Nest-supported Films on the Documentary Feature Short List

Hidden Letters

dirs. Violet Feng, Zhao Qing

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

Hidden Letters is a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee.

The Janes

dirs.  Tia Lessin, Emma Pildes

prods. Emma Pildes, Daniel Arcana, Jessica Levin

The Janes is a Project: Hatched 2022 finalist.

AlumNest Films on the Documentary Feature Shortlist

• All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
  dir. Laura Poitras
  prods. Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Laura Poitras, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov
  
  
• Descendant  
  dir. & prod. Margaret Brown
  prods. Essie Chambers, Kyle Martin

AlumNest Films on the Documentary Short Films Shortlist

• Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices from a Plantation Prison
  dir. Cinque Northern
  prod. Catherine Gund
  
  
• The Flagmakers
  dirs. & prods. Sharon Liese, Cynthia Wade
   
• The Martha Mitchell Effect
  dirs. Anne Alvergue, Debra McClutchy
  prods. Beth Levison, Judith Mizrachy

Check out the nominated Nest-supported films including:

BEBA

dir. & prod. Rebeca Huntt

prod. Sofia Geld

Project: Hatched 2022 grantee BEBA is nominated for Outstanding Debut Feature and is included in The Unforgettables list. Director Rebeca Huntt is nominated for Outstanding Direction.

Hidden Letters

dirs. Violet Feng, Zhao Qing

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

2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Hidden Letters is nominated for the Spotlight Award. 

Mija

dir. & prod. Isabel Castro

prod. Tabs Breese, Yesenia Tlahuel

2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Mija is nominated for the Audience Choice Award and is included in The Unforgettables list.

Users

dir. Natalia Almada

prod. Josh Penn

Users was supported through Natalia Almada’s 2018 Chicken & Egg Award and is nominated  for Outstanding Original Music Score and Cinematography.

From AlumNest

• All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
  dir. Laura Poitras
  prods. Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Laura Poitras, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov
  Nominated for Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Editing, Outstanding Nonfiction Fiction Film, Outstanding Original Music Score, and is included in The Unforgettables list 
  
  
• Black and Missing
  dir. Geeta Gandbhir and Samantha Knowles
  prods. Geeta Gandbhir, Jo Honig, Patrick Conway, Soledad O’Brien
  Nominated for Outstanding Nonfiction Series
  
  
• Descendant
  dir. & prod. Margaret Brown
  prods. Essie Chambers, Kyle Martin
  Nominated for Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Original Music Score
  
  
• Mind Over Murder
  dir. Nanfu Wang
  prod. Alexander Baertl
  Nominated for Outstanding Nonfiction Series
  
  
• The Martha Mitchell Effect
  dir. Anne Alvergue, Debra McClutchy
  prod. Beth Levison, Judith Mizrachy
  Nominated for Outstanding Non-fiction short
  
   
• The Joys and Sorrows of Young Yuguo
  dir. Ilinca Călugăreanu
  prod. Mara Adina
  Included in the Shorts List (Cinema Eye’s Annual List of the Year’s Top Short Documentaries)

Production Day

Friday, November 11

TRUST
Featuring Nest-supported filmmaker Margaret Brown   

NEW YORK TIMES VS. SULLIVAN: DEFAMATION AND THE FUTURE OF DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING 
Featuring Nest-supported filmmaker Jessica Devaney

Editing Day

Sunday, November 13

CASE STUDY: BEBA 
Featuring Project: Hatched 2022 grantee Rebeca Huntt 

Still from BEBA

Journalism and Documentary Day 

Monday, November 14

CASE STUDY: THE SING SING CHRONICLES
Featuring 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Dawn Porter

Music for Documentaries Day

Tuesday, November 15

THE DIRECTOR/COMPOSER RELATIONSHIP
Featuring 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Dawn Porter

CASE STUDY: MIJA
Featuring 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Isabel Castro

Still from Mija

Documentary Series Day

Tuesday, November 16

MAKING THE LEAP FROM FEATURE DIRECTING TO DOC SERIES
Featuring 2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Geeta Gandbhir 

CASE STUDY: MIND OVER MURDER
Featuring 2018 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Nanfu Wang

Check out the full line-up with this link.

Please take a look at the films below:

All of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars

dir. Jennifer Rainsford

prods. Mirjam Gelhorn, David Herdies, Michael Krotkiewski

The 2011 Japan tsunami triggers this staggering essay about loss that connects human and environmental trauma using astonishing juxtapositions. Humans breathe out and the oceans breathe in, so that we are constantly breathing together and becoming our planet. If we admit that our human experiences of pain and the Earth’s are just different versions of the same destruction, will recovery come, be it in ripples or waves?*

All of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars is a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee and is part of the Cinematic Vision Competition.

Get your tickets + more info with this link.  

*Text courtesy of Cineuropa.

Polaris

dir. Ainara Vera

prod. Clara Vuillermoz

After overcoming her painful childhood in France, 36-year-old Hayat has managed to become an expert skipper in the Arctic. Her biggest passion is to navigate in between icebergs and spot whales. While she experiences this pureness, her 28-year-old sister Leila tries to integrate into society after coming out of jail in France. Their life went by independently until a year ago when Leila fell pregnant. Polaris explores the inner battle that we all have to undertake to find a balance between the light and the darkness and how the beauty of nature can help us. 

Polaris is a 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee and is part of the Harrel Competition. 

Get your tickets + more info with this link.

From the AlumNest

• Descendant  
  dir. & prod. Margaret Brown
  prods. Kyle Martin, Essie Chambers
  This film is part of the Best of Fest section. 
  
