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 21st edition of CPH:DOX took place from Wednesday, March 13 to Sunday, March 24 in Copenhagen, Denmark. We are proud to see that 3 supported films and 13 supported filmmakers were part of the lineup and that many of our supported filmmakers also participated in the CPH:CONFERENCE and CPH: FORUM. Some of our team was also there to participate in person to support our filmmakers. See below for more details.

• 2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Brett Story’s Union | International Premiere | F:act Award & Nine to Five sections | dirs. Brett Story, Stephen Maing | prods. Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone

• 2019 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Lana Wilson’s  Look Into My Eyes | International Premiere | Special Premieres & Stranger Than Fiction sections | dir. Lana Wilson | prod. Kyle Martin

• 2022 Critical Issues Fund Grantee Intercepted | Urgent Matters & Battlefields sections | dir. Oksana Karpovych | prods. Rocío B. Fuentes, Giacomo Nudi

From the AlumNest

• And So It Begins
  dir. & prod. Ramona Diaz
  
  
• Bottlemen 
  dir. & prod. Nemanja Vojinovic
  prod. Marija Stojnic 
  
  
• La Base | International Premiere
  dir. Vadim Dumesh
  prod. Quentin Laurent
   
  
• Night of Nights | World Premiere
  dir. Truman
  prod. Violet Feng
  
  
• Marching in the Dark | World Premiere
  dir. Kinshuk Surjan
  prods. Evelien De Graef, Hanne Phlypo, Digna Sinke, Arya Rothe
  
  
• Phantoms of the Sierra Madre | World Premiere
  dir. & prod. Håvard Bustnes
  prod. Christian Aune Falch, Bird Runningwater
  
  
• Power | International Premiere
  dir. & prod. Yance Ford
  prods. Netsanet Negussie, Sweta Vohra, Jess Devaney
  
  
• Silent Trees | World Premiere
  dir. & prod. Agnieszka Zwiefka
  prods. Heino Deckert, Sigrid Dyekjaer, Zofia Kujawska
  
  
• Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story | European Premiere
  dirs. Peter Ettedgui & Ian Bonhôte
  prods. Lizzie Gillett, Ian Bonhôte, Robert Ford
  
  
• The Black Garden | World Premiere
  dir. Alexis Pazoumian
  prod. Clara Vuillermoz
  
  
• The Bones | World Premiere
  dir. Jeremy Xido
  prod. Ina Fichman
  
  
• The Stimming Pool | World Premiere
  dirs. The Neurocultures Collective, Benjamin Brown, Georgia Bradburn, Sam Chown-Ahern, Robin Elliott-Knowles, Lucy Walker, Steven Eastwood
  prod. Chloe White, Steven Eastwood
  
  
• Your Fat Friend
  dir. & prod. Jeanie Finlay
  prod. Suzanne Alizart

CPH: FORUM

At CPH:FORUM, top producers and highly acknowledged directors from all over the world take the stage to pitch 30 carefully selected projects of documentary features and series in the intersection of nonfiction, fiction, visual art, journalism, and science. Six films from our community of filmmakers were presented.

2023 Research & Development Grant recipient Cinderella Unbound, UK/RO
dir. & prod Ilinca Calugareanu | prod. Anamaria Antoci

Freedom (WT), DK
dir. Camilla Nielsson | prod. Signe Byrge Sørensen

In Praise of Invasive Species, CA
dir. Mila Aung-Thwin | prod. Bob Moore

The Dirty Dream, IN
dirs. & prods. Rintu Thomas, Sushmit Ghosh

The Listeners, UK/US/FR
dir. & prod. Lindsey Dryden | prod. Samantha Steele

Victor, US
dir. Stephani Victor | prods. Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, Matt Radecki

CPH: CONFERENCE

A 4-day industry event offering a range of inspiring talks with visionary thinkers, investigating current themes in documentary filmmaking, and creating an interactive and hands-on platform for exchange with other professionals of our documentary community. The theme this year was Re:Building Narratives – Accessibility And Equity In Documentary. Our filmmakers were well represented across the different activities from Tuesday, March 19 to Friday, March 22.

