Chicken & Egg Pictures has consistently updated our application questions to be in alignment with the Core Application with the latest version created in 2022. The majority of our questions about the project information, key creative personnel, financial information/budget, and work samples are directly in line with the Core Application. Supplemental questions are few and have been added where we have noticed a repeated need to capture information that we need to inform our selection process. We acknowledge the effort it takes for filmmakers to complete any application and our team reviews our application processes each year to ensure the information we are requesting is necessary to our evaluations and decision making.

We were involved in the discussions around the most recent update of the Core Application specifically about how to standardize response lengths to allow both for word count limits as well as character count limits (for those organizations like ours whose application platform only works using character counts). As an outcome of these discussions, the Core Application v. 2022 has a word-to-character count equivalency listed on page 1 of the Application Proposal Checklist. Our applications follow this guideline of 100 words = 650 characters. We have this information available via our application platform, but understand that there is space to clarify it further on our program webpages as well as our application checklist documents. We have included this on our webpage and application checklist for the (Egg)celerator Lab, which is open for applications through May 22, 2024, to reflect this as well.

We are sharing this information now because an inquiry was raised about our application process via social media and it’s our practice to be responsive to filmmaker inquiries, but also because it is likely a question that has come up for many more filmmakers beyond this particular instance. 

Post written by the Program Team

Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust

dir. & prod. Ann Kaneko

prod. Jin Yoo-Kim

POV premiere: Monday, July 18, 2022 

Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust was a Project: Hatched 2021 grantee.

An Act of Worship

dir. Nausheen Dadabhoy

prods. Heba Elorbany, Kristi Jacobson, Sofian Khan

POV premiere: Monday, October 17, 2022 

An Act of Worship participated in the 2018 Diversity Fellows Initiative and was a 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.

Midwives

dir. & prod. Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing

prods. Mila Aung-Thwin, Bob Moore, Ulla Lehmann

POV premiere: Monday, November 21, 2022

Midwives is a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee and won a Special Jury Award for Excellence in Vérité Filmmaking at Sundance 2022.

From the AlumNest

• The Mole Agent
  dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi
  prod. Marcela Santibanez
  Available through July
• President
  dir. Camilla Nielsson
  prods. Signe Byrge Sørensen, Joslyn Barnes
  POV premiere: Monday, August 8, 2022
  
  
• Delikado
  Writer and Executive Producer 2018 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Laura Nix, dir. Karl Malakunas, prods. Michael Collins, Marty Syjuco, Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala
  POV premiere: Monday, September 26, 2022

An egg-stra special shout out to our Co-Founder & Senior Creative Consultant Judith Helfand, whose film Love & Stuff, produced by our Co-Founder & Board President Julie Parker Benello and AlumNest filmmaker Hilla Medalia, will have its POV premiere on Monday, September 5, 2022.

Check out the full line-up with this link.

Projects from eight Nest-supported filmmakers will be participating at the MeetMarket, Sheffield DocFest’s pitching forum. The market will take place in-person for the first time since 2019 from Monday, June 27 through Tuesday, June 28 and will move online in the days following the festival.

Alis

dirs. & prods. Clare Weiskopf, Nicolas van Hemelryck

prods. Alexandra Galvis, Radu Stancu

Alis is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist, and the winner of the Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. 

Get your tickets with this link.

BEBA

dir. & prod. Rebeca Huntt

prod. Sofia Geld

BEBA is a Project: Hatched 2022 grantee. 

Get your tickets with this link.

Electric Malady

dir. Marie Lidén

prod. Aimara Reques, Lorna Jane Ferguson

Electric Malady is a 2018 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.

Get your tickets with this link.

Midwives

dir. & prod. Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing

prods. Bob Moore, Ulla Lehmann, Mila Aung-Thwin

Midwives is a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee and Special Jury Award winner at Sundance 2022. 

Get your tickets with this link.

