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

Chicken & Egg Pictures announced today, via Variety, the newest grantees of Project: Hatched, a program designed to support directors as they develop and launch strategic impact campaigns. Ten films will receive $30,000 each toward their completion funding and impact campaigns. This was the first year that the grant’s criteria were expanded to include international projects and an increase in the number of projects supported, raising total funds disbursed from $240,000 in 2022 to $300,000 in 2023. 

Project: Hatched 2023 films showcase the work of courageous filmmakers who have uncovered powerful stories, through artful visual storytelling, and who have a clearly articulated impact plan to reach broad audiences. Chicken & Egg Pictures believes all nonfiction films, from the overtly political to the abstract or personal, hold the power to impact their viewers, their communities and beyond, and to continue conversations around important and timely topics.

“We are seeking filmmakers with a strategic vision for the impact they wish to achieve. However, we also value a willingness to embrace diverse interpretations of what constitutes impact and engagement for each individual filmmaker, and how this work can evolve throughout the life of a film,” said Associate Director of Program Sabine Fayoux Cantillo. “All the films supported in this year’s cohort have the potential to create meaningful and specific impact on the lives of the people most affected by the issues being portrayed. Each of them has thought deeply about developing their goals and strategies in collaboration with their film’s core audiences and participants, informed by mutually beneficial opportunities. We are proud to contribute to the larger ecosystem that enables filmmakers to carry this important work forward.”

Please click the film titles for more information on each project, and give these passionate and committed directors a warm welcome to the Nest! 

Project: Hatched 2023 grantees

Bad Press (US)
co-dirs. Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler
prods.  Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler
When the Muscogee Nation censors its free press, a rogue reporter races to expose her government’s corruption in a historic battle with ramifications for all of Indian Country.
Sundance U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Freedom of Expression

Big Fight in Little Chinatown (CANADA)
dir. Karen Cho
prods. Bob Moore, Katie McKay
Residents, businesses, and community organizers fight to save their Chinatown neighborhoods from erasure in this story of resistance and resilience.
Premiered at DOC NYC 2022, Montreal International Documentary Film Festival (RIDM) Women Inmate Jury Award 2022, Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival Honourable Mention Best Canadian Feature Film 2022

Freedom Hill (US)
dir. & prod. Resita Cox
In North Carolina, residents of Princeville—the first town in America incorporated by formerly enslaved freed Africans—resist the steady erosion of both flooding and environmental racism.
Premiered at Full Frame Documentary Festival 2022; acquired by WORLD

From the Shadows #missingirls (INDIA)
dir. & prod. Miriam Chandy Menacherry
prods. Sheena Matheiken, Aalia Furniturewala, Anand Ramayya, Gary Byung-Seok Kam
impact prod. Triparna Banerjee
An artist and an activist find glimmers of hope as they seek justice for survivors of India’s rampant child sex trafficking.
International premiere as a special International Women’s Day 2023 screening hosted by South Asian House and Film Independent’s Global Media Makers in Austin, acquired by TV2 Denmark and KBS (Korea)

Liquor Store Dreams (US)
dir. & prod. So Yun Um
prod. Eddie Kim
Two Korean American children of liquor store owners in Los Angeles set out to bridge generational divides with their immigrant parents. 
Premiered at Tribeca Festival 2022, CAAMFest 2023 Honorable Mention for Best Documentary; acquired by POV

Now That We Are Together (MEXICO)
dir. & prod. Patricia Balderas Castro
co-prod. Claudia Ruiz Capdevielle
impact prods. Merle Iliná, Michelle Plascencia
After an unexpected encounter with a group of women taking back the streets, a filmmaker begins an intimate-yet-collective journey to understand her own experience with violence.
Premiered at Morelia International Film Festival 2022, where it won Best Movie Directed by a Woman and Audience Favorite

PAY OR DIE (AUSTRALIA, CANADA, US)
dirs. & prods. Rachael Dyer, Scott Alexander Ruderman
prod. Yael Melamede
Three families facing life-or-death decisions reveal the harrowing reality of America’s insulin affordability crisis, where 2 million people are being held ransom to pharmaceutical profits. 
Premiered at SXSW 2023, acquired by MTV Documentary Films, streaming premiere launch on Paramount+ 

Suddenly TV (US)
dir. & prod. Roopa Gogineni
At a besieged protest in Khartoum, young revolutionaries create an imaginary television station to confront the violence of the regime and conjure a new Sudan.
Premiered at IDFA 2022, SXSW 2023 Documentary Short Competition Special Jury Award, IndieLisboa Short Film Grand Prize

The Mind Game (AFGHANISTAN, CANADA, NETHERLANDS)
dirs. Eefje Blankevoort, Els van Driel, Sajid Khan Nasiri 
prod. Laura Verduijn
impact prods. Els van Driel, Eefje Blankevoort, Tina Farifteh, Nienke Huitenga, Lara Aerts, Khadidja Benouataf
An Afghan teenager’s first-hand, cell-phone filmed perspective reveals the psychological pressure facing unaccompanied minor refugees. 
Premiered at Movies that Matter Festival 2023, upcoming broadcast on Dutch public television KRO-NCRV

Twice Colonized (DENMARK)
dir. Lin Alluna
prods. Emile Hertling Péronard, Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Stacey Aglok MacDonald
Renowned Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter, who has led a lifelong fight for the rights of Indigenous people, delves into her own origins to mend the wounds of dislocation, colonization, and loss.
Premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2023, Movies that Matter Festival 2023 Camera Justitia Award

• 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab Finalist Eat Bitter | World Premiere | Dox:Award section | dirs. Ningyi Sun, Pascale Appora-Gnekindy | prod. Mathieu Faure 

