2022 (Egg)celerator Lab recipient The Wife Of director Volia Chajkouskaya and 2022 Critical Issues Fund recipient Intercepted are also part of the Cannes Docs programming.

The event will take place from Thursday, May 16 through Wednesday, May 22. More details below.  

Saturday, May 18

Doc Talk > Filmmakers Collectives Rising up in Eastern Europe ⁠
2:00 PM GMT+2
Volia Chajkouskaya, Irina Gelashvili, Lyuba Knorozok, Marta Krzeptowska
Moderated by Selin Murat

East and Central European countries have experienced severe upheavals in the last 10 years, from right-wing governments and active aggressive wars to external political meddling. However, documentary cinema is bursting with creativity and captivating audiences across the world. Filmmakers in the region however find themselves in double-roles, both as artists pushing boundaries of documentary filmmaking and activists on the picket lines fighting for what is theirs or in the case of Ukraine, on the frontlines of war. A conversation with these ambitious and courageous filmmakers about how their filmmakers’ collectives support their everyday struggles and successes.

Sunday, May 19

Doc Talk > Redefining Success on Our Own Terms
2:00 PM GMT+2
Ilinca Calugareanu, Alisa Kovalenko
Moderated by Jenni Wolfson

The Chicken & Egg Award provides unrestricted funding and mentorship to help women and gender-expansive filmmakers advance their creative and business goals at a critical juncture in their careers. Filmmakers Ilinca Calugareanu and Alisa Kovalenko, in conversation with Chicken & Egg Pictures CEO Jenni Wolfson, reflect on their award year and share their values, their breakthroughs, and what is at stake as they redefine success for themselves.

Monday, May 20

Special Screening: Intercepted
9:30 AM GMT+2
dir. Oksana Karpovych
prods. Giacomo Nudi, Rocío B. Fuentes

Doc Talk > Towards a Universal Values System in Documentary: Dismantling Borders for Greater Equity 
2:00 PM GMT+2
Viv Li, Kiyoko McCrae, Alemberg Ang, Opal H. Bennett, Adam Piron
Moderated by Devika Girish

The Golden Age of Documentary, as the last 5 years have been labeled, may not have stabilized finances for the industry at large, but it has undeniably garnered more press and audience attention to documentaries. Our films play and win awards in the main competitions of A-List Festivals including Cannes, and are featured on the front page of major news outlets all over the world, making us more interconnected internationally than ever before. Under such scrutiny and when real life is involved, how can we work together to create a set of ethical or values-based guidelines to ensure equity, fairness, and safety? As our world currently feels turned upside down, let’s explore how our values are changing and if common ones can be agreed upon.

2022 (Egg)celerator Lab recipient The Wife Of director Volia Chajkouskaya and 2022 Critical Issues Fund recipient Intercepted are also part of the Cannes Docs programming.

The event will take place from Thursday, May 16 through Wednesday, May 22. More details below.  

Saturday, May 18

Doc Talk > Filmmakers Collectives Rising up in Eastern Europe ⁠
2:00 PM GMT+2
Volia Chajkouskaya, Irina Gelashvili, Lyuba Knorozok, Marta Krzeptowska
Moderated by Selin Murat

East and Central European countries have experienced severe upheavals in the last 10 years, from right-wing governments and active aggressive wars to external political meddling. However, documentary cinema is bursting with creativity and captivating audiences across the world. Filmmakers in the region however find themselves in double-roles, both as artists pushing boundaries of documentary filmmaking and activists on the picket lines fighting for what is theirs or in the case of Ukraine, on the frontlines of war. A conversation with these ambitious and courageous filmmakers about how their filmmakers’ collectives support their everyday struggles and successes.

Sunday, May 19

Doc Talk > Redefining Success on Our Own Terms
2:00 PM GMT+2
Ilinca Calugareanu, Alisa Kovalenko
Moderated by Jenni Wolfson

The Chicken & Egg Award provides unrestricted funding and mentorship to help women and gender-expansive filmmakers advance their creative and business goals at a critical juncture in their careers. Filmmakers Ilinca Calugareanu and Alisa Kovalenko, in conversation with Chicken & Egg Pictures CEO Jenni Wolfson, reflect on their award year and share their values, their breakthroughs, and what is at stake as they redefine success for themselves.