From the AlumNest

• The Joys and Sorrows of Young Yuguo
  dir. Ilinca Calugareanu, prod. Mara Adina
  World Premiere in the International Short Competition 
  
  
• The Great Abandonment
  dirs. & prods. Shirley Abraham, Amit Madheshiya

MeetMarket

Eat Bitter

dirs. Ningyi Sun, Pascale Appora-Gnekindy

prod. Mathieu Faure

Eat Bitter is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist.

Hummingbirds

dirs. Silvia Castaños, Estefanía Contreras

prods. Jillian Schlesinger, Leslie Benavides, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin

Hummingbirds is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist.

Life + Life

dir. & prod. Contessa Gayles

Life + Life is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.

Matryoshka

dir. & prod. Maricarmen Merino

prods. Paulina Villegas, Karla Bukantz

Matryoshka is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee. 

The Wife Of

dir. & prod. Volia Chajkouskaya

prods.  Ivo Felt, Christian Popp, Marius Markevicius

The Wife Of is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.

AlumNest projects at the MeetMarket

• #NunsToo Documentary
  dir. Lorena Luciano, prod. Filippo Piscopo
  
  
• DALTON’S DREAM
  dirs. Kim Longinotto, Franky Murray Brown, prod. Lorine Plagnol
  
  
• The Gender Project (working title)
  dir. & prod. Kimberly Reed, prods. Louise Rosen, Robin Honan

Meet Our Team at Sheffield DocFest

Our Executive Director Jenni Wolfson and Program Coordinator Iva Dimitrova will be representing Chicken & Egg Pictures at the MeetMarket.

Check out the full line-up with this link and the complete list of MeetMarket projects with this link.

Midwives

dir. & prod. Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing

prods. Bob Moore, Ulla Lehmann, Mila Aung-Thwin

A tale of the complicated relationship between Rohingya and Buddhists in Myanmar, told over five years through the eyes of two midwives from either side of the divide. 

Midwives is a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee. 

Get your tickets + more info with this link.

The Janes

dirs.  Tia Lessin, Emma Pildes

prods. Emma Pildes, Daniel Arcana, Jessica Levin

The Janes is the story of an underground network of women in Chicago in the ‘60s and early ‘70s who provided safe, affordable, illegal abortions. 

The Janes is a Project: Hatched 2022 grantee. 

Get your tickets + more info with this link.

From the AlumNest

• Delikado 
  Writer and Executive Producer 2018 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Laura Nix, dir. Karl Malakunas, prods. Marty Syjuco, Michael Collins, Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala

Check out the full line-up with this link. 

Chicken & Egg Pictures proudly announced via Women & Hollywood six new grantees of our 2022 Project: Hatched program. Each film will receive $30,000 toward its completion and impact campaign and will participate in a seven-month program with tailored mentorship for impact strategy and professional development. Additionally, two films will each receive a $15,000 finalist grant.

This year, Chicken & Egg Pictures invited previously supported filmmakers in our alumni community, AlumNest, to participate in the Project: Hatched selection process.

“These processes are always complex and we receive more applications worthy of consideration than we can support. Sharing the power and responsibility that comes with making these selections with our AlumNest filmmakers was a very special and illuminating experience.”

Said Program Director Lucila Moctezuma.

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 2022 grantees:

A Woman on the Outside

Directors: Lisa Riordan Seville, Zara Katz 
Producers: Kiara C. Jones, Lisa Riordan Seville, Zara Katz
Kristal is a young ambitious Philadelphian driven to keep families connected to their incarcerated loved ones. But when her father and brother return from prison, she confronts the ultimate question: can she reunite her own family?

Any Given Day

Director: Margaret Byrne 
Producer: Margaret Byrne
Producer/Impact Producer: Latesha Dickerson
A filmmaker and three Chicagoans navigate the complexities of living with mental illness.

BEBA

Director: Rebeca Huntt 
Producers: Rebeca Huntt, Sofia Geld
Impact Producer: Mia Bruno
A stunning self-portrait, tough, raw, stubborn, and powerful “Beba” stares down the curses of her ancestry, probing the psychic wounds she has inherited, while simultaneously embracing the vastness of her multitudes.

