Against the Tide

dir. Sarvnik Kaur

prods. Koval Bhatia, Quentin Laurent

Against the Tide is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.

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 is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist.

Is There Anybody Out There?

dir. Ella Glendining

prod. Janine Marmot

Is There Anybody Out There? is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.

Twice Colonized

dir. Lin Alluna

prods. Emile Hertling Péronard, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Stacey Aglok, Bob Moore

Twice Colonized is a Project: Hatched 2023 participant.

From the AlumNest

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

• King Coal
  dir. & prod. Elaine McMillion Sheldon
  prods. Shane Boris, Diane Becker, Peggy Drexler

Breaking the News

dirs. Chelsea Hernandez, Heather Courtney, Princess A. Hairston

prod. Diane Quon

Breaking the News is a 2022 Critical Issues Fund Grantee.

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 is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist.

Is There Anybody Out There?

dir. Ella Glendining

prod. Janine Marmot

2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Is There Anybody Out There? participated in multiple sections, including a panel entitled Keeping the Industry Door Open: Beyond the “Trend” of Disability.

MnM

dir. Twiggy Pucci Garçon

prods. Colleen Cassingham, Jess Devaney

MnM was supported in partnership with Multitude Films as a part of the QUEER FUTURES (2022) series, and streamed in the “Shorts: A Legacy of Change” section.

Q

dir. & prod. Jude Chehab

Q is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.

The Script

dir. Brit Fryer, Noah Schamus

prod. Colleen Cassingham, Jess Devaney

The Script was supported in partnership with Multitude Films as part of the QUEER FUTURES (2022) series. 

Twice Colonized

dir. Lin Alluna

prods. Emile Hertling Péronard, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Stacey Aglok, Bob Moore

Twice Colonized is a Project: Hatched 2023 grantee.

From the AlumNest

• Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
  dirs. & prods. Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster
  
  
• Periodical
  dir. Lina Lyte Plioplyte
  prods. Pegah Farahmand, Amanda Spain
  
  
• The Philadelphia Eleven
  dir. & prod. Margo Guernsey
  prod. Nikki Bramley
  
  
• Uncharted
  dir. & prod. Beth Aala
  prods. Everywoman Studios, Abby Greensfelder
  
  
• Your Fat Friend
  dir. & prod. Jeanie Finlay
  prod. Suzanne Alizart

Post written by Communications Assistant Tess Caldwell

Onlookers

dir. & prod. Kimi Takesue

co-prod. Richard Beenan

Onlookers will be participating in the “Panorama- Horizons” section and was supported through Kimi Takesue’s 2018 Chicken & Egg Award.  

Get your tickets here.

El eco / The Echo

dir. & prod. Tatiana Huezo

prod. Dalia Reyes

El eco / The Echo will be participating in the “Panorama – Essentials” section and was supported through Tatiana Huezo’s 2021 Chicken & Egg Award.  

Get your tickets here.

Hummingbirds

dirs. & prods. 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 is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist participating in the “Panorama – Horizons” section.

Get your tickets here.

From the AlumNest

• Four Holes
  dir. & prod. Daniela Muñoz Barroso
  prod. Boris Prieto
  

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

Meet our team at RIDM

Our Associate Director of Program, Sabine Fayoux Cantillo, will be in attendance at the festival. She is participating in a networking event called the Expert Roundtable, held in the Forum RIDM.This activity consists of several 30-minute sessions with groups of 5 professionals, during which she can provide detailed insights into Chicken & Egg Pictures’ activities and discuss our project selection process. She will also be taking one-on-one meetings with filmmakers and watching as many films as possible! 

Post written by Communications Intern Tess Caldwell

Against the Tide

dir. Sarvnik Kaur 

prod. Koval Bhatia, Quentin Laurent

Against the Tide is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee having its UK Premiere in the Journeys section.

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 is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist having its UK Premiere in the People & Community section.

