AlumNest

 

Chicken & Egg Pictures has supported 350+ women and gender nonconforming directors from all around the world. The AlumNest program is our way of holding a space for grantees—from first-time filmmakers to industry veterans to communicate and connect with each other and with our team and receive support long after their program year.

 

In 2021, we bolstered ourAlumNest program in new and unique ways

 

  • We hired Filmmaker Engagement Manager Jaad Asante, who hosted AlumNest Open Door office hours each week to catch up with filmmakers and hear about their new projects

  • We offered new online programming, such as filmmaker education panels, Q&As for and by AlumNest filmmakers, and 3-day story workshops with curated cohorts and peer coaches

  • We launched a monthly AlumNest-only newsletter with relevant news for supported filmmakers 

  • We gathered filmmakers at aAn AlumNest Happy Hour event at an outdoor bar in Brooklyn in August 2021

  • We provided one-on-one consultations between our supported filmmakers and our program team members, as requested by filmmakers

In 2021, we bolstered ourAlumNest program in new and unique ways by:

  • Hiring Filmmaker Engagement Manager Jaad Asante, who hosted AlumNest Open Door office hours each week to catch up with filmmakers and hear about their new projects

  • Offering new online programming, such as filmmaker education panels, Q&As for and by AlumNest filmmakers, and 3-day story workshops with curated cohorts and peer coaches

  • Launching a monthly AlumNest-only newsletter with relevant news for supported filmmakers 

  • Gathering filmmakers at an AlumNest Happy Hour event at an outdoor bar in Brooklyn in August 2021

  • Providing one-on-one consultations between our supported filmmakers and our program team members, as requested by filmmakers

Filmmakers at the 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab retreat

AlumNest connections are made long beyond filmmakers’ program years. Some recent collaborations between Nest-supported filmmakers include:

Renee Tajima-Peña (No Mas Bebes) and Grace Lee and Geeta Gandbhir (2017 Chicken & Egg Award recipients) collaborated on the PBS series Asian Americans, which was awarded a Peabody in 2021

After meeting at the 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab, Viviana Gómez Echeverry (Between Fire and Water) is now a producer on Milisuthando Bongela’s self-titled Milisuthando project, in collaboration with Multitude Films 

Meena Nanji (Testament), Nishtha Jain (2020 Chicken & Egg Award), and Vaishali Sinha (Made in India) funded Indian women filmmakers affected by COVID-19 as part of the Bitchitra Collective Sustenance Fund

The documentary landscape needs to be a more equitable place. Here are the ways our AlumNest is calling our industry toward change:

Two supported filmmakers wrote about how mothering, childcare, and their storytelling practice intersect for our Letters from the AlumNest series:
“Filmmaker Moms Need the Industry to be a Part of our Village” by Debora Souza Silva and “Radical Tenderness: The Politic of Through the Night” by Loira Limbal

Chicken & Egg Award Grace Lee launched the Viewers Like Us podcast with Akintunde Ahmad, exploring who gets to tell US stories in public media and investigating a history of systemic inequities at PBS

Many of our AlumNest members (Dawn Porter, Geeta Gandbhir, Grace Lee, Kristi Jacobson, Michèle Stephenson) joined Beyond Inclusion, a BIPOC-led collective of nonfiction makers, executives, and field builders organize for a more racially just film landscape

Nausheen Dadabhoy helped launch the Documentary Cinematographers Alliance, a coalition that aims to improve the career sustainability of cinematographers and advocates for fair wages, inclusive hiring practices, and safe working conditions

2020 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Debora Souza Silva, director of Black Mothers