Monday, May 20

Special Screening: Intercepted
9:30 AM GMT+2
dir. Oksana Karpovych
prods. Giacomo Nudi, Rocío B. Fuentes

Doc Talk > Towards a Universal Values System in Documentary: Dismantling Borders for Greater Equity 
2:00 PM GMT+2
Viv Li, Kiyoko McCrae, Alemberg Ang, Opal H. Bennett, Adam Piron
Moderated by Devika Girish

The Golden Age of Documentary, as the last 5 years have been labeled, may not have stabilized finances for the industry at large, but it has undeniably garnered more press and audience attention to documentaries. Our films play and win awards in the main competitions of A-List Festivals including Cannes, and are featured on the front page of major news outlets all over the world, making us more interconnected internationally than ever before. Under such scrutiny and when real life is involved, how can we work together to create a set of ethical or values-based guidelines to ensure equity, fairness, and safety? As our world currently feels turned upside down, let’s explore how our values are changing and if common ones can be agreed upon.

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

Against the Tide

dir. & prod. Sarvnik Kaur

prods. Koval Bhatia, Quentin Laurent

Against the Tide is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee that had its Hungarian Premiere in the Anthropocene section.

Cine Guerrillas: Scenes From the Labudović Reels

dir. & prod. Mila Turajlić

prod. Carine Chichkowsky

Cine-Guerrillas: Scenes From the Labudović Reels was supported through Mila Turajlić’s 2020 Chicken & Egg Award and had its Hungarian Premiere in the Viewfinder section.

Is There Anybody Out There?

dir. Ella Glendining

prod. Janine Marmot

2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Is There Anybody Out There? had its Hungarian Premiere in the Student Verzió section.

The Mind Game

dirs. & impact prods. Eefje Blankevoort, Els van Driel, Sajid “SK” Khan Nasiri

prod. Laura Verduijn

Project: Hatched 2023 participant The Mind Game had its Hungarian Premiere in the Student Verzió section.

The Golden Thread

dir. Nishtha Jain

prod. Irena Taskovski

The Golden Thread was supported through Nishtha Jain’s 2020 Chicken & Egg Award that had its Hungarian Premiere in the Work/Dream/Work section.

Songs of Earth

dir. & prod. Margreth Olin

prod. Lena Faye-Lund Sandvik

Songs of Earth was supported through Margreth Olin’s 2022 Chicken & Egg Award and had its Hungarian Premiere in the Anthropocene section.

From the AlumNest

• We Will Not Fade Away
  dir. Alisa Kovalenko
  prods. Valery Kalmykov, Oleksiy Kobelev

Post written by Communications Intern Tess Caldwell

• 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

• 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

• 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. 

We are sending special congratulations to the 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantee Razing Liberty Square on their World Premiere. See below for more details.

• 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee Against the Tide | Canadian Premiere | dir. Sarvnik Kaur | prod. Koval Bhatia

• 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab Finalist – Eat Bitter | Canadian Premiere | dirs. Ningyi Sun, Pascale Appora-Gnekindy | prod. Mathieu Faure

• 2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Tatiana Huezo’s – The Echo | North American Premiere | dir. & prod. Tatiana Huezo | prod. Dalia Reyes

• 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Maite Alberdi’s The Eternal Memory | Canadian Premiere | dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi | prods. Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue

• 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee Milisuthando | Canadian Premiere | dir. Milisuthando Bongela | prod. Marion Isaacs

• 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Grantee Mila Turajlić’s Non-Aligned: Scenes From the Labudović Reels | North American Premiere | dir. & prod. Mila Turajlić | prod. Carine Chichkowsky

• 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee Polaris | Canadian Premiere | dir. Ainara Vera  | prods. Clara Vuillermoz, Emile Hertling Peronard

• 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Tonje Hessen Schei’s Praying for Armageddon | North American Premiere | dir. Tonje Hessen Schei | co-dir. Michael Rowley | prods Torstein Parelius, Ingrid G. Aune Falch, Christian Aune Falch

• 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantee Razing Liberty Square | World Premiere | dir. & prod. Katja Esson | prods. Ann Bennett, Corinna Sager, Ronald Baez

• 2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Jialing Zhang’s Total Trust | North American Premiere | dir. & prod. Jialing Zhang | prods. Knut Jager, Michael Grotenhoff, Saskia Kress

Special Presentations in the Big Ideas Section

The 2023 Special Presentations program features high-profile subjects, award-winning films and filmmakers, and masterful perspectives on current events and pressing issues. There are 24 films set to screen in this program. Two Nest-supported films are being featured in the Big Ideas section.

Is there Anybody Out There?

dir. Ella Glendining

prod. Janine Marmot

2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Is There Anybody Out There? is having its Canadian premiere.

Get your tickets here.