  
• Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power
  dirs. Geeta Gandbhir, Sam Pollard
  prods. Jessica Devaney, Anya Rous, Dema Paxton Fofang
  This film is part of the Best of Fest section.

Meet Our Team at CIFF

Program Manager Sabine Fayoux Cantillo and Program Coordinator Iva Dimitrova will attend the festival. They will be taking meetings and watching lots of films!

Check out the full line-up with this link.

The festival will take place in Austin, Texas, from Friday, March 11 through Sunday, March 20. Take a look at the films from the Nest below:

Mama Bears

dir. & prod. Daresha Kyi

prod. Laura Tatham

Mama Bears is an intimate exploration of two “mama bears”—conservative, Christian mothers who have become fierce advocates for LGBTQ+ people—and a young lesbian whose struggle for self-acceptance exemplifies why the mama bears are so important.  

Mama Bears is a 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee, and is participating in SXSW World Premiere – Documentary Feature Competition. 

Get your tickets with this link.  

Sign up for the Mama Bears doc newsletter to receive updates from the film team.

Boycott

dir & prod. Julia Bacha

prod. Suhad Babaa, Daniel J. Chalfen

When a news publisher in Arkansas, an attorney in Arizona and a speech therapist in Texas are told to choose between their jobs and their political beliefs, they launch legal battles that expose an attack on freedom of speech in 33 states in America.

Boycott was supported through Julia Bacha’s 2019 Chicken & Egg Award, and is a SXSW Texas Premiere–Festival Favorites (Acclaimed standouts from festivals around the world).

Get your tickets with this link. 

Sign up for the Boycott newsletter to receive updates from the film team.

AlumNest films

Look At Me
dir. Sabaah Folayan (Whose Streets?) 
prods. Darcy McKinnon, Chloe Campion

Video Visit 
dir. & prod. Malika Zouhali-Worrall (2019 Chicken & Egg Award recipient) 

Descendant  
dir. & prod. Margaret Brown (The Great Invisible) 
prods. Kyle Martin, Essie Chambers

TikTok, Boom.  
dir. & prod. Shalini Kantayya (Coded Bias)
prods. Ross M. Dinerstein, Danni Mynard 

A special shout out to our Co-Founder & Board President Julie Parker Benello, producer of Sell/Buy/Date (dir. & prod. Sarah Jones, prods. David Goldblum, Julie Parker Benello), screening in SXSW World Premiere – Visions.  

Check out the full line-up by visiting this link.

Congratulations!

Winner of the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Excellence In Vérité Filmmaking

Midwives

dir. & prod. Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing

prods. Bob Moore, Ulla Lehmann, Mila Aung-Thwin

Check out 2017 Chicken and Egg Award recipient Dawn Porter presenting the Award with this link.

A special congratulations to AlumNest filmmaker Margaret Brown (The Great Invisible) on receiving the U.S. Documentary Competition Special Jury Award: Creative Vision for Descendant!

Check out the full winners’ list with this link.

Last week, Director Tabitha Jackson and Director of Programming Kim Yutani, announced this edition’s details. Yutani and Jackson shared important statistics about women filmmakers in their program selection: 

“Of the submissions to Sundance this year, only 28 percent were from women. Yet among all the features selected, 52 percent were directed by women. When asked whether the programmers decided to boost women auteurs over men, they steered around the question, saying they are always looking to promote female filmmakers. Jackson added: “The slightly depressing fact is that the figure of 28 percent submissions from women has remained pretty static across the years. It is a figure that we would wish to see higher because of what it indicates about the state of the industry. It’s surprising that so few are submitting.”

Sundance Film Festival Unveils 2022 Lineup That Reflects ‘Age of Reckoning’, Nicole Sperling

Learn more about Mija, Midwives, and AlumNest films below:

Mija

dir. Isabel Castro

prod. Tabs Breese, Isabel Castro, Yesenia Tlahuel

Selected as part of the Next category
Premiering on Friday, January 21 
Get your tickets

With Doris’ voice as our guide, Mija uses VHS archive, verité footage, and camcorder vlogging to tell the story of two young women’s coming-of-age journeys as they look for success and belonging. The film is an immensely emotional and intimate portrait honoring the resilience of immigrants and their children. 

Midwives

dir. & prod. Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing

prods. Bob Moore, Ulla Lehmann, Mila Aung-Thwin

Selected as part of the World Cinema Documentary Competition 
Premiering on Monday, January 24 
Get your tickets

Hla and Nyo Nyo are two midwives that work side by side in a makeshift medical clinic in western Myanmar, where the Rohingya (a Muslim minority community) are persecuted and denied basic rights. Filmed over three tumultuous years, their remarkable relationship reveals both tensions and the hope inherent in their common cause.

From the AlumNest

AlumNest filmmakers are soaring into Sundance’s program in the U.S. Documentary Competition to the World Cinema Documentary Competition:

• Descendant, directed by Margaret Brown, prods. Essie Chambers, Kyle Martin
• The Janes, directed by Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes, prods. Emma Pildes, Daniel Arcana, Jessica Levin
• TikTok, Boom., directed by Shalini Kantayya, prods. Ross M. Dinerstein. Shalini Kantayya, Danni Mynard
• To The End, directed by Rachel Lears, prod. Sabrina Schmidt Gordon
• The Martha Mitchell Effect, produced by Beth Levison, Judith Mizrachy, dirs. Anne Alvergue, Debra McClutchy 

A special shoutout to 2018 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Natalia Almada, whose 2002 short documentary film All Water Has a Perfect Memory,  will screen online as part of the “From the Collection” program, a line-up of 40 short films selected to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Sundance Institute. Ticket sales start Friday, December, 17.

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.