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 UK Premiere in the Journeys section. Director Ella Glendining will also be attending and participating in a conversation about the film.

Get your tickets here.

Milisuthando

dir. Milisuthando Bongela

prod. Marion Isaacs  

Milisuthando is a 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee having its UK Premiere in the Memories section.

Get your tickets here.

Razing Liberty Square

dir. Katja Esson

prod. Ann Bennett, Corinna Sager, Ronald Baez

Razing Liberty Square is a 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantee having its European Premiere in the Debates section.

Get your tickets here.

Praying for Armageddon

dir. Tonje Hessen Schei

co-dir. Michael Rowley

prods. Torstein Parelius, Ingrid G. Aune Falch, Christian Aune Falch

Praying for Armageddon was supported through Tonje Hessen Shei’s 2020 Chicken & Egg Award and is having its UK Premiere in the Debates 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 UK Premiere in the Rebellions section. It was nominated for the Tim Hetherington Award at the festival. 

Get your tickets here.

Q

dir. & prod. Jude Chehab

Q is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee having its International Premiere in the International First Feature Competition.
Get your tickets here

From the AlumNest

• Confessions of a Good Samaritan

dir. Penny Lane
prod. Gabriel Sedgwick

• Your Fat Friend

dir. & prod. Jeanie Finlay
prod. Suzanne Alizart

BAFTA-Winning and Nest-supported filmmaker Kim Longinotto is a 2023 festival edition Jury Member.

MeetMarket Projects

The 18th edition of Sheffield DocFest’s flagship pitching forum, the MeetMarket, will take place on Thursday 15, and Friday 16 of June 2023. The slate includes 48 documentary projects, in development or at production stage, to be pitched in one-to-one meetings to international and UK industry representatives and experts.

Please take a look at the Nest-supported and AlumNest projects below.

• Untitled Teesside Project
  dir. & prod. Jeanie Finlay
  prod. Charlie Phillips
  Supported through Jeanie Finlay’s 2023 Chicken & Egg Award
  
  
• #WhileBlack
  dir. Sidney Fussell, Samantha Knowles, Geeta Gandbhir
  prod. Ann Shin, Geeta Gandbhir, David Otelowo

Meet Our Team at Sheffield DocFest

Representing Chicken & Egg Pictures, our Communications Manager Mariana Sanson and Program Assistant Will Tamura will be in attendance at this year’s Sheffield DocFest. They will both be participating in the MeetMarket and watching as many docs as they can!

We are sending special congratulations to the 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantee Sol in the Garden for their World Premiere. 

Against the Tide

dir. Sarvnik Kaur 

prod. Koval Bhatia, Quentin Laurent

Against the Tide is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee having its California Premiere as a part of the Documentaries: International section. 

Get your tickets here.

How to Carry Water

dir. Sasha Wortzel

prod. Jess Devaney, Anya Rous, Colleen Cassingham

How to Carry Water was supported in partnership with Multitude Films as a part of the QUEER FUTURES series and will take part in the “Shorts 3: The Body” section of the festival.

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 is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist having its California premiere in the Documentaries: USA and GGA Documentary Competition sections.

Get your tickets here.

Milisuthando

dir. Milisuthando Bongela

prod. Marion Isaacs  

Milisuthando is a 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee having its California premiere in the Documentaries: International and GGA Documentary Competition sections.

Get your tickets here.

Sol in the Garden

dirs. & prods. Emily Cohen Ibañez and Débora Souza Silva

Sol in the Garden is a 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantee having its World Premiere as a part of the Bay Area Short Film category as well as a three-part shorts program.

Get your tickets here.

The Tuba Thieves

dir. & prod. Alison O’Daniel

The Tuba Thieves is a 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee having its California Premiere as a part of the Documentaries: USA section. 

Get your tickets here.