It’s Only Life After All

dir. & prod. Alexandria Bombach

prods. Kathlyn Horan, Jess Devaney, Anya Rous

Hot Docs Forum

The Hot Docs Forum, one of the festivals’ flagship industry events, is where filmmakers are able to pitch to international decision makers. This year, they’ve chosen 19 Forum projects representing 16 countries and 23 filmmakers, 12 of whom are women and 11 of whom are BIPOC.

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.

From the AlumNest

• We Will Not Fade Away
  dir. Alisa Kovalenko
  prods. Valery Kalmykov, Oleksiy Kobelev

• Confessions of a Good Samaritan
  dir. Penny Lane
  prod. Gabriel Sedgwick 

Meet our Team at Hot Docs

Representing Chicken & Egg Pictures, our Program Director Kiyoko McCrae will be in attendance at Hot Docs. While in Toronto shell be attending the Hot Docs Forum, Deal Maker meetings, and attending the Work in Progress program.

Post written by Spring Intern Tess Caldwell

• 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab Finalist Eat Bitter | World Premiere | Dox:Award section | dirs. Ningyi Sun, Pascale Appora-Gnekindy | prod. Mathieu Faure 

• 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Is There Anybody Out There? | Highlights section | dir. Ella Glendining | prod. Janine Marmot 

• 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Mila Turajlić’s Non-Aligned: Scenes from the Labudović Reels | Artists & Auteurs section | dir. & prod. Mila Turajlić | prod. Carine Chichkowsky

• 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Tonje Hessen Schei’s Praying for Armageddon | F:act Award section | dir. Tonje Hessen Schei | co-dir. Michael Rowley

• 2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Margreth Olin’s Songs of Earth | World Premiere | Dox:Award section | dir. & prod. Margreth Olin

• 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Maite Alberdi’s The Eternal Memory | Highlights section | dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi | prods. Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue

• 2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Elwira Niewira’s The Hamlet Syndrome | Highlights section | dirs. Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski | prod. Magdalena Kaminska

• 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee The Tuba Thieves | Next:Wave section | dir. & prod. Alison O’Daniel

• 2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Jialing Zhang’s Total Trust | World Premiere | Dox: Award and Rewriting the Future sections | dir. & prod. Jialing Zhang | prods. Knut Jager, Michael Grotenhoff, Saskia Kress

QUEER FUTURES

In partnership with Multitude Films, three short documentaries of the QUEER FUTURES series, directed by Brit Fryer & Noah Schamus, Twiggy Pucci Garçon, and Sasha Wortzel that radically imagine future visions of queer life, will have their world premiere. These films expand the boundaries of nonfiction to explore gender affirming care, fat beauty and liberation, and nonbinary ballroom culture. Transcending the rigidity and oppressions of the current moment, these directors locate, build, and inhabit worlds that offer us new ways of being–in the present and the future. 

• How to Carry Water
  dir. Sasha Wortzel
  prods. Jess Devaney, Anya Rous, Colleen Cassingham

• The Script
  dirs. Brit Fryer, Noah Schamus 
  prods. Jessica Devaney, Colleen Cassingham 

• MnM
  dir. Twiggy Pucci Garçon
  prods. Colleen Cassingham, Jessica Devaney

From the AlumNest

• Body Parts
  dir. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
  prod. Helen Hood Scheer

• Kim’s Video
  dirs. & prods. Ashley Sabin, David Redmon
  prods. Deborah & Dale Smith, Rebecca Tabasky, Francesco Galavotti 

• Merkel
  dir. & prod. Eva Weber
  prods. Lizzie Gillett, Sigrid Jonsson Dyekjær, Sonja Henrici

• Victim/Suspect
  dir. & prod. Nancy Schwartzman
  prods. Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, Alice Henty, Amanda Pike, Rachel de Leon

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. Eight Nest-supported filmmakers will present their new projects: Brett Story, Iryna Tsilyk, Jessica Kingdon, Meena Nanji and Zippy Kimundu, Mila Turajlić, Oksana Karpovych, and Vaishali Sinha. 

CPH: CONFERENCE

A 5-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. Our Nest is well represented across the different activities from Monday, March 20 to Friday, March 24. 

A DIALOGUE ON CRAFT WITH MAITE ALBERDI AND ANNA HINTS
Monday, March 20
With 2020 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Maite Alberdi

THE TRUST POLICY 
Tuesday, March 21
With Chicken & Egg Pictures CEO Jenni Wolfson, Shanida Scotland (Doc Society), Jess Kwan (Concordia Fellowship), and Sean Flynn (Points North Institute).