• 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Is There Anybody Out There? | Highlights section | dir. Ella Glendining | prod. Janine Marmot 

• 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Mila Turajlić’s Non-Aligned: Scenes from the Labudović Reels | Artists & Auteurs section | dir. & prod. Mila Turajlić | prod. Carine Chichkowsky

• 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Tonje Hessen Schei’s Praying for Armageddon | F:act Award section | dir. Tonje Hessen Schei | co-dir. Michael Rowley

• 2022 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Margreth Olin’s Songs of Earth | World Premiere | Dox:Award section | dir. & prod. Margreth Olin

• 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Maite Alberdi’s The Eternal Memory | Highlights section | dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi | prods. Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue

• 2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Elwira Niewira’s The Hamlet Syndrome | Highlights section | dirs. Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski | prod. Magdalena Kaminska

• 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee The Tuba Thieves | Next:Wave section | dir. & prod. Alison O’Daniel

• 2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Jialing Zhang’s Total Trust | World Premiere | Dox: Award and Rewriting the Future sections | dir. & prod. Jialing Zhang | prods. Knut Jager, Michael Grotenhoff, Saskia Kress

QUEER FUTURES

In partnership with Multitude Films, three short documentaries of the QUEER FUTURES series, directed by Brit Fryer & Noah Schamus, Twiggy Pucci Garçon, and Sasha Wortzel that radically imagine future visions of queer life, will have their world premiere. These films expand the boundaries of nonfiction to explore gender affirming care, fat beauty and liberation, and nonbinary ballroom culture. Transcending the rigidity and oppressions of the current moment, these directors locate, build, and inhabit worlds that offer us new ways of being–in the present and the future. 

• How to Carry Water
  dir. Sasha Wortzel
  prods. Jess Devaney, Anya Rous, Colleen Cassingham

• The Script
  dirs. Brit Fryer, Noah Schamus 
  prods. Jessica Devaney, Colleen Cassingham 

• MnM
  dir. Twiggy Pucci Garçon
  prods. Colleen Cassingham, Jessica Devaney

From the AlumNest

• Body Parts
  dir. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
  prod. Helen Hood Scheer

• Kim’s Video
  dirs. & prods. Ashley Sabin, David Redmon
  prods. Deborah & Dale Smith, Rebecca Tabasky, Francesco Galavotti 

• Merkel
  dir. & prod. Eva Weber
  prods. Lizzie Gillett, Sigrid Jonsson Dyekjær, Sonja Henrici

• Victim/Suspect
  dir. & prod. Nancy Schwartzman
  prods. Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, Alice Henty, Amanda Pike, Rachel de Leon

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. Eight Nest-supported filmmakers will present their new projects: Brett Story, Iryna Tsilyk, Jessica Kingdon, Meena Nanji and Zippy Kimundu, Mila Turajlić, Oksana Karpovych, and Vaishali Sinha. 

CPH: CONFERENCE

A 5-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. Our Nest is well represented across the different activities from Monday, March 20 to Friday, March 24. 

A DIALOGUE ON CRAFT WITH MAITE ALBERDI AND ANNA HINTS
Monday, March 20
With 2020 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Maite Alberdi

THE TRUST POLICY 
Tuesday, March 21
With Chicken & Egg Pictures CEO Jenni Wolfson, Shanida Scotland (Doc Society), Jess Kwan (Concordia Fellowship), and Sean Flynn (Points North Institute).

A DIALOGUE ON CRAFT WITH ALISON O’DANIEL, AXEL DANIELSON & MAXIMILIEN VAN AERTRYCK
Tuesday, March 21
With 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab recipient Alison O’Daniel

A DIALOGUE ON CRAFT WITH JIALING ZHANG, PUK DAMSGÅRD AND SØREN KLOVBORG
Wednesday, March 22
With 2021 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Jialing Zhang

A DISCUSSION WITH JESSICA KINGDON
Thursday, March 23
With 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Jessica Kingdon

CITIZEN FILMMAKERS 
Friday, March 24
With 2021 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Elwira Niewira, 2018 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Nanfu Wang, 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Volia Chajkouskaya, and 2023 Critical Issues Fund recipient Alisa Kovalenko

SONGS OF EARTH – LISTENING TO CARE
Friday, March 24
With 2022 Chicken & Egg Award recipient Margreth Olin, Diego Galafassi, Cara Mertes, Bo Øksnebjerg, and Danielle Turkov Wilson

RISE OF INSTITUTIONS
Friday, March 24
With our Senior Creative Consultant Yvonne Welbon, 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Volia Chajkouskaya, and Anne Marie Borsboom.

Meet our Team at CPH:DOX

Our CEO Jenni Wolfson is participating in the CPH: CONFERENCE, and our Associate Director of Program Sabine Fayoux Cantillo will be taking 1:1 meetings with filmmakers.

We are sending huge congratulations to our International Program Consultant Tereza Simikova, CPH:DOX Head of Industry & Training, and to her team, for putting together this fantastic edition. 

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.

Before joining Chicken & Egg Pictures, Sabine gained diverse experience in the nonfiction field: from Production Assistant and Field Researcher at Loki Films to Box Office Manager at the Margaret Mead Film Festival to working with the programming staff at America ReFramed. She has been a screener for the Margaret Mead Film Festival, America ReFramed and POV. In 2019, Sabine was selected to be a participant in Film at Lincoln Center’s 4th annual Industry Academy and participated in Creative Capital’s Taller, a career development program for Spanish-speaking Latinx artists in New York City. Sabine is an emerging filmmaker currently working on a film about emotional inheritance and is passionate about analog photography. She is Colombian and French, and holds a BA in Sociology from the Université Paris-Diderot, as well as a MA in Visual Anthropology from the University of Barcelona.

Thanks for all you do for the Nest, Sabine!