Chicken & Egg Films, which provides support and funding to women and gender-expansive documentary filmmakers, announced today the 29 film projects supported by its second Chicken & Egg Films Research & Development Grant. The grants provide directors with $10,000 USD for research or $20,000 USD for development of a new documentary project. These critical stages in the life of a documentary are often unpaid and unsupported. Grantees will also have access to the Chicken & Egg Films’ team and community of filmmakers for peer support, expert mentorship, and industry connections.

The 2024 Chicken & Egg Films Research & Development Grant is supported by the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity, a dedicated effort to help build new opportunities for underrepresented communities within entertainment.

The Research & Development (R&D) Grant this year demonstrates an increase in both the number of projects and the diversity of grantees supported. This year, 29 film projects will receive grant awards that support 34 total filmmakers (including projects with co-directors) representing 17 countries worldwide including Afghanistan, Argentina, Chile, Finland, Haiti, Hong Kong, Jordan, Kenya, and Mexico. The diversity of this year’s cohort is deepened in other ways as well: of the 59% of grantees who identify as BIPOC, 34% identify as Arab or Latin-x (groups that have been identified as underrepresented in the talent pipeline). 12% of grantees identify as gender-expansive (trans or non-binary) and 31% identify as LGBTQ. There was a 42% increase in applications over the first year, totaling 297 applications from 52 countries.

This year’s R&D film projects represent a wide variety of perspectives, bringing new voices to elevate transformational narratives and dealing with urgent issues including AI and social connection, LGBTQ visibility and history, journalism and democracy, environmental conservation and corporate power, and more. The filmmakers’ artistic styles range widely, including verité, archival, biopic, experimental, and hybrid filmmaking. 

Among the 2024 cohort are renowned doc filmmakers Michèle Stephenson (Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, American Promise), Jialing Zhang (Total Trust, One Child Nation), Zippy Kimundu (Our Land, Our Freedom, Mercy), Rintu Thomas (Writing with Fire, Omnivore), and Jules Rosskam (Desire Lines, Paternal Rites).

A full list of grantees appears below. “We want the films we fund to amplify the diversity of voices in our industry, and continue to expand upon the artistic and narrative craft of documentary,” said R&D Grant Senior Program Manager Elaisha Stokes. “We received a compelling batch of applications. It was a competitive process. We can’t wait to see these films take off in the world, spark new dialogues, and challenge the status quo.” 

“Filmmakers often don’t have the resources to follow an idea and see where it takes them,” added Kiyoko McCrae, Program Director of Chicken & Egg Films. “Our industry teaches filmmakers to question themselves and their creative process. From the get-go, they face pressure to prove themselves in order to receive support. The R&D grant aims to disrupt this. We encourage filmmakers to trust their creative intuitions in this early stage of exploration, ideation, and experimentation.”

The 2024 Chicken & Egg Films R&D Grant recipients listed below are divided into two segments: 1) The Research Grant recipients who are in the ideation period including identifying secondary sources, following storylines and building foundational relationships, and 2) The Development Grant recipients who are in a deeper exploration period including securing access to core subjects and collaborators, solidifying budgets, fundraising, story development and other tasks. 

Research Grant Recipients

1. Assia Boundaoui (dir.) - US, Algeria 2. Leola Calzolai-Stewart (dir.) - US 3. Ali Grant (dir.) - Canada 4. Hazel Gurland-Pooler (dir.) - US, Colombia 5. Sini Hormio & Anu Silfverberg (dirs.) - Finland 6. Minji Ma (dir.) - South Korea 7. Nadina Marquisio (dir.) - Argentina 8. Anushka Meenakshi & Richa Chandru Bhavanam (dirs.) - India 9. Jennifer Ngo (dir.) - Hong Kong 10. Jules Rosskam & Irene Lusztig (dirs.) - US 11. Sonia Ben Slama (dir.) - France, Tunisia 12. Angela Tucker (dir.) - US 13. Elizabeth Lo (dir.) - US, Hong Kong

Development Grant Recipients

1. Sahra Mani (dir.) - Afghanistan, France (Dream of Grape Gardens) 2. Rand Beiruty (dir.) - Jordan (Portrait of A) 3.Michèle Stephenson (dir.) - US, Haiti (Oshun and My Grandmother: A Fable In Four Movements) 4. Sumie García (dir.) - Mexico (Maps of Post-truth) 5. Nico Opper (dir.) - US (Untitled Alexandra Billings Project) 6. Francesca Trianni (dir.) - Italy (Untitled Predator Project) 7. Rintu Thomas & Sushmit Ghosh (dirs.) - India (The Untitled Memory Project) 8. Jialing Zhang (dir.) - US (Dreams*) 9. Georgina Cammalleri (dir.) - Argentina, UK (Olympic Twins*) 10. Jane M. Wagner (dir.) - US (*holds you tight*) 11. Zippy Kimundu (dir.) - Kenya, Ireland (The White Doctor) 12. Inna Sahakyan (dir.) - US, Armenia (The Judge and the Dictator*) 13. Alexa Bakony (dir.) Hungary - (Highways of Hope*) 14. Alyx Duncan & Briar March (dirs.) - New Zealand (