SOCIETY: STORIES OF OUR LIFETIMES

Tuesday, March 19

With Lizzie Gillett and Sigrid Dyekjær, producers of supported film Merkel, as keynote speakers for the Viva Independent Feature Docs section. Clara Vuillermoz, producer of 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee Polaris was a speaker in the A Conflict of Interest or an Interest in Conflict? section. Lindsey Dryden, supported through the QUEER FUTURES program, also participated in the LGBTQIA panel. Curated by 2023 Development grant recipient Derren Lawford. 

FILM:MAKERS IN DIALOGUE

Wednesday, March 20

With 2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Brett Story, Stephen Maing, producer of supported film Union, and Yance Ford, director of supported film Strong Island.

SCIENCE: WAYS OF KNOWING AND SEEING

Thursday, March 21

With 2023 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Lisa Jackson as a keynote speaker in the Stars: Indigenous Ways of Knowing section, and Mila Aung-Thwin, producer of 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab participant Midwives, as a speaker in the Action: Legacies of science, cinematic justice section.

2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Margreth Olin is also considered an expert at the conference.

Meet our Team at CPH:DOX

Our Senior Program Manager Elaisha Stokes and Program Director Kiyoko McCrae attended and took 1:1 meetings with filmmakers.

We are proud to congratulate a longtime collaborator and advisor in our labs, Carla Gutierrez, for the international premiere of her new documentary, Frida.

Post written by Communications Assistant Tess Caldwell

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.

Union

dirs. Brett Story, Stephen Maing

prods. Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone

Union was supported through Brett Story’s 2022 Chicken & Egg Award and is participating in the U.S. Documentary Competition.

Get your tickets here.

From the AlumNest

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

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

• Power  
  dir. & prod. Yance Ford
  prods. Jess Devaney, Sweta Vohra, Netsanet Negussie

Shoutouts

We are thrilled to see 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Maite Alberdi being honored with the annual Vanguard Award during the Opening Night Gala. The award annually honors artists whose work highlights the art of storytelling and creative independence. In an interview with Variety about receiving the award, Maite said, “The Eternal Memory is a film that has taught me so much about the infinite ways of telling, looking at and working with real-life stories and I am proud and humbled to be among such an extraordinary group of filmmakers who have been given this recognition.” Congratulations, Maite! 

We are also proud to have two longtime collaborators featuring films in the lineup this year. An Eggspert on our team, Joslyn Barnes is executive producing Conbody VS Everybody, and Carla Gutierrez, an advisor in our labs, is directing FRIDA. Congratulations!

Meet Our Staff

We are also excited that our Chief Executive Officer Jenni Wolfson, Program Director Kiyoko McCrae, and Associate Director of Development Rebecca Celli will be in attendance at the festival. They will be attending Chicken & Egg Pictures-supported screenings and industry events. Make sure to say hi! 

Post written by Communications Intern Tess Caldwell

• Colleen Cassingham, producer of QUEER FUTURES films The Script, MnM, How to Carry Water

• Petra Costa, 2023 Research & Development Grant Recipient and 2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient, for her Chicken & Egg-supported film

• 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

• Ramona Diaz, 2018 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient

• Maryam Ebrahimi, 2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient, for her Chicken & Egg-supported film The Phantom Pain of Rojava

• Lorena Luciano and Filippo Piscopo, directors of Chicken & Egg-supported film It Will Be Chaos

• Ivan MacDonald and Ivy MacDonald, for their film, When They Were Here, 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab Finalist

Post written by Communications Intern Tess Caldwell

“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.

Congratulations and the best of luck!

Simple As Water

dir. & prod. Megan Mylan

prod. Robin Hessman

Storm Lake

dirs. Beth Levison & Jerry Risius

prod. Beth Levison

9to5: The Story of a Movement

dirs. & prods. Julia Reichert &  Steven Bognar

This film was supported through Julia Reichert’s Chicken & Egg Award year.

A Thousand Cuts

dir. & prod. Ramona S. Diaz

prod. Leah Marino

From the AlumNest

• High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America
  2016 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Yoruba Richen directed the Episode 4: Freedom. 
  

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

Check out the full nominee list with this link.

