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Chicken & Egg Pictures announced today fourteen new films that will receive grants as a result of the organization’s 2014 Open Call, plus two new sets of grants to projects in stages that range from production to completion. In anticipation of Chicken & Egg Pictures’ 10th anniversary in 2015, this most recent Open Call launched a special Women & Girls On-Screen Initiative to elevate women and girls both behind and in front of the camera. The organization, which is the only nonprofit of its kind dedicated solely to supporting women nonfiction filmmakers, prioritized projects that featured women and girls as prominent characters and storytellers of their own lives and experiences.

Grantees were selected from over 640 submissions, and include women filmmakers from Libya, Egypt, the United Kingdom, and India, as well as across the United States.

The organization has made it an ongoing priority to significantly increase their grant amounts, with some projects this year receiving up to $25,000; in past years, awards were typically $10,000. This latest round of grants totaled $330,000. To date, Chicken & Egg Pictures has awarded over $3.5 million in grants and more than 5,000 mentorship hours to 186 films.

Chicken & Egg Pictures supports women nonfiction directors with a strategic combination of funding and mentorship. Chicken & Egg Pictures, which will celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2015, was founded by award-winning filmmakers and producers Julie Parker Benello, Wendy Ettinger, and Judith Helfand, and named Jenni Wolfson as its first-ever Executive Director last September.

“This year’s Open Call was a remarkable experience for everyone at Chicken & Egg Pictures,” said Wolfson. “It is inspiring to be drawn into the worlds of so many incredible women all over the world who are taking risks and moving the needle, and to see them through the eyes of courageous women filmmakers who are taking their own risks and paving the way for so many others. As Chicken & Egg Pictures prepares to celebrate its tenth anniversary in 2015, we are even more committed to amplifying and celebrating women’s voices and stories. This Open Call truly embodies that commitment.”

Chicken & Egg Pictures 2014 Open Call Grantees

The Amina Profile

Directed by Sophie Deraspe

In 2011, Amina Arraf, a beautiful lesbian revolutionary blogger in Syria, captured the heart of Sandra Bagaria. The fervent love affair that developed between them would sweep Sandra into an international intrigue involving American secret services, some of the biggest media outlets, and countless supporters of the Syrian revolution. This is the story of an unprecedented media fiasco that Sandra was forced to live through, and that we invite you to experience with her on a journey around the world.

Canary in a Coal Mine

Directed by Jennifer Brea

Jennifer, a Harvard PhD student, was signing a check at a restaurant when she found she could not write her own name. Months before her wedding, she became progressively more ill, losing the ability even to sit in a wheelchair. When doctors insisted that her condition was psychosomatic, she picked up her camera to document her own story and the stories of four other patients struggling with the world’s most prevalent orphaned disease.

Care

Directed by Deirdre Fishel

The feature documentary Care, now in post-production, exposes the deep flaws in the U.S. eldercare system by following the intimate and dramatic stories of three overworked and underpaid home health aides and one family struggling to find and pay for quality care. The film sounds the alarm about an exploited workforce, an aging population, and an impending crisis of care.

Councilwoman

Directed by Margo Guernsey

Councilwoman is about a Dominican hotel housekeeper who sits on the City Council in Providence, RI. The film follows her first term as she learns the ropes of political office, and is part of a spirited effort to win economic justice for hotel workers. She has two contenders in a tight race for her re-election. This is a story about civic participation and power in our democracy.

#Dalitwomenfight

Anonymous

#Dalitwomenfight is a feature-length documentary that follows a courageous group of Dalit women who overcome unspeakable attacks and spearhead a bold national campaign to end caste and sexual violence in India. Their remarkable journey catapults them from their humble villages onto the center stage of Indian politics as they fight to heal not only themselves, but also the very soul of their country.

Even When I Fall

Directed by Sky Neal

Even When I Fall is the story of three remarkable young Nepali women, all survivors of human trafficking into corrupt big top circuses across India. Facing forgotten families and uncertain futures, the story begins in the often-overlooked aftermath of a childhood spent in captivity and forced labor. But these tough young women were inadvertently left with a secret weapon by their captors – their breathtaking skills as circus artists.

Freedom Fields

Directed by Naziha Arebi

In post-revolution Libya, a group of women are brought together by one dream: to play football for their country. Freedom Fields is a film about struggle and sacrifice. At the new dawn of a nation once cut off from the rest of the world, this is a story of following your dreams and aspirations against all odds and at any cost. Through their eyes, we see the reality of a country in transition, where personal stories collide with history.

From This Day Forward

Directed by Sharon Shattuck

When filmmaker Sharon Shattuck’s dad came out as transgender and changed her name to Trisha, Sharon was in the awkward throes of middle school. Her father’s transition was difficult for her straight-identified mother to accept, but they decided not to divorce. Committed to staying together as a family, they began a balancing act that would prove even more challenging than expected. As the family reunites to plan Sharon’s wedding, she asks how her parent’s love survived against all odds.

A Guangzhou Love Affair

Directed by Kathy Huang

In China, an unprecedented surge in African migration has led to a rise in marriages between Chinese women and African men. A Guangzhou Love Affair captures the love, heartache, and real life challenges of Afro-Chinese couples attempting to forge a meaningful future together in the face of racism and xenophobia.

Hot Girls Wanted

Directed by Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus

Hot Girls Wanted is a first-ever look at the realities of the professional “amateur” porn world and the steady stream of 18-to-19-year old girls entering into it.

The Movie About Anna

Directed by Alex Sichel and Elizabeth Giamatti

The Movie About Anna is a hybrid documentary that interweaves the real story of Alex Sichel, diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2011, with the fictional story of Anna Seashell (played by Lili Taylor), who manages to find the glass half-full when faced with the same diagnosis. The documentary follows Alex as she uses the film to explore what is foremost on her mind while confronting a terminal disease: parenting, marriage, faith, life, and death.

PC594

Directed by Libby Spears

PC594 is the California penal code section that describes crimes against property —including painting beautiful images on dilapidated walls. LA street artist Lydia Emily engages in biodegradable, non-violent, political protest on government and corporate real estate. She’s conquered innumerable challenges, but now a crippling diagnosis threatens to change everything.

The Trials of Spring

Directed by Gini Reticker

The Trials of Spring follows the journeys of three Egyptian women from the early days of the 2011 Arab Spring until today: Hend, from a rural military family and awaiting a harsh prison sentence for protesting against military rule; Mariam, an activist fighting to end sexual assault; and Mama Khadiga, a formerly veiled widow who became a caretaker of the revolutionaries. Their intersecting stories reveal the vital and underreported role women play in shaping the region’s future.

The Vote

Directed by Hanan Abdalla

In the first elections after the fall of a dictator, three women candidates fight for a new Egypt, as millions go to vote for the first time in their lives. But as the media celebrates the birth of a new democracy, a more sinister power struggle is at play. Capturing an historic and bloody turning point in the struggle for the region, The Vote asks fundamental questions about democracy, betrayal, and what it means to truly manifest the will of the people.

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