Crossings

Director: Deann Borshay Liem 
Producers: Deann Borshay Liem, Ramsay Liem, Sarah Kim, Gay Dillingham
Thirty women peacemakers, including Gloria Steinem, undertake a risky crossing of the demilitarized zone (DMZ), from North to South Korea, to end America’s longest-running war.

Mama Has a Mustache

Director: Sally Rubin 
Producer: Sally Rubin
Impact Producer: Nick Kelso
Mama Has a Mustache is a short animated documentary about identity and family outside of the traditional gender binary, as seen through children’s eyes.

Takeover

Director: Emma Francis-Snyder 
Producer: Tony Gerber 
In 1970, the Young Lords, a group of activists, took over a decrepit hospital in the South Bronx, launching a battle for their lives, their community, and healthcare for all.

Project: Hatched 2022 finalists

Powerlands

Director: Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso
Producers: Jordan Flaherty, Emily Faye Ratner, Ewa Jasiewicz
A Navajo filmmaker investigates the global displacement of Indigenous people and the devastation of the environment by corporations that have exploited the land where she was born.

The Janes

Directors: Tia Lessin, Emma Pildes
Producers: Emma Pildes, Daniel Arcana, Jessica Levin
The Janes is the story of an underground network of women in Chicago in the ‘60s and early ‘70s who provided safe, affordable, illegal abortions

Congratulations and the best of luck!

Simple As Water

dir. & prod. Megan Mylan

prod. Robin Hessman

Storm Lake

dirs. Beth Levison & Jerry Risius

prod. Beth Levison

9to5: The Story of a Movement

dirs. & prods. Julia Reichert &  Steven Bognar

This film was supported through Julia Reichert’s Chicken & Egg Award year.

A Thousand Cuts

dir. & prod. Ramona S. Diaz

prod. Leah Marino

From the AlumNest

• High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
  2016 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Yoruba Richen directed the Episode 4: Freedom. 
  

• In the Same Breath
  dir. Nanfu Wang
  prods. Jialing Zhang, Carolyn Hepburn, Sara Rodriguez, Julie Goldman, and Christopher Clements

Check out the full nominee list with this link.

Last week, Director Tabitha Jackson and Director of Programming Kim Yutani, announced this edition’s details. Yutani and Jackson shared important statistics about women filmmakers in their program selection: 

“Of the submissions to Sundance this year, only 28 percent were from women. Yet among all the features selected, 52 percent were directed by women. When asked whether the programmers decided to boost women auteurs over men, they steered around the question, saying they are always looking to promote female filmmakers. Jackson added: “The slightly depressing fact is that the figure of 28 percent submissions from women has remained pretty static across the years. It is a figure that we would wish to see higher because of what it indicates about the state of the industry. It’s surprising that so few are submitting.”

Sundance Film Festival Unveils 2022 Lineup That Reflects ‘Age of Reckoning’, Nicole Sperling

Learn more about Mija, Midwives, and AlumNest films below:

Mija

dir. Isabel Castro

prod. Tabs Breese, Isabel Castro, Yesenia Tlahuel

Selected as part of the Next category
Premiering on Friday, January 21 
Get your tickets

With Doris’ voice as our guide, Mija uses VHS archive, verité footage, and camcorder vlogging to tell the story of two young women’s coming-of-age journeys as they look for success and belonging. The film is an immensely emotional and intimate portrait honoring the resilience of immigrants and their children. 

Midwives

dir. & prod. Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing

prods. Bob Moore, Ulla Lehmann, Mila Aung-Thwin

Selected as part of the World Cinema Documentary Competition 
Premiering on Monday, January 24 
Get your tickets

Hla and Nyo Nyo are two midwives that work side by side in a makeshift medical clinic in western Myanmar, where the Rohingya (a Muslim minority community) are persecuted and denied basic rights. Filmed over three tumultuous years, their remarkable relationship reveals both tensions and the hope inherent in their common cause.