A DIALOGUE ON CRAFT WITH ALISON O’DANIEL, AXEL DANIELSON & MAXIMILIEN VAN AERTRYCK
Tuesday, March 21
With 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab recipient Alison O’Daniel

A DIALOGUE ON CRAFT WITH JIALING ZHANG, PUK DAMSGÅRD AND SØREN KLOVBORG
Wednesday, March 22
With 2021 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Jialing Zhang

A DISCUSSION WITH JESSICA KINGDON
Thursday, March 23
With 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Jessica Kingdon

CITIZEN FILMMAKERS 
Friday, March 24
With 2021 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Elwira Niewira, 2018 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Nanfu Wang, 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Volia Chajkouskaya, and 2023 Critical Issues Fund recipient Alisa Kovalenko

SONGS OF EARTH – LISTENING TO CARE
Friday, March 24
With 2022 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Margreth Olin, Diego Galafassi, Cara Mertes, Bo Øksnebjerg, and Danielle Turkov Wilson

RISE OF INSTITUTIONS
Friday, March 24
With our Senior Creative Consultant Yvonne Welbon, 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Volia Chajkouskaya, and Anne Marie Borsboom.

Meet our Team at CPH:DOX

Our CEO Jenni Wolfson is participating in the CPH: CONFERENCE, and our Associate Director of Program Sabine Fayoux Cantillo will be taking 1:1 meetings with filmmakers.

We are sending huge congratulations to our International Program Consultant Tereza Simikova, CPH:DOX Head of Industry & Training, and to her team, for putting together this fantastic edition. 

Blue Id

dirs. & prods. Burcu Melekoglu, Vuslat Karan

Blue Id is a Nest-supported film having its Greek Premiere. 

Available in person and online. Get your tickets here.

Is There Anybody Out There?

dir. Ella Glendining

prod. Janine Marmot

2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Is There Anybody Out There? is having its European premiere.

Available in person and online. Get your tickets here.

It’s Only Life After All

dir. & prod. Alexandria Bombach

prods. Kathlyn Horan, Jess Devaney, Anya Rous

It’s Only Life After All was supported through Alexandria Bombach’s 2019 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its international premiere.

Get your tickets here.

From the AlumNest

• Divorce Iranian Style
  dir. & prod. Kim Longinotto
  dir. Ziba Mir-Hosseini
  
  
• Kim’s Video
  dirs. & prods. David Redmon, Ashley Sabin
  prods. Deborah Smith, Dale Smith, Francesco Galavotti, Rebecca Tabasky
  
  
• Gumbo Coalition
  dir. & prod. Barbara Kopple
  prods. David Cassidy, Williams Cole, Ray Nowosielski
  
  
• My ne zgasnemo / We Will Not Fade Away
  dir. Alisa Kovalenko
  prods. Valery Kalmykov, Oleksiy Kobelev
  
  
• The Dazzling Light of Sunset
  dir. & prod. Salomé Jashi

Meet our Team at Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival

Representing Chicken & Egg Pictures, our Program Manager Iva Dimitrova will be in attendance at TiDF25. She will be participating on the panel for the Thessaloniki Pitching Forum on March 6, taking 1:1 meetings through Agora Film Market, and participating as an expert in Doc Counseling providing consultancy sessions to attending filmmakers. 

Post written by Spring intern Tess Caldwell

El eco / The Echo

dir. & prod. Tatiana Huezo

prod. Dalia Reyes

El eco / The Echo will have its world premiere in the Encounters section and was supported through Tatiana Huezo’s 2021 Chicken & Egg Award.  
Get your tickets here.

The Eternal Memory

dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi

prods. Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue

The Eternal Memory will have its European Premiere in the Panorama Section and was supported through Maite Alberdi’s 2020 Chicken & Egg Award. 
Get your tickets here.

Hummingbirds

dirs. Silvia Del Carmen Castaños, Estefanía “Beba” Contreras

co-dirs. & prods. Jillian Schlesinger, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Diane Ng, Ana Rodriguez-Falco

prods. Leslie Benavides, Rivkah Beth Medow

Hummingbirds will have its world premiere in the Generation 14plus section and is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist.   
Get your tickets here.

