Five Supported Films at Hot Docs
The 31st edition of Hot Docs will take place across Toronto this year from Thursday, April 25 to Sunday, May 5. We are thrilled to announce that 2020 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Nishtha Jain’s film, Farming the Revolution, is having its world premiere along with 4 other supported films and 5 films from supported filmmakers are on the lineup this year!
Hot Docs is North America’s largest documentary festival, conference, and market, and embodies a deep commitment to gender parity, with 54% female directors in this year’s official selection, according to their press release. Two of our staff members will be in attendance so be sure to stay in touch via our social media channels for some exclusive content at the festival!
Farming the Revolution
dir. & prod. Nishtha Jain
prod. Valérie Montmartin
Farming the Revolution was supported through Nishtha Jain’s 2020 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its World Premiere in the International Competition
7 Beats Per Minute
dir. Yuqi Kang
prod. Ina Fichman, Anita Lee
7 Beats Per Minute was a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee having its Canadian Premiere in the Canadian Spectrum Competition.
A Photographic Memory
dir. & prod. Rachel Elizabeth Seed
prods. Sigrid Dyekjær, Beth Levison, Matt Perniciaro, Michael Sherman, Danielle Varga
A Photographic Memory was a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee having its International Premiere in the Persister section.
Intercepted
dir. Oksana Karpovych
prods. Giacomo Nudi, Rocío Barba Fuentes, Pauline Tran Van Lieu, Lucie Rego, Darya Bassel
Intercepted is a 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantee having its Canadian Premiere in the Festival Favorites section.
Look Into My Eyes
dir. & prod. Lana Wilson
prod. Kyle Martin
Look Into My Eyes was supported through Lana Wilson’s 2019 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its Canadian Premiere in the Special Presentations section.
Spotlight on Brett Story
2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Brett Story will be engaging in an illuminating conversation with author and organizer Astra Taylor. Learn more about Astra Taylor in Conversation with Brett Story here.
From the AlumNest
- Adrianne & the Castle – Canadian Premiere
dir. Shannon Walsh
prod. Ina Fichman
- Power
dir. & prod. Yance Ford
prods. Sweta Vohra, Jess Devaney, Netsanet Negussie
- We Did Not Consent
dir. Dorothy Allen-Pickard
prods. Rosa Harris Edmonds, Lindsay Poulton
- Yintah – Canadian Premiere
dirs. & prods. Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano
prods. Bob Moore, Katie McKay, Mila Aung-Thwin
Meet Our Team at Hot Docs
We are exhilarated that our Senior Program Manager Elaisha Stokes and Program Assistant Will Tamura will be in attendance at the festival. They will be attending Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported screenings and industry events. Make sure to say hi!
Six Supported Films at Hot Docs
The 31st edition of Hot Docs will take place across Toronto this year from Thursday, April 25 to Sunday, May 5. We are thrilled to announce that 2020 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Nishtha Jain’s film, Farming the Revolution, is having its world premiere along with 5 other supported films and 5 films from supported filmmakers are on the lineup this year!
Hot Docs is North America’s largest documentary festival, conference, and market, and embodies a deep commitment to gender parity, with 54% female directors in this year’s official selection, according to their press release. Two of our staff members will be in attendance so be sure to stay in touch via our social media channels for some exclusive content at the festival!
Farming the Revolution
dir. & prod. Nishtha Jain
prod. Valérie Montmartin
Farming the Revolution was supported through Nishtha Jain’s 2020 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its World Premiere in the International Competition
7 Beats Per Minute
dir. Yuqi Kang
prod. Ina Fichman, Anita Lee
7 Beats Per Minute was a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee having its Canadian Premiere in the Canadian Spectrum Competition.
A Photographic Memory
dir. & prod. Rachel Elizabeth Seed
prods. Sigrid Dyekjær, Beth Levison, Matt Perniciaro, Michael Sherman, Danielle Varga
A Photographic Memory was a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee having its International Premiere in the Persister section.
Intercepted
dir. Oksana Karpovych
prods. Giacomo Nudi, Rocío Barba Fuentes, Pauline Tran Van Lieu, Lucie Rego, Darya Bassel
Intercepted is a 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantee having its Canadian Premiere in the Festival Favorites section.
Look Into My Eyes
dir. & prod. Lana Wilson
prod. Kyle Martin
Look Into My Eyes was supported through Lana Wilson’s 2019 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its Canadian Premiere in the Special Presentations section.
Wilfred Buck
dir. & prod. Lisa Jackson
prod. Alicia Smith, Lauren Grant
Wilfred Buck was supported through Lisa Jackson’s 2023 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its North American Premiere in the Canadian Spectrum Competition.
Spotlight on Brett Story
2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Brett Story will be engaging in an illuminating conversation with author and organizer Astra Taylor. Learn more about Astra Taylor in Conversation with Brett Story here.