From the AlumNest

AlumNest filmmakers are soaring into Sundance’s program in the U.S. Documentary Competition to the World Cinema Documentary Competition:

• Descendant, directed by Margaret Brown, prods. Essie Chambers, Kyle Martin
• The Janes, directed by Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes, prods. Emma Pildes, Daniel Arcana, Jessica Levin
• TikTok, Boom., directed by Shalini Kantayya, prods. Ross M. Dinerstein. Shalini Kantayya, Danni Mynard
• To The End, directed by Rachel Lears, prod. Sabrina Schmidt Gordon
• The Martha Mitchell Effect, produced by Beth Levison, Judith Mizrachy, dirs. Anne Alvergue, Debra McClutchy 

A special shoutout to 2018 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Natalia Almada, whose 2002 short documentary film All Water Has a Perfect Memory,  will screen online as part of the “From the Collection” program, a line-up of 40 short films selected to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Sundance Institute. Ticket sales start Friday, December, 17.

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

The 32nd annual New Orleans Film Festival will take place from Friday, November 5 through Sunday, November 14, with in-person screenings and a Virtual Cinema accessible worldwide ! At Chicken & Egg Pictures we are egg-cited to see three Project: Hatched 2021 films and a film from the AlumNest as part of their lineup. Take a look at them below and get your tickets with this

Fruits of Labor

dir. & prod. Emily Cohen Ibañez

Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust

dir. & prod. Ann Kaneko 

prod. Jin Yoo-Kim

On The Divide

dirs. Maya Cueva, Leah Galant

prods. Melanie Miller, Diane Becker, Amanda Spain, Elizabeth Woodward

From the AlumNest

Ale Libre, directed by Project: Hatched 2021 grantee Maya Cueva, prods. Mayra Amaya, Melissa Bueno-Woerner, Daniel Tantalean, is part of the Documentary shorts section.

Post by Communications Intern Mariana Sanson

Funding Day

Thursday, Nov. 11

The Nuts and Bolts of Equity Investing
Featuring Chicken & Egg Pictures Board member Susan Margolin

Building Budget and Community on Kickstarter
Featuring Nest friend and Brown Girls Doc Mafia Founder Iyabo Boyd

Producing Day

Friday, Nov. 12

Impact Producing: Case Studies
Featuring Storm Lake director and producer Beth Levison (Project: Hatched 2021) and Impact Producers Alice Quinlan and Hoda Hawa. 

Cinematography Day

Saturday. Nov. 13

Introducing the Documentary Cinematographers Alliance 
Featuring An Act of Worship director Nausheen Dadabhoy (2019 (Egg)celerator Lab) and Made in Boise cinematographer Jenni Morello. 

Editing Day

Sunday, Nov. 14

Ade Launches Guidelines and BIPOC Editors Initiative
Moderated by 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Geeta Gandbhir

Case Study: The Rescue
Featuring Co-Founder Senior Creative Consultant Judith Helfand 

Finding and Shaping Your Main Character
Moderated by Co-Founder Senior Creative Consultant Judith Helfand

Doc Series Day

Tuesday, Nov. 16

Power Dynamics in Documentary and Journalism
Featuring 2017 Chicken and Egg Award recipient Dawn Porter 

Proximity, Access, and Journalistic Distance
Featuring Enemies of the State director Sonnia Kennebeck (2018 (Egg)celerator Lab).

Audience Engagement and Distribution Day

Wednesday. Nov. 17

How to Build Your Audience from Scratch
Featuring And So I Stayed directors Natalie Pattillo and Daniel Nelson (Project: Hatched 2021)

Success? 
Featuring Nest friend and Brown Girls Doc Mafia Founder Iyabo Boyd.

Legal for Docs Day

Thursday, Nov. 18

New Trends in Ethics and Documentaries
Featuring the attorneys Nicole Page and Michelle Lamardo our partner Reavis Page Jump LLP Featuring Nest-supported filmmaker and Pray Away (2019 (Egg)celerator Lab) producer Jessica Devaney. 

Post by Communications Intern Mariana Sanson.