From the AlumNest

• King Coal
  dir. & prod. Elaine McMillion Sheldon
  prods. Shane Boris, Diane Becker, Peggy Drexler
  
  
• Confessions of a Good Samaritan
  dir. Penny Lane
  prod. Gabriel Sedgwick

Post written by Spring intern Tess Caldwell

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 is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab finalist.
Get your tickets here.

How to Have an American Baby

dir. and prod. Leslie Tai

prod. Jillian Schultz

How to Have an American Baby was supported through the 2017 Diversity Fellows Initiative (past program).
Get your tickets here.

Joonam

dir. Sierra Urich

prod. Keith Wilson

Joonam is a 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Get your tickets here.

Milisuthando

dir. Milisuthando Bongela

prod. Marion Isaacs

Milisuthando is a 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.
Get your tickets here.

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From the AlumNest

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

• The Feeling of Being Close to You
  dir. & prod. Ash Goh Hua
  Part of the Short Films program

Check out the full lineup with this link. 

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

Announced via Variety today, we are proud to present the ten grantees selected for the 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab, who will each receive $40,000 towards the production of their documentary. Additionally, for the first time ever, ten projects have been selected to receive Egg)celerator Lab Finalist Grants of $15,000 each. The 20 projects, directed by emerging filmmakers, will collectively receive a total of $550,000 in grants, marking the largest sum that Chicken & Egg Pictures has ever directed towards the support of an (Egg)celerator Lab cohort and finalists of emerging filmmakers in a single year.

This year, the cohort includes directors hailing from countries such as the US, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Romania, and Belarus. Filmmaker grantees include Volia Chajkouskaya, the founder of the Northern Lights Nordic-Baltic Film Festival, Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciuc, award-winning independent reporters, Contessa Gayles, an Emmy nominated producer. The films center women reclaiming their stories, and explore similar themes through vastly different subjects: In Matryoshka and TATA, filmmakers illustrate portraits of their parents that connect with their own personal narratives. Here, the Silence is Heard and Joonam explore intimate intergenerational memories in the context of complex political histories, and the search for an identity. 

Click on the film’s titles for more information on each project. We are thrilled to give these filmmakers a warm welcome to the Nest.

The 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantees are:

7 Beats Per Minute
Director: Yuqi Kang (CANADA / CHINA / INNER MONGOLIA)
Producers: Ina Fichman, Anita Lee
7 Beats Per Minute is an intimate and unyielding journey with female freediving champion, Jessea Lu, as she faces her biggest fear and attempts to dive over 100 meters in one single breath.

Here, the Silence is Heard
Director: Gabriela Pena (CHILE / SPAIN)
Co-director: Picho García (CHILE) 
Producers: Gabriela Pena, Picho García
After arriving in Chile at the old house that my family abandoned in exile, ghosts of an unstoppable family spell begin to appear at night.

Joonam
Director: Sierra Urich (US)
Producer: Keith Wilson
A filmmaker uncovers her family’s lost Iranian past, and with it the complex relationships between mother and daughter, Iran and America, and displacement and identity.

Life + Life
Director: Contessa Gayles (US)
Producer: Contessa Gayles
An incarcerated musician struggles for healing and peace as he comes of age in this documentary-musical odyssey composed behind bars.

Matryoshka
Director: Maricarmen Merino Mora (COSTA RICA) 
Producers: Karla Bukantz, Paulina Villegas
Matryoshka is an intimate portrait of a mother through her daughter’s eyes, following the complex journey of a woman finding her own voice.

Olimpia
Director: Indira Cato (MEXICO)
Producer: Jessica Rito
After being a victim of sexual virtual violence, Olimpia Coral Melo sought the enactment of a groundbreaking law to protect women against cyberviolence, but now she’s still looking for a way to heal her internal wounds.

Our Daughters (working title)
Director: Chithra Jeyaram (US / INDIA)
Producers: Chithra Jeyaram, Jonna McKone
For the sake of their twin daughters, an Indian adoptive mother and a white birth mother venture into uncharted territory with an open adoption, crossing racial and cultural lines.