We are living a defining moment for present and future generations, and we fiercely believe in the transformative power of documentary, especially in a call to action moment like this. Over the past sixteen years, Chicken & Egg Pictures has supported filmmakers who skillfully weave deeply humane storytelling to showcase the impact of reproductive restrictions. We encourage you to revisit some of the Nest-supported films that have increased visibility for reproductive rights:

A Quiet Inquisition, dirs. & prods. Alessandra Zeka and Holen Sabrina Kahn

Set in Nicaragua, A Quiet Inquisition portrays the reality of abortion prohibition where doctors have to navigate between the potential of prosecution and medical protocols that save lives.
Rent on Youtube

On The Divide, dirs. Maya Cueva & Leah Galant, prods. Melanie Miller, Diane Becker, Amanda Spain, Elizabeth Woodward

On The Divide is a film about the last abortion clinic on the US-Mexico border, where three Latinx people are connected despite their different views. As threats to the clinic and their personal safety mount, these three are forced to make decisions they never could have imagined.
Watch on POV in 2022 

Vessel, dir. & prod. Diana Whitten, prod. Mitchell Block

Vessel is the story of activist Rebecca Gomperts, founder of Women on Waves, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing reproductive health services to women in countries with restrictive abortion laws. When her ship is faced with governmental, religious, and military blockade, she decides to use new technologies to train women to give themselves abortions using WHO-researched pills. This work builds an underground network of emboldened pro-choice activists who trust women to handle abortion. 
Rent on Amazon Prime

The Chosen Life, dir. Dawn Porter, prod. Marilyn Ness

The Chosen Life follows the story of Dr. Yashica Robinson as she offers reproductive options for women in Huntsville, Alabama, where abortion providers face harassment, ostracism, and state-sanctioned obstacles.
Watch via The New York Times

Motherland, dir. & prod. Ramona S. Díaz, prod. Rey Cuerdo

Motherland takes us into the world’s busiest maternity hospital, which is located in one of its poorest countries: the Philippines. There, women face devastating consequences as their country struggles with reproductive health policy and the politics of conservative ideologies.
Watch on Tubi, Vudu & Peacock

Belly of the Beast, dir. Erika Cohn, prods. Nicole Docta, Christen Marquez & Angela Tucker

Belly of the Beast is a shocking story about the ongoing legacy of eugenics and reproductive injustice in the United States. When a courageous young woman and a radical lawyer discover a pattern of illegal sterilizations in California’s women’s prisons—primarily targeting women of color, they wage a near-impossible battle against the Department of Corrections. 
Host a screening

After Tiller, dirs. & prods. Martha Shane and Lana Wilson

After Tiller is a compassionate portrait of the remaining four American doctors who openly provide third-trimester abortions and have become the new number-one targets of the anti-abortion movement. They continue to risk their lives every day to do work that many believe is murder, but which they believe is profoundly important for their patients’ lives. 
Watch on Tubi & Apple TV

“As we face one of the most challenging times in modern history, with much collective grief and loss, we have the opportunity to honor and uphold our strength and legacy as a country of immigrants.”

Director Alexandra Codina launched the impact campaign for her Nest-supported film Paper Children (2017 (Egg)celerator Lab), including an op-ed published in The Miami Herald and a co-authored post with other activists in asylum and immigrant rights on Medium, both are calls to action to help protect asylum seekers and to speak out against proposed asylum regulations in the US. Read more here: 

The Miami Herald: This is the worst time yet to gut asylum protections for those fleeing persecution — Alexandra Codina

Medium: Asylum is a humanitarian issue. It has been corrupted by politics. — Alexandra Codina, Americans for Immigrant Justice, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and others 

Paper Children is available to stream on Youtube. 

Firelight Media’s “Beyond Resilience” Series Continues This Week

Loira Limbal, Senior Vice President for Programs at Firelight Media and 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee for Through the Night, will be featured on another Beyond Resilience panel Friday, July 17 at 2 pm ET. 

Beyond Resilience: The Black Gaze — Join Firelight Media for a conversation with Black filmmakers on how they are navigating the ubiquitous images of Black trauma in this moment, documenting Black life, and forging new cinematic languages, practices, and formal approaches.