From the AlumNest
- Adrianne & the Castle – Canadian Premiere
dir. Shannon Walsh
prod. Ina Fichman
- Power
dir. & prod. Yance Ford
prods. Sweta Vohra, Jess Devaney, Netsanet Negussie
- We Did Not Consent
dir. Dorothy Allen-Pickard
prods. Rosa Harris Edmonds, Lindsay Poulton
- Yintah – Canadian Premiere
dirs. & prods. Jennifer Wickham, Brenda Michell, Michael Toledano
prods. Bob Moore, Katie McKay, Mila Aung-Thwin
Meet Our Team at Hot Docs
We are exhilarated that our Senior Program Manager Elaisha Stokes and Program Assistant Will Tamura will be in attendance at the festival. They will be attending Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported screenings and industry events. Make sure to say hi!
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
Five Supported and AlumNest Films at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival!
We are proud to have two Chicken & Egg-supported films and three films from our filmmaker community at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Additionally, we are thrilled to see 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Maite Alberdi being honored with the annual Vanguard Award during the Opening Night Gala at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The festival’s US documentary competition slate is made up of 50% women, and the World Competition slate is made up of 67% women. Chicken & Egg Pictures is committed to supporting women and non-binary filmmakers and we’re proud to see so much representation in this years’ competitions. The festival will take place from Thursday, January 18 through Sunday, January 28, 2024, in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. We hope to see you there!
Look Into My Eyes
dir. & prod. Lana Wilson
prod. Kyle Martin
Look Into My Eyes was supported through Lana Wilson’s 2019 Chicken & Egg Award.
Get your tickets here.
Union
dirs. Brett Story, Stephen Maing
prods. Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone
Union was supported through Brett Story’s 2022 Chicken & Egg Award and is participating in the U.S. Documentary Competition.
Get your tickets here.
From the AlumNest
- And So It Begins
dir. & prod. Ramona Diaz
- Luther: Never Too Much
dir. Dawn Porter
prods. Trish D. Chetty, Ged Doherty, Jamie Foxx, Datari Turner, Leah Smith
- Power
dir. & prod. Yance Ford
prods. Jess Devaney, Sweta Vohra, Netsanet Negussie
Shoutouts
We are thrilled to see 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Maite Alberdi being honored with the annual Vanguard Award during the Opening Night Gala. The award annually honors artists whose work highlights the art of storytelling and creative independence. In an interview with Variety about receiving the award, Maite said, “The Eternal Memory is a film that has taught me so much about the infinite ways of telling, looking at and working with real-life stories and I am proud and humbled to be among such an extraordinary group of filmmakers who have been given this recognition.” Congratulations, Maite!
We are also proud to have two longtime collaborators featuring films in the lineup this year. An Eggspert on our team, Joslyn Barnes is executive producing Conbody VS Everybody, and Carla Gutierrez, an advisor in our labs, is directing FRIDA. Congratulations!
Meet Our Staff
We are also excited that our Chief Executive Officer Jenni Wolfson, Program Director Kiyoko McCrae, and Associate Director of Development Rebecca Celli will be in attendance at the festival. They will be attending Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported screenings and industry events. Make sure to say hi!
Post written by Communications Intern Tess Caldwell
Nest-supported Nominees for The Grierson Awards
The Grierson Trust commemorates the pioneering Scottish documentary maker John Grierson. Each year, the trust celebrates documentary filmmaking from the UK and around the world with the British Documentary Awards, more fondly known as The Griersons.
We are honored to announce that Chicken & Egg-supported projects Kingdom of Us and Strong Island were nominated this year.
Kingdom of Us, directed by Lucy Cohen, was nominated for Best Single Documentary – Domestic and Best Cinema Documentary.
Kingdom of Us is a film about memory, identity, and growing up told through the eyes of seven siblings and their mother. Five of the children are on the autistic spectrum and as they move through adolescence, an event of the past keeps drawing them back. Combining observational footage with a rich archive of home movies and songs, the film is both a detective story and coming-of-age tale, exploring universal themes of memory, family, and love.
Strong Island, directed by Yance Ford, was nominated for Best Single Documentary – International.
Set in the suburbs of the black middle class, Strong Island seeks to uncover how—in the year of the Rodney King trial and the Los Angeles riots—the murder of the filmmaker’s older brother went unpunished. The film is an unflinching look at homicide, racial injustice, and the corrosive impact of grief over time.
The Griersons will take place on the evening of Monday, November 5 at The Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. In the meantime, both Kingdom of Us and Strong Island are available to stream on Netflix.
Congratulations Yance and Lucy and good luck!
Chicken & Egg Pictures is Getting Real
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 Bebés) Thursday 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.
Nest Co-Founders, Filmmakers, and Friends Join the Academy
We’re proud to announce that Chicken & Egg Pictures Co-Founders and Board members Julie Parker Benello and Wendy Ettinger are now members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences!
The Academy announced a record-setting 928 invited members, 49 percent of whom are women and 38 percent people of color. Nine branches, including the Producers, Film Editors, and Documentary branches invited more women than men. At Chicken & Egg Pictures, we applaud the Academy’s efforts to double the number of women and diverse members, a goal announced in 2016 and hoped to be completed by 2020.
