“Through our mission to advance gender equity in the documentary film industry, Chicken & Egg Pictures is proud to support women and nonbinary filmmakers whose work expands our collective consciousness. We congratulate all Nest-supported filmmakers for their tremendous achievements, and for crafting stories that advance social change.” -Jenni Wolfson, Executive Director of Chicken & Egg Pictures.

Check out each nomination below and celebrate the filmmakers and their teams with us:

A Thousand Cuts

dir. & prod. Ramona S. Diaz

prods. Christopher Clements, Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Leah Marino

Nominated for: 

• Outstanding Social Issue Documentary
• Best Documentary

Supported through Ramona’s 2018 Chicken & Egg Award

Coded Bias

dir. & prod. Shalini Kantayya

Nominated for: 

• Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary 

Coded Bias was a Project: Hatched 2020 grantee

Picture a Scientist

dirs. & prods. Sharon Shattuck & Ian Cheney

prod. Manette Pottle

Nominated for: 

• Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary 

Picture a Scientist was a Project: Hatched 2020 grantee

Pray Away

dir. & prod. Kristine Stolakis

prod. Jessica Devaney and Anya Rous

Nominated for:

• Outstanding Social Issue Documentary 

Pray Away was a 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee

Simple As Water

dirs. & prod. Megan Mylan

prod. Robin Hessman

Nominated for:

• Outstanding Direction: Documentary 

Simple As Water was a 2018 Nest-supported project

Storm Lake

dirs. Beth Levison & Jerry Risius

prod. Beth Levison

Nominated for:

• Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary

Storm Lake was a Project: Hatched 2021 grantee

Takeover

dir. Emma Francis-Snyder

prod. Tony Gerber

Nominated for:

• Outstanding Short Documentary 

Takeover is a Project: Hatched 2022 grantee

The Changing Same: An American Pilgrimage

dirs. Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster

prods. Scatter, Rada Studio

Nominated for: 

• Outstanding Interactive Media: Innovation 

The Changing Same: An American Pilgrimage was supported through the 2017 Impact and Innovation Grant

From the AlumNest  

• In the Same Breath
  dir. Nanfu Wang
  prods. Jialing Zhang, Carolyn Hepburn, Sara Rodriguez, Julie Goldman, and Christopher Clements 
  Nominated for: Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary, Best Documentary  
  
  
• Through Our Eyes: Apart  
  dirs. Geeta Gandbhir, Rudy Valdez
  prods. Beth Miranda Botshon, Jessica Devaney, Lisa Diamond, Anya Rous
  Nominated for: Best Short Documentary

Check out the full nominations list with this link.

At Chicken & Egg Pictures we are egg-static to congratulate Project: Hatched 2020 grantee Belly of the Beast, dir. Erika Cohn, prods. Nicole Docta, Christen Marquez & Angela Tucker on their Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary Emmy®. 

Huge congratulations to their team!   

Belly of the Beast (Project: Hatched 2020)

dir. Erika Cohn

prods. Nicole Docta, Christen Marquez & Angela Tucker

Special Congratulations

A special congratulations to our Co-Founder & Board President Julie Parker Benello, producer of Athlete A (dirs. Bonni Cohen & Jon Shenk, prods. Serin Marshall, Julie Parker Benello & Jennifer Say) for receiving an Outstanding Investigative Documentary Emmy®. 

Take a look at our 2021 Project: Hatched grantees here and read the full Award winners list here.

Post by 2021 Intern Mariana Sanson. 