The Beyond Resilience series is available on Firelight Media’s Youtube channel if you cannot make the live webinar. 

Ramona Diaz Premieres Trailer for A Thousand Cuts Announces Theatrical Run:

2018 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Ramona Diaz premiered the trailer for A Thousand Cuts and announced a virtual theatrical run nationwide, via Deadline.

“As the United States goes through its own journey of civic unrest and social change, the Philippines is going through its own journey that is having a substantial political impact on the Asian archipelago and as seen in Ramona S. Diaz’s Sundance documentary A Thousand Cuts, which is set to open in theaters and in virtual theaters nationwide on August 7, the reverberations may have global consequences.“

Deadline: ‘A Thousand Cuts’ Trailer: Ramona S. Diaz’s Docu About Journalist Maria Ressa And Press Freedom In Duterte’s Philippines Sets Theatrical Run — Dino-Ray Ramos

The trailer for A Thousand Cuts is available to watch on Youtube.

Coded Bias
Directed by Shalini Kantayya (Project: Hatched 2020)

Exploring the fallout of MIT Media Lab researcher Joy Buolamwini’s startling discovery that facial recognition does not see dark-skinned faces accurately, and her journey to push for the first-ever legislation in the US to govern against bias in the algorithms that impact us all.

Once Upon a Time in Venezuela 
Directed by Anabel Rodríguez (Project: Hatched 2020)

Once, the village of Congo Mirador was prosperous. Now it is decaying and disintegrating—a prophetic reflection of Venezuela itself.

The Fight
Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman, Eli Despres (Project: Hatched 2020)

Inside the ACLU, a team of scrappy lawyers battle Trump’s historic assault on civil liberties.

A Thousand Cuts
Directed by Ramona Diaz (2018 Chicken & Egg Award recipient)*

Nowhere is the worldwide erosion of democracy, fueled by social media disinformation campaigns, more starkly evident than in the authoritarian regime of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Journalist Maria Ressa places the tools of the free press—and her freedom—on the line in defense of truth and democracy.

Dick Johnson Is Dead
Directed by Recipient Kirsten Johnson (2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipient)*

With this inventive portrait, a cameraperson seeks a way to keep her 86-year-old father alive forever. Utilizing moviemaking magic and her family’s dark humor, she celebrates Dr. Dick Johnson’s last years by staging fantasies of death and beyond. Together, dad and daughter confront the great inevitability awaiting us all.

*These films were in development during the filmmaker’s Chicken & Egg Award year.

In addition to these directly supported films, our AlumNest filmmakers (the 300+ talented, diverse women nonfiction directors that we have supported throughout our fifteen years as an organization) are also premiering their films at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival:

Aggie
Directed by Catherine Gund (Born to Fly, Dispatches from Cleveland, and What’s on Your Plate?)

The Last Thing He Wanted
Directed by Dee Rees (Eventual Salvation)

Taylor Swift: Miss Americana
Directed by Lana Wilson (2019 Chicken & Egg Award recipient)

Untitled Kirby Dick/Amy Ziering Film
Directed by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering (The Invisible War)

The Mole Agent
Directed by Maite Alberdi (2020 Chicken & Egg Award recipient) 

Congratulations to these incredible women filmmakers on their Sundance-bound films. We’ll see you in Park City!

The 77th Peabody Award nominations and we’re thrilled to announce that three Nest-supported filmmakers are in the running. Congratulations to all!

Heroin(e), directed by Elaine McMillion Sheldon (2016 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award recipient)*
“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.”**

Motherland, directed by Ramona Diaz (2018 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award recipient)
One of the world’s poorest and most populous countries, the Philippines, struggles with reproductive health policy—both in the legislature where laws are in debate, and in a hospital with the busiest maternity ward on the planet.

Strong Island, directed by Yance Ford
Set in the suburbs of the black middle class, Strong Island seeks to uncover how—in the year of the Rodney King trial and the Los Angeles riots—the murder of the filmmaker’s older brother went unpunished. The film is an unflinching look at homicide, racial injustice, and the corrosive impact of grief over time.

*Chicken & Egg Pictures did not directly support Heroin(e), but supported Elaine during her Breakthrough year.

**Synopsis from the Heroin(e) webpage.