A Photographic Memory

dir. & prod. Rachel Elizabeth Seed

prods. Sigrid Dyekjær, Beth Levison, Matt Perniciaro, Michael Sherman, Danielle Varga

A Photographic Memory was a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.

Get your tickets here.

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.

Get your tickets here.

Look Into My Eyes

dir. & prod. Lana Wilson

prod. Kyle Martin

Look Into My Eyes was supported through Lana Wilson’s 2019 Chicken & Egg Award.

Get your tickets here.

The Callers

dir. & prod. Lindsey Dryden

prods. Colleen Cassingham, Samantha Steele

The Callers was supported through the QUEER FUTURES series in collaboration with Multitude Films. 

Get your tickets here.

Union

dir. & prods. Brett Story, Stephen Maing

prod. Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone, Martin Dicicco

Union was supported through Brett Story’s 2023 Chicken & Egg Award.

Get your tickets here.

In the Forum

The Reality Check Forum at DC/DOX is intended to be a dedicated space for fostering dialogue and collaboration within the documentary film community. This includes numerous panels, workshops, performances and masterclasses offering valuable resources and best practices for keen filmmakers. We are proud to have so many filmmakers from our community and our CEO Jenni Wolfson  participating in this year’s forum!

• Performance: Moore For Sale
  Friday, June 14
  With producer of 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Joonam, Keith Wilson
  
  
• Panel: Treasure Maps – Finding Story in the Archives
  Friday, June 14
  With 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Rachel Elizabeth Seed
  
  
• Panel: Filmmaking within a Cooperative
  Friday, June 14
  With 2020 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Kimberly Reed
  
  
• Workshop: The Future of Funding
  Saturday, June 15
  With CEO Jenni Wolfson
  
  
• Workshop: How to Stop Working for Free
  Saturday, June 15
  With 2019 Nest Knight Fellowship recipient Tiffany Fisher-Love
  
  
• Panel: Subject/Matter
  Saturday, June 15
  With producer of supported film Dick Johnson is Dead, Katy Chevigny
  
  
• Panel: State of the Industry
  Saturday, June 15
  With 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Dawn Porter
  
  
• Panel: Documentary and the Real World – Impact Case Studies
  Saturday, June 15
  With Project: Hatched 2021 grantee Maya Cueva
  
  
• Panel: Behind the Scenes
  Saturday, June 15
  With Stephen Maing & Martin DiCicco of supported film Union and 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Dawn Porter

From the AlumNest

• Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr
  dir. & prod. Kimberly Reed
  prod. Robin Honan

• And So It Begins
  dir. & prod. Ramona S. Diaz

• As Long As We Can | World Premiere
  dir. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan

• Familia
  dirs. & prods. Picho García, Gabriela Pena

• In Due Season | World Premiere
  dir. Ashley O’Shay
  prod. Cherrelle Swain

• Luther: Never Too Much
  dir. Dawn Porter
  prods. Trish D. Chetty, Ged Doherty, Jamie Foxx, Datari Turner, Leah Smith

The Janes

dir. Tia Lessin, Emma Pildes

prod. Emma Pildes, Daniel Arcana, Jessica Levin

The Janes is a Project: Hatched 2022 finalist nominated for Outstanding Social Issue Documentary, Best Documentary, Outstanding Research: Documentary, Outstanding Direction: Documentary.

Apart

dir. & prod. Jennifer Redfearn

prod. Tim Metzger

Apart is a 2018 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee nominated for Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary. 

From the AlumNest

• American Reckoning
  dir. & prod. Yoruba Richen, Brad Lichtenstein
  Nominated for: Outstanding Historical Documentary

• Art & Krimes by Krimes
  dir. & prod. Alysa Nahmias
  prod. Amanda Spain, Benjamin Murray
  Nominated for: Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary

• Body Parts
  dir. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
  prod. Helen Hood Scheer
  Nominated for: Outstanding Music Composition

• Delikado
  dir. & prod. Karl Malakunas
  prod. Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala, Michael Collins, Marty Syjuco, Laura Nix
  Nominated for: Outstanding Investigative Documentary

• How to Change your Mind
  dir. Lucy Walker, Alison Ellwood
  Nominated for: Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction: Documentary

• Lincoln’s Dilemma
  dir. Jacqueline Olive, Barak Goodman
  Nominated for: Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction: Documentary

• Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
  dir. Geeta Gandbhir
  prod. Jess Devaney
  Nominated for: Outstanding Research Documentary, Outstanding Editing: Documentary