Belly of the Beast (Project: Hatched 2020)

dir. Erika Cohn

prods. Nicole Docta, Christen Marquez & Angela Tucker

Nominated for Outstanding Direction: Documentary, Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary, Best Documentary, Outstanding Editing: Documentary

AlumNest Films

The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show

Nominated for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary
dir. Yoruba Richen (2016 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient)
prods. Valerie Thomas & Joan Walsh

Tutwiler

Nominated for Outstanding Short Documentary
dir. Elaine McMillion Sheldon (2016 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient)
prod. Alysia Santo

John Lewis: Good Trouble

Nominated by Outstanding Research: Documentary, Outstanding Historical Documentary, Outstanding Lighting Direction and Scenic Design
dir. Dawn Porter (2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient)
prods. Erika Alexander & Ben Arnon

Special Congratulations

A special congratulations to our Co-Founder & Board President Julie Parker Benello, producer of Athlete A (dirs. Bonni Cohen & Jon Shenk, prods. Serin Marshall, Julie Parker Benello & Jen Say). The film was nominated for Best Documentary and Outstanding Investigative Documentary. 

Check out the full nomination list here. The awards for Documentary Categories will be presented on Wednesday, September 29, 2021. Post by 2021 Summer Communications Intern Mariana Sanson. 

Solitary, directed by 2016 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award recipient Kristi Jacobson, received the Outstanding Investigative Documentary award (HBO Documentary Films).

Solitary investigates an invisible part of the American justice system: the use of isolation and segregation in US prisons, commonly known as solitary confinement. With unprecedented access inside a prison tackling the issue head on, the film explores this divisive issue through the experiences of those on both sides of the bars.

Heroin(e), directed by 2016 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award recipient Elaine McMillion Sheldon, received the Outstanding Short Documentary award (Netflix).

“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.”*

Chicken & Egg Pictures did not directly support Heroin(e), but supported Elaine during her Breakthrough year. Check out Elaine’s newest film on the subject, Recovery Boys (also on Netflix streaming).

The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick received the Outstanding Research award (PBS).

“Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, The Vietnam War, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film.”**

Chicken & Egg Pictures did not support The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick but is supporting Lynn Novick’s project College Behind Bars: The Bard Prison Initiative, currently in production.

We would also like to congratulate all of our friends at PBS, who received a whopping seven Emmy awards last night, as well as all of the incredible nominees and winners at the News and Documentary Emmy® Awards.

*Synopsis from the Recovery Boys website.

**Synopsis courtesy of PBS.

Solitary, directed by Kristi Jacobson (2016 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award recipient) for Outstanding Investigative Documentary  and Outstanding Editing – Documentary

Solitary investigates an invisible part of the American justice system: the use of isolation and segregation in US prisons, commonly known as solitary confinement. With unprecedented access inside a prison tackling the issue head on, the film explores this divisive issue through the experiences of those on both sides of the bars.

Heroin(e), directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon (2016 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award recipient)* for Outstanding Short Documentary

“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.”**

National Bird, directed by Sonia Kennebeck for Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary

“National Bird follows the dramatic journey of three whistleblowers who are determined to break the silence around one of the most controversial current affairs issues of our time: the secret US drone war. At the center of the film are three US military veterans. Plagued by guilt over participating in the killing of faceless people in foreign countries, they decide to speak out publicly, despite the possible consequences.”*

Sonia’s second film Enemies of the State is a participant of the 2018 Accelerator Lab.

See the rest of the nominees here. The 39th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards® will be presented Monday, October 1.

*Chicken & Egg Pictures did not directly support Heroin(e), but supported Elaine during her Breakthrough year. Check out Elaine’s newest film on the subject, Recovery Boys (on Netflix streaming).

**Synopsis from the Heroin(e) webpage.

***Synopsis from the National Bird webpage.

Post by 2018 Communications Intern Morgan Lee Hulquist. 

Thank You For Playing, directed by Malika Zouhali-Worrall and David Osit (PBS ‘POV’) won for Outstanding Arts & Culture Documentary.

When one-year-old Joel is diagnosed with terminal cancer, his father Ryan begins working on an unusual and poetic video game to honor Joel’s life. Following Ryan’s family through the creation of the game and the day-to-day realities of Joel’s treatment, Thank You For Playing is a thought-provoking testimony to the empathetic power of art, examining how we process grief through technology in the twenty-first century, and the implications of documenting profound human experiences in a new artistic medium: the video game.

