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! 

Bad Press

dirs. Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler

prods. Conrad Beilharz, Garrett F. Baker, Tyler Graim

Bad Press is a participant of Project: Hatched 2023 having its NYC Premiere in the Winners Circle Section.

Get your tickets here.

Eat Bitter

dirs. Ningyi Sun, Pascale Appora-Gnekindy

prod. Mathieu Faure

Eat Bitter is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist having its New York Premiere in the Investigations section.

Get your tickets here.

How To Have An American Baby

dir. & prod. Leslie Tai

prods. Jillian Schultz, Chocho Tang, Elivia Shaw, Yan Cong, Xinyi “Leila” Lin

How to Have an American Baby participated in the former 2017 Diversity Fellows Initiative and is having its New York Premiere in the Investigations section.

Get your tickets here.

Is There Anybody Out There?

dir. Ella Glendining

prod. Janine Marmot

Is There Anybody Out There? is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee and is having its NYC Premiere in the Fight The Power section. 

Get your tickets here.

MnM

dir. Twiggy Pucci Garçon

prod. Colleen Cassingham, Jess Devaney

MnM was supported in partnership with Multitude Films as a part of the QUEER FUTURES (2022) series and is having its NYC Premiere in the “Shorts: Family Matters” program. 

Get your tickets here.

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 is participating in the Winners Circle section. 

Get your tickets here.

Suddenly TV

dir. & prod. Roopa Gogineni

prods. Reem Haddad, Trevor Snapp, Fiona Lawson-Baker

Suddenly TV is a participant of Project: Hatched 2023, and is participating in the “Shorts: The People vs” program.

Get your tickets here.

The Eternal Memory

dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi

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

The Eternal Memory was supported through Maite Alberdi’s 2020 Chicken & Egg Award and is participating in the Short List: Features section. 

Get your tickets here.

Total Trust

dir. Jialing Zhang

prod. Knut Jäger

Total Trust is supported through Jialing Zhang’s 2021 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its US Premiere in the International Competition section. 

Get your tickets here.

DOC NYC PRO

DOC NYC PRO FALL 2023 will take place from Thursday, November 9 through Thursday, November 16. The activities are comprised of several panels and pitches designed to empower filmmakers at different stages of their careers.

CINEMATOGRAPHY DAY

Saturday, November 11

DOCUMENTARY ETHICS AND THE LAW
Featuring Jess Devaney, director of Chicken & Egg-supported film Love the Sinner and producer of The Script, MnM, How to Carry Water, and It’s Only Life After All. 

EDITING DAY

Sunday, November 12

CASE STUDY: GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT
Featuring 2016 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Michèle Stephenson

JOURNALISM AND DOCUMENTARY DAY

Monday, November 13

WHEN JOURNALISTS BECOME DOCUMENTARY VISIONARIES
Featuring Becca Landsberry-Baker, director and producer of Project: Hatched 2023 participant Bad Press.

CREATIVE DISTRIBUTION DAY

Thursday, November 16

HOPE
Featuring 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Dawn Porter.

THE POWER OF EDUCATIONAL DISTRIBUTION
Featuring Chithra Jeyaram, director and producer of 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab participant Our Daughters (working title). 

WHERE WILL YOUR FILM BE IN 20 YEARS?
Featuring our Board member Susan Margolin.

From the AlumNest

• Between Life & Death | New York Premiere
  dir. Nick Capote
  prod. Kimberley Ferdinando, Melissa Leardi, Amanda Spain

• Black Girls Play: The Story Of Hand Games 
  dirs. & prods. Michéle Stephenson, Joe Brewster

• Candace Parker: Unapologetic  | World Premiere
  dir. Joie Jacoby
  prod. Carolyn Hepburn, Giselle Rodriguez, Julie Lilleby, Paige Bethmann

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

• Dalton’s Dream  | North American Premiere
  dirs. Kim Longinotto, Franky Murray Brown
  prod. Lorine Plagnol

• Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
  dirs. & prods. Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster 

• How We Get Free  | NYC Premiere
  dirs. Geeta Gandbhir, Samantha Knowles
  prods. Kathleen Lingo, Sweta Vohra, Jess Devaney

• Obsessed With Light | North American Premiere
  dirs. Sabine Krayenbühl, Zeva Oelbaum
  prods. Zeva Oelbaum, Sabine Krayenbühl, Christian Popp, Susan Margolin