• The Flagmakers
  dir. & prod. Cynthia Wade, Sharon Liese
  prod. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Carolyn Bernstein, Mark Gordon, Ryan Harrington, Jenna Segal
  Nominated for: Outstanding Short Documentary

• The U.S. and the Holocaust
  dir. Lynn Novick, Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein
  Nominated for: Outstanding Research Documentary

• TikTok, Boom
  dir. & prod. Shalini Kantayya
  prod. Danni Mynard, Ross Dinerstein
  Nominated for: Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary

• Wuhan Wuhan
  dir. Yung Chang
  prod. Diane Quon, Donna Gigliotti, Peter Luo
  Nominated for: Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary

• 37 Words
  dir. & prod. Dawn Porter, Nicole Newnham
  Nominated for: Outstanding Research Documentary

Post written by Communications Intern Tess Caldwell

World Premiere

An Act of Worship

dir. Nausheen Dadabhoy

prods. Sofian Khan, Kristi Jacobson, Heba Elorbany

An Act of Worship is an exploration of the last 30 years of Muslim life in America, weaving together observational footage of three activist women who came of age after 9/11 with news archival footage, community-sourced home videos, and audio interviews along with evocative recollections of individuals impacted by Islamophobic policy. From the perspective of Muslim Americans, he film revisits pivotal moments in US history that have shaped their lives, such as the first Gulf War, 9/11, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and Trump’s travel ban, creating a prismatic counter-narrative and opening a window into their world through collective memory. This is what it means to be a Muslim in America. 

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

Get your tickets with this link. 

World Premiere

Hidden Letters

dir. & prod. Violet Feng

prods. Mette Cheng Munthe-Kaas, Jean Tsien, Su Kim

Our story began hundreds of years ago in a secluded village in China where women’s lives were completely controlled by men. They created a secret written language called Nushu that men didn’t understand. They wrote poems and songs to give each other strength and dignity, and vowed to be lifetime sisters in this prose. At the brink of extinction, Nushu is now being commodified in the context of capitalism. Hidden Letters is a film about two young women trying to reclaim the power of Nushu, despite the new threats in a world of revived patriarchy.

Hidden Letters a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.

Get your tickets with this link.  

And see Violet Feng speak at TRIBECA TALKS: Speaking in Codes: Storytelling that Codifies Gender Equitable Systems in China and the U.S.  

Women filmmakers and artists around the world face a parallel challenge in navigating industries that are codified by male decision-makers and storytelling customs. This panel will explore how women and marginalized genders work to support one another to re-codify a more equitable system through investment in storytelling.* Panelists include director Violet Feng, Gloria Steinem, and Robin Morgan. Panel hosted by InMaat, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and Independent Lens. 

Get your tickets with this link.

BEBA

dir. & prod. Rebeca Huntt

prod. Sofia Geld

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, occupying many spaces, and demanding to be seen in all of them. 

BEBA is a Project: Hatched 2022 grantee. 

Get your tickets with this link.

From the AlumNest

• Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices From a Plantation Prison
  prod. Catherine Gund
  dir. Cinque Northern
  
  
• Body Parts (World Premiere)
  dir. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
  prod. Helen Hood Scheer 
  
  
• Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (World Premiere)
  dirs. Geeta Gandbhir, Sam Pollard
  prods. Jessica Devaney, Anya Rous, Dema Paxton Fofang
  
  
• To The End
  dir. Rachel Lears
  prod. Sabrina Schmidt Gordon
  
  
• Unfinished Business (World Premiere)
  dir. & prod. Alison Klayman
  prods. Julie Goldman, Carolyn Hepburn, Christopher Clements, Nicholas Ma, Mishka Brown
   
• The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (World Premiere)
  dirs. Yoruba Richen, Johanna Hamilton
  prod. Christalyn Hampton

Check out the full line-up with this link.
*Text courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday, December 21 their shortlist for documentary features and documentary short subject. At Chicken & Egg Pictures we are sending massive congratulations to the 3 Nest-supported films on the list: Ascension, Simple As Water, and Writing With Fire, as well as to the 5 films from the AlumNest.

We are egg-cited to see these films on these lists and look forward to the Nominations list, which will be announced on Tuesday, February 8. Nominations voting begins on Thursday, January 27 and concludes on Tuesday, February 1.

The 94th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, March 27 and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 200 territories worldwide. Take a look at the shortlisted films below and checkout the full list with this link.