(T)ERROR, dir. by Lyric Cabral & David Felix Sutcliffe

(T)ERROR, directed by Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe (PBS ‘Independent Lens’) won for Outstanding Investigative Documentary.

(T)ERROR is the first documentary to place filmmakers on the ground during an active FBI counterterrorism sting operation. Through the perspective of “Shariff,”a 63-year-old Black revolutionary turned informant, viewers get an unfettered glimpse of the government’s counterterrorism tactics and the murky justifications behind them. Taut, stark and controversial, (T)ERROR illuminates the fragile relationships between individual and surveillance state in modern America, and asks who is watching the watchers.

And The Armor of Light, (PBS ‘Independent Lens’), directed by our Nest-friend and supporter Abigail Disney, won for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary.  The Armor of Light follows the journey of an Evangelical minister trying to find the moral strength to preach about the growing toll of gun violence in America.

Many congratulations to all!

Read more about this year’s awards here.

What a week for wonderful news at Chicken & Egg Pictures!

Nominees for the 38th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards® were announced yesterday and we were overloaded with joy to see so many Nest-supported films and filmmakers included. Congratulations to all and good luck!

Among the Believers, directed by Hemal Trivedi and Mohammed Naqvi (World ‘Doc World’) Nominated for Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary

The Hand That Feeds, directed by Rachel Lears and Robin Blotnick (World ‘America ReFramed’) Nominated for Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary

Meet the Patels, directed by Geeta Patel and Ravi Patel (PBS ‘Independent Lens’) Nominated for Outstanding Arts & Culture Documentary

No Más Bebés, directed by Renee Tajima-Peña (PBS ‘Independent Lens’) Nominated for Outstanding Historical Documentary

The Return, directed by Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway (PBS ‘POV’) Nominated for Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary

Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four, directed by Deborah S. Esquenazi (Investigation Discovery) Nominated for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary

Thank You For Playing, directed by Malika Zouhali-Worrall and David Osit (PBS ‘POV’) Nominated for Best Documentary, Outstanding Arts & Culture Documentary, and Outstanding Editing: Documentary

(T)ERROR, directed by Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe (PBS ‘Independent Lens’) Nominated for Outstanding Investigative Documentary

What Tomorrow Brings, directed by Beth Murphy (PBS ‘POV’) Nominated for Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary

And a special congratulations to 2017 Accelerator Lab grantee Nanfu Wang for Hooligan Sparrow, (PBS ‘POV’), which was nominated for Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary and Outstanding Editing: Documentary; and our Nest-friend and supporter Abigail Disney for The Armor of Light, (PBS ‘Independent Lens’), nominated for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary.

We were thrilled to see that three Chicken & Egg Pictures grantees have been recognized with News & Documentary Emmy nominations:

Born to Fly
Directed by Catherine Gund
Nominated for Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming
Elizabeth Streb and the STREB Extreme Action Company form a motley troupe of flyers and crashers. Propelled by Streb’s edict that “anything too safe is not action,” these daredevils challenge the assumptions of art, aging, injury, gender, and human possibility. Revealing the passions behindthe dancers’ bruises and broken noses, Born to Fly offers a breathtaking tale about the necessity of art, inspiring audiences hungry for a more tactile and fierce existence.

Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus (HBO), directed by Madeleine Sackler, was nominated for Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming.

After Tiller (POV), directed by Martha Shane and Lana Wilson, was nominated for Best Documentary and Outstanding Coverage of a Current News Story- Long Form. After Tiller is one of eight independent documentaries that make up Chicken & Egg Pictures’ Reel Reproductive Justice cohort.

Private Violence (HBO), directed by Cynthia Hill, received a nod for Outstanding Informational Programming- Long Form. Chicken & Egg Pictures executive produced Private Violence.

Hot Girls Wanted, directed by Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus, and The Great Invisible, directed by Margaret Brown, were both recognized with Emmy nominations for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking.

The 67th Primetime Emmy Awards will air on Sunday, September 20. The 36th News & Documentary Emmy Awards will follow on Monday, September 28th.