This announcement marked a huge step in diversifying one of the most prestigious institutions in the field, bringing the overall Academy membership to 31% women. We couldn’t be more thrilled. You might have even caught Wendy talk about it on live TV, on BBC News when the announcement was made public. Julie and Wendy will join fellow Co-Founder (and Senior Creative Consultant) Judith Helfand, with all three Chicken & Egg Pictures Co-Founders now members of the Academy!
This year, Chicken & Egg-supported filmmakers invited to the Academy include Yance Ford (Oscar®-nominee Strong Island), Catherine Gund (Born to Fly), Sari Gilman (Kings Point, editor on Trapped), Lana Wilson (The Departure and After Tiller), Laura Nix (2018 Breakthrough Award Recipient), and Nanfu Wang (2018 Breakthrough Award Recipient, 2017 Accelerator Lab Grantee for Born In China).
New members also include Paco de Onís, editor of Nest-supported Granito: How to Nail a Dictator, as well as Toby Shimin, editor of Nest-supported 32 Pills: My Sister’s Suicide. Congratulations to all!
Post by 2018 Communications Intern Morgan Lee Hulquist.
Peabody Nominations are in!
The 77th Peabody Award nominations and we’re thrilled to announce that three Nest-supported filmmakers are in the running. Congratulations to all!
Heroin(e), directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon (2016 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award recipient)*
“Once a bustling industrial town, Huntington, West Virginia has become the epicenter of America’s modern opioid epidemic, with an overdose rate 10 times the national average. This flood of heroin now threatens this Appalachian city with a cycle of generational addiction, lawlessness, and poverty. But within this distressed landscape, Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon (Hollow) shows a different side of the fight against drugs—one of hope.”**
Motherland, directed by Ramona Diaz (2018 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award recipient)
One of the world’s poorest and most populous countries, the Philippines, struggles with reproductive health policy—both in the legislature where laws are in debate, and in a hospital with the busiest maternity ward on the planet.
Strong Island, directed by Yance Ford
Set in the suburbs of the black middle class, Strong Island seeks to uncover how—in the year of the Rodney King trial and the Los Angeles riots—the murder of the filmmaker’s older brother went unpunished. The film is an unflinching look at homicide, racial injustice, and the corrosive impact of grief over time.
*Chicken & Egg Pictures did not directly support Heroin(e), but supported Elaine during her Breakthrough year.
**Synopsis from the Heroin(e) webpage.
Chicken & Egg Pictures Oscar Nominees!
Two Nest-supported filmmakers’ films have been nominated for the 90th Academy Awards®, and we could not be more excited!
First-time filmmaker Yance Ford’s Nest-supported film Strong Island is nominated for Best Documentary (Feature).
Set in the suburbs of the black middle class, Strong Island seeks to uncover how—in the year of the Rodney King trial and the Los Angeles riots—the murder of the filmmaker’s older brother went unpunished. The film is an unflinching look at homicide, racial injustice, and the corrosive impact of grief over time.
2016 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award Recipient Elaine McMillion Sheldon‘s film Heroin(e) is nominated for Documentary (Short Subject).
“Once a bustling industrial town, Huntington, West Virginia has become the epicenter of America’s modern opioid epidemic, with an overdose rate 10 times the national average. This flood of heroin now threatens this Appalachian city with a cycle of generational addiction, lawlessness, and poverty. But within this distressed landscape, Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon (Hollow) shows a different side of the fight against drugs—one of hope.”*
Many joyful congratulations, and best of luck, to Yance and Elaine!
Check out a full list of all Oscar nominees here. We will be watching the 90th Academy Awards® on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at 8pm EST. Join us as we tune in!
*Synopsis from the Heroin(e) webpage.
Chicken & Egg Pictures on the 90th Academy Awards® shortlist!
The Oscars® shortlist is here, and we are ecstatic to announce that two Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported films have advanced to the next stage of the voting process for the 90th Academy Awards® in the Documentary Features category!
Congratulations to first-time filmmakers Jennifer Brea (Unrest) and Yance Ford (Strong Island), whose films have made it to the top 15 out of 170 submitted documentaries!
Unrest, directed by Jennifer Brea
Jennifer, a Harvard PhD student, was signing a check at a restaurant when she found she could not write her own name. Months before her wedding, she became progressively more ill, losing the ability even to sit in a wheelchair. When doctors insisted that her condition was psychosomatic, she picked up her camera to document her own story and the stories of four other patients struggling with the world’s most prevalent orphaned disease.
Strong Island, directed by Yance Ford
Set in the suburbs of the black middle class, Strong Island seeks to uncover how—in the year of the Rodney King trial and the Los Angeles riots—the murder of the filmmaker’s older brother went unpunished. The film is an unflinching look at homicide, racial injustice, and the corrosive impact of grief over time.
Check out the rest of the documentary features that have advanced in the voting process here.
Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards® will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2018. Best of luck to Jen and Yance!