• The Cost of Inheritance  | World Premiere
  dir. Yoruba Richen
  prods. Mehret Mandefro, Lacey Schwartz Delgado, Iris Samson 

• The Dads 
  dir. & prod. Luchina Fisher
  co-prods. Eric Miclette, Shan Shan Tam

• The Lady Bird Diaries 
  dir. Dawn Porter
  prod. Kim Reynolds

• The Minister of Defense  | World Premiere
  dir. Ken Rodgers, Courtland Bragg
  prods. Carolyn Hepburn, Courtland Bragg, Nick Mascolo, Ken Rodgers, Chip Swain, Kobi Theiler

• Time Bomb Y2K | NYC Premiere
  dirs. Brian Becker, Marley McDonald
  prods. Penny Lane, Brian Becker, Peter Nauffts, Shelby Fintak

• Unseen | NYC Premiere 
  dir. & prod. Set Hernandez
  prods. Félix Endara, Day Al-Mohamed, Diane Quon, Dorian Gomez Pestaña, Josaen Ronquillo, Cheryl Green, Thomas Reid, Qudsiya Naqui, Conchita Hernandez

• We Are Fire (Draw For Change) | World Premiere 
  dir. Karen Vázquez Guadarrama
  prods. Hanne Phlypo, Estelle Robin You, Marion Guth, François Le Gall, Heino Deckert, Femke Wolting, Bruno Felix, Julie Goldman

• Who I Am Not | New York Premiere 
  dir. Tunde Skovran
  prods. Andrei Zinca, Danielle Turkov, Paul Cadieux, Patrick Hamm, Amy Shepherd, Edith Weil, Daniel Szandtner, Janos Kovacs

A Special Congratulations

• I Told You So
  dirs. & prods. Malak AlSayyad, Amaan Stewartprods. Judith Helfand (Founder and Consultant), Loren Townsley

Meet Our Team at DOC NYC

Since the festival is on our home turf, we are excited for many of our team members to have opportunities to attend screenings and events for our filmmakers. We are also incredibly excited to announce that our very own Program Director, Kiyoko McCrae, was honored by the Documentary New Leaders program. Learn more about this honor here. Come say hi! 

We are delighted to provide you with a discount code on tickets (capacity permitting) for our supported films.

Just enter the code at checkout: DOCNYC_PTNR_23
This code will unlock the following discounts:
Opening Night / Centerpiece / Closing Screenings: $25 (Regular price: $30)
Regular Screenings: $17 (Regular price: $20)
DOC NYC U, Short List, Weekday Matinees (M-F before 12pm): $11 (Regular Price: $13)
Online screenings: $13 (Regular Price: $10)

Post written by Communications Intern Tess Caldwell

Chicken & Egg Pictures is proud to announce our newest Board Member: Félix Endara. Félix is a bilingual creative professional splitting his time between his native Ecuador and New York City. He has worked in filmmaking, philanthropy, and arts administration, collaborating with organizations such as the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, New Orleans Film Festival, and the Open Society Foundations. His films have screened at prestigious film festivals including Berlinale, DOC NYC, and Mill Valley. Félix is Chair of the Board of Working Films, an organization that convenes documentary filmmakers and grassroots activists to advance social justice. He is also the Co-Chair of the Trans/Intersex Task Force within the Global Philanthropy Project, which gathers funders whose goal is to expand philanthropic support to LGBTQI communities. An alum of the “Art of Leadership” at the Rockwood Leadership Institute, Félix has served on selection committees for Art for Justice, BlackStar Film Festival, Creative Capital, National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, Tribeca Film Festival, among many others. He currently serves as Senior Program Associate for the Mesoamerica program at the Foundation for a Just Society, a private foundation that supports feminist movements around the world.

Félix says of joining our Board, “I am honored to join the Board of Directors of Chicken & Egg Pictures, an organization passionately dedicated to championing women and non-binary documentary filmmakers. I am eager to collaborate with my fellow Board members, and learn from the remarkable Chicken & Egg Pictures AlumNest filmmakers who are making an indelible mark on the world of documentary cinema. Here’s to a future where documentary film continues to act as a catalyst for empowerment and change.”

Welcome to the Chicken & Egg Pictures Board, Félix!