TATA
Co-directors: Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciuc (MOLDOVA / ROMANIA)
Producer: Monica Lazurean Gorgan
A journalist estranged from her violent father discovers that he’s become a victim of exploitation at work. When she agrees to help him expose the injustice, it reopens the wounds of their past.

The Wife Of
Director: Volia Chajkouskaya (BELARUS / ESTONIA)
Producers: Volia Chajkouskaya, Ivo Felt, Christian Popp, and Marius Markevicius
Undisclosed project.

Undisclosed Project
Details to be announced later this year.

The 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab Finalists are:

Alis 
Directors: Clare Weiskopf, Nicolas van Hemelryck (COLOMBIA)
Producers: Clare Weiskopf, Nicolas van Hemelryck, Radu Stancu, Alexandra Galvis
Teenage girls, who lived on the streets of Bogota, dream up a fictional classmate. Their soulful narrative reveals their perseverance to break the cycle of violence and embrace a brighter future.

Eat Bitter 
Directors: Pascale Appora-Gnekindy, Ningyi Sun (CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC / CHINA)
Producer: Mathieu Faure
Eat Bitter is a character-driven vérité film set in the Central African Republic, one of the poorest countries in the world. During the civil war, a Chinese immigrant construction manager and a local African laborer work on opposite ends of the spectrum to construct a sparkling new bank. As deadlines loom, they don’t hesitate to strip the earth and destroy their family lives for a seat at the table of prosperity.

How to Build a Library 
Co-directors: Maia Lekow, Christopher King (KENYA / AUSTRALIA) 
Producers: Maia Lekow, Christopher King
Two tenacious Kenyan women are transforming a dilapidated, junk-filled library in downtown Nairobi into a hub for the city’s population and creatives. But first they must wrangle with the local government, raise several million dollars for the reconstruction, and confront the ghosts of a problematic colonial history still trapped within the library walls.

Hummingbirds 
Directors: Silvia Castaños, Estefanía Contreras (US / MEXICO)
Producers: Leslie Benavides, Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Ana Rodriguez-Falco, Jillian Schlesinger
Co-directors: Miguel Drake-McLaughlin, Diane Ng, Ana Rodriguez-Falco, Jillian Schlesinger
Best friends Silvia and Estefanía emerge at night to escape the cruel heat of summer in their Texas border town, wandering empty streets in search of inspiration, adventure, and a sense of belonging. When forces threaten their shared dreams, they take a stand and hold onto what they can—the moment and each other.

Light of the Setting Sun 
Director: Vicky Du (US)
Producer: Danielle Varga
A Taiwanese-American filmmaker confronts her family’s silence around the cycles of violence that have persisted since the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949.

River of Grass 
Director: Sasha Wortzel (US)
Producer: Danielle Varga 
Co-producer: Houston Cypress
River of Grass unfolds as a voyage through the past, present, and precarious future of the iconic and imperiled Florida Everglades; told through the writings of the late environmentalist Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and those who today call the region home.

There Was, There Was Not 
Director: Emily Mkrtichian (US / ARMENIA) 
Producer: Mara Adina
There Was, There Was Not tells the collective myth of a homeland nearly lost to war and four women’s resistance to that loss.

We Are Volcanoes 
Co-directors: Sharon Yeung, Natalie A. Chao (HONG KONG)
Producer: Sharon Yeung
Undisclosed project.

When They Were Here 
Director: Ivy MacDonald (US / BLACKFEET TRIBE)
Co-director: Ivan MacDonald (US / BLACKFEET TRIBE)
Producer: Jessica Jane Hart
Told through the memory and lives of those left behind–families, When They Were Here examines the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) crisis and its legacy on the Blackfeet Reservation in Northern Montana. 

Untitled Project 
Directors: Shirley Abraham, Amit Madheshiya (INDIA) 
Producers: Shirley Abraham, Amit Madheshiya
Undisclosed project.

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