Ascension

Directed by Jessica Kingdon

Produced by Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy, and Nathan Truesdell

Simple As Water

Directed by Megan Mylan

Produced by Robin Hessman & Megan Mylan

Writing With Fire

Directed and produced by Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh

From the AlumNest

Documentary Feature

President 
dir. Camilla Nielsson 
prods. Joslyn Barnes, Signe Byrge Sørensen 

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

Documentary Short Subject

Águilas
dir. & prod. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
co-dir. & prod. Maite Zubiaurre 

Terror Contagion
dir. & prod. Laura Poitras 
prods. Anonymous, Yoni Golijov  

International Feature Film 

Prayers for the Stolen
dir. Tatiana Huezo 
prods. Nicolás Celis, Jim Stark

Filmmakers from both the Fork Films’ alumnae roster and Chicken & Egg Pictures’ AlumNest will receive supportive, strategic feedback from their peers, as well as mentors from both organizations to explore story structure, learn production best practices, and leave with a sharper vision for their films.

“Together we are stronger! This opportunity to combine our mission-aligned organizations and take advantage of our organic synergy to champion filmmakers is so valuable. It allows us to further support and elevate filmmakers as they continue to explore the stories in their films and learn about production best practices. We couldn’t be more excited about this partnership,” said Chicken & Egg Pictures Program Director Lucila Moctezuma.

Learn about the Fork Films and Chicken & Egg Pictures Story Workshop participants below:

Body Parts

Directed by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan (AlumNest & Fork Films Alumna)
Produced by Helen Hood Scheer

Body Parts explores the making of Hollywood intimacy scenes in a post #MeToo era. From a kaleidoscopic range of perspectives, the film traces how a cinematic legacy of exploitation and ingenuity have shaped the entertainment industry and audiences. Can an authentic, more ethical vision of female sexuality be conveyed? The answers go beyond movie-making and impact the world at large.

Fight Song

Directed and produced by Denali Tiller (AlumNest)

Maia, Kayla and Alli are three young women who have aspirations as many young women do: to find love, success, and purpose in their work. But for these three women, their work involves getting hit, punched, body-slammed, kicked, tackled – and doing the same to others. As these women emerge from tender teenage years to a rough, brutal world of punching bags, dummies, broken bones, and razor’s edge competition, we will witness the emotional and physical strength that’s required to compete at a high level, and explore the threshold between fighting for fitness, validation, control, or self-defense in the face of trauma.

The Half Truths

Directed by Hemal Trivedi (AlumNest)
Produced by Hemal Trivedi, Amelia Hanibelsz, Cynthia Kane

India’s bloodiest conflict zone is Chhattisgarh, an environmentally fragile region and state where the country’s last dense forest exists, the “lungs of India”.  A multinational mining company is eviscerating the land while simultaneously at war with rebel tribal forces. Soni, a tribal school teacher, runs an orphanage and is unexpectedly caught in the crossfire.  She is arrested, tortured, and raped. Her arduous quest for justice makes her an international symbol of resistance against state oppression. After release from prison term, and with little choice in the matter, a leader emerges to save her cherished forest and find a path to peace.

Merkel

Directed by Eva Weber (AlumNest)
Produced by Lizzie Gillett, Sigrid Dyekjaer, Eva Weber, Sonja Henrici

As Angela Merkel leaves the world stage, Merkel explores how a triple outsider—a woman, an East German and a scientist—re-invented herself to become one of the world’s most powerful politicians. Told from an international perspective for an international audience, this film is the definitive re-examination of Angela Merkel’s life and career, delicately told with humor, subtlety, and poignancy.

Power & Light

Directed by Marion Lipschutz, Rose Rosenblatt (AlumNest & Fork Films Alumnae)
Produced by Rose Rosenblatt, Sabrina Alvarez, Jesse Epstein

In Lawrence, MA a Dominican Pastor and his Anglo wife transform a fractious group of evangelical LatinX clergy into a fighting force for climate justice, determined to make their town a showcase for a green future. Power & Light is a portrait of a marriage that sits on the fault lines of race, culture, gender and religion, mirroring the larger tensions of a story about organizing for climate justice. Sue and Joel’s perspective, and their marriage, emotionally anchor the larger story of how a community informed by spiritual faith struggles to organize around man-made disasters.

The Total Trust

Directed and produced by Jialing Zhang (2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient* & Fork Film Alumna)

The Total Trust (working title) takes a visceral look at the realities of a society in the throes of a digital invasion. From cameras to AI profiling, China is facing an unprecedented level of surveillance, upheld in equal measure through fear and trust. By exploring the relationship between the watched and the watching, our film uncovers the trauma and hope engendered by these measures and lends a voice to those that stand in resilient defiance of such blatant abuse of power.

*The Total Trust is also supported by Chicken & Egg Pictures through Jialing Zhang’s Chicken & Egg Award this year.