, be it on the frontlines of India’s biggest issues or within the confines of their homes, redefining what it means to be powerful.
United States Vs. Reality Winner
dir & prod. Sonia Kennebeck
prod. Ines Hofmann Kanna
NYC Premiere
Saturday, Nov. 13
Tickets here
Reality Winner (her actual birth name) is a U.S. Air Force veteran who became a whistleblower in her 20s by leaking classified documents about Russian cyber-warfare attacks on the 2016 U.S. elections. Award-winning filmmaker Sonia Kennebeck (National Bird; Enemies of the State), supported by executive producer Wim Wenders, digs into her case, exploring mistakes made by journalists at The Intercept that led the FBI to discover Winner’s identity.*
Boycott
dir & prod. Julia Bacha
prod. Suhad Babaa, Daniel J. Chalfen
NYC Premiere
Monday, Nov. 14
Tickets here
Boycotts have long been a tool used by Americans rallying for social and political change, from civil rights leaders to anti-apartheid activists. But in recent years, 33 U.S. states have introduced anti-boycott legislation or executive orders designed to penalize individuals and companies who choose to boycott Israel due to its human rights record. Boycott looks at the cases of a news publisher in Arkansas, an attorney in Arizona and a speech therapist in Texas whose careers are threatened by the harsh measures of these new laws. A legal thriller with “accidental plaintiffs” at the center, the film is a bracing look at the far-reaching implications of anti-boycott legislation and an inspiring tale of everyday Americans standing up to protect our rights in an age of shifting politics and threats to freedom of speech.
AlumNest Films
Listening to Kenny G, directed by 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Penny Lane, prod. Gabriel Sedgwick, will open the festival on Wednesday, Nov. 10. A Decent Home, directed and produced by AlumNest filmmaker Sara Terry, producer Alysa Nahmias, will screen on Tuesday, Nov. 16. Exposure, directed and produced by AlumNest filmmaker Holly Morris, producers Eleanor Wilson, Michael Kovnat, Jill Mazursky, will have its NYC premiere on Saturday, Nov. 13. The film Black and Missing, directed by 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Geeta Gandbhir and Samantha Knowles, producers Samantha Knowles, Nimco Sheikhaden, will premiere on Wednesday, Nov. 17.
*Language courtesy of DOC NYC.
Post by Communications Intern Mariana Sanson