From the AlumNest

• My ne zgasnemo / We Will Not Fade Away
  dir. Alisa Kovalenko
  prods. Valery Kalmykov, Oleksiy Kobelev
  World premiere in the 14plus competition of Berlinale Generation
  
  Alisa is also participating in the Berlinale Talents Event A Closer Look: Current Docs from Ukraine
  
  
• 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Kirsten Johnson is participating in the Berlinale Talents Event Simply Absurd: Subversive Screenwriting

We are proud to present the twelve grantees selected for the 2022 Critical Issues Fund. The Critical Issues Fund supports filmmakers, with more than $250,000 in funding, whose work is focused on important and topical issues that are currently having a decided and material impact on communities domestically and internationally. The 2022 grant awardees have projects exploring some of the most pressing issues of the moment: the war in Ukraine, gun violence, reproductive justice, and climate emergencies. 

“Through the Critical Issues Fund, we have identified films that have the potential to drive social change by sharing these stories with the world now—not years down the line. Chicken & Egg Pictures cares deeply about these issues and believes that a more equitable and just world can be shaped by the power of documentary films. Our hope is that through highlighting these stories told by talented women filmmakers, others will be motivated to action to support the films and the issues they highlight,” said CEO of Chicken & Egg Pictures, Jenni Wolfson. “We live in a world that’s not doing enough to prevent war, gun violence, climate change, or advance reproductive justice. We firmly believe these films can help in the fight for these issues.” 

We are thrilled to give these filmmakers a warm welcome to the Nest. The 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantees are: 

After Roe (Working title)
Directors: Amber Fares, Geeta Gandbhir (US/CANADA)
After Roe explores the ongoing nationwide battle playing out after the Supreme Court left the fate of tens of millions of women in the hands of politicians across the country.

Breaking the News
Directors: Heather Courtney, Chelsea Hernandez, Princess Hairston (US)
Producer: Diane Quon
Breaking the News follows a group of women and non-binary journalists, bucking the white male status quo, to launch The 19th*—a digital news startup that asks who has been omitted from mainstream coverage and how they can be included.

Displaced 
Director: Olha Zhurba (UKRAINE)
Producer: Darya Bassel 
Displaced captures a collective portrait of Ukrainians fleeing the grindstones of war, and those who stayed and are forced to adapt to life under constant shelling.

Frontline 
Director: Alisa Kovalenko (UKRAINE)
Producer: Katarzyna Kuczyńska 
Co-producers: Monica Hellström, Valeryi Kalmykov
Frontline is a diary from the frontline of the Russian invasion of Ukraine by a director and mother turned soldier.

Hollywood Does Abortion (Working title)
Directors & Producers: Barbara Attie, Mike Attie, Janet Goldwater (US)
Producer: Eliza Licht 
Hollywood Does Abortion explores descriptions of abortion in film and television, revealing how Hollywood both reflects and distorts this safe but controversial medical procedure.

Intercepted 
Director: Oksana Karpovych (UKRAINE/CANADA)
Producer: Les Films Cosmos
Intercepted is a journey through Ukraine that reveals the banality of evil behind the Russian invasion.

Plan C
Director & Producer: Tracy Droz Tragos (US)
Plan C follows the journey of a grassroots network, with a controversial visionary at the helm, as they fight to expand access to abortion pills across the United States, and keep hope alive during a global pandemic and the fall of Roe v. Wade.

Razing Liberty Square 
Director: Katja Esson (GERMANY/US)
Razing Liberty Square features Miami as ground zero for sea level rise. When residents of the Liberty Square public-housing community learn about a $300-million revitalization project in 2015, they soon discover that this sudden interest comes from the fact that their neighborhood is located on the highest and driest ground in the city. Now they must prepare to fight a new form of racial injustice: climate gentrification.

Red Zone
Director: Iryna Tsilyk (UKRAINE)
Producer: Darya Bassel 
Red Zone shares Tsilyk’s very intimate and female perspective on the question—what does it mean to be a woman in the war times?

Sol in the Garden 
Directors: Emily Cohen Ibañez, Débora Souza Silva (US/COLOMBIA/BRAZIL)
Sol in the Garden features Sol—who is released from prison after 16 years of incarceration—and follows her journey as she discovers that coming into her own freedom can be as challenging as living behind bars. Through a community gardening collective of formerly incarcerated horticulturalists in East Oakland, Sol strives to recover her humanity and sense of self.

Untitled Baby Doe Film 
Director: Jessica Earnshaw (CANADA)
Producer: Holly Meehl Chapman
Untitled Baby Doe Film intimately explores the phenomena of pregnancy denial through the stories of two women, a generation apart, given life sentences for the deaths of their newborns.

Untitled Uvalde Documentary 
Director & Producer: Anayansi Prado (PANAMA/US)

Note: The parentheses next to the directors’ names indicate the directors’ country or countries of origin.