Chicken & Egg Films shapes a more equitable and just world with the catalytic power of documentary films by providing funding, mentorship and industry access to a global community of women and gender-expansive filmmakers. Founded in 2005 by Julie Parker Benello, Wendy Ettinger, and Judith Helfand, and helmed today by CEO Jenni Wolfson, our goal is to disrupt and dismantle barriers to filmmaking caused by gender bias.
Filmmakers need resources, opportunities, and access to thrive in an unbalanced film landscape. So we match strategically timed grants with creative mentorship and community, building peer networks and bringing artists together to learn from and champion one another. This support system is tailored for the unique challenges women and gender-expansive people experience in their filmmaking and career trajectories. Since our founding, Chicken & Egg Films has awarded over $14 million in grants and devoted thousands of hours of creative mentorship to over 500 filmmakers from around the world. Films supported by our work have been nationally and internationally recognized with the industry’s highest honors, including Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, and Peabody Awards. And they have raised visibility and driven social change on urgent issues.
Community | We nurture deep relational connections to grow to our fullest collective potential. |
Courage | We strive for ethical and moral courage in all conversations, decisions, and actions. |
Curiosity & Creativity | We reflect on our world and ourselves, embracing new perspectives and trying out new approaches. |
Equity & Justice | We learn, practice, and iterate what it takes to create affirming and inclusive spaces for our community. |
Integrity | We hold ourselves accountable with consistent reflection on the impact of our work. |
Community
Courage
Curiosity
& Creativity
Equity & Justice
Integrity
We nurture deep relational connections to grow to our fullest collective potential.
We strive for ethical and moral courage in all conversations, decisions, and actions.
We reflect on our world and ourselves, embracing new perspectives and trying out new approaches.
We learn, practice, and iterate what it takes to create affirming and inclusive spaces for our community.
We hold ourselves accountable with consistent reflection on the impact of our work.
$14M | Awarded and disbursed in grants to date |
500+ | Filmmakers supported with funding, access, and mentorship |
70 | C&E films with festival premieres in the last two years |
20 years | Of creating impact alongside our community of filmmakers, partners, and beyond |
Program Eligibility Now Includes Gender-Expansive Documentary Filmmakers
We’re proud all of our programs are open to all gender-expansive documentary filmmakers. It’s been a journey! How’d we get here?
We were founded in 2005 to support women filmmakers, but it became clear over the years that our eligibility criteria still fell short of allowing us to serve all the filmmakers who’d benefit from our work. We believe that greater gender representation behind the camera disrupts and challenges cultural and systemic barriers, resulting in documentary films that better reflect the diversity and complexity of the human experience.
So we set out to become a more gender-inclusive organization.
Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? The funding or the footage?
Chicken & Egg Films was founded in 2005 by documentary film industry veterans Julie Parker Benello, Wendy Ettinger, and Judith Helfand. As filmmakers, teachers, funders, and impact producers, they were inspired to utilize their collective expertise to uplift the power of fellow women storytellers. Chicken & Egg was thus created to help address financial and creative challenges uniquely faced by women in the field–a model that married funding with mentorship to create not just an organization, but a growing community.
In 2013, Jenni Wolfson joined Chicken & Egg as its first CEO. With her leadership, the organization has grown five times in size with expanded programs and grant funding.
While systemic barriers persist for women, many others are also impacted by gender-based inequities in the documentary industry. In January 2024, we announced that we expanded eligibility for all our programs to all gender-expansive filmmakers.
Today, Chicken & Egg Films has provided over $14 million in grants and thousands of hours of creative mentorship to over 500 filmmakers from around the world. Films supported by our work have been nationally and internationally recognized with critical accolades, including Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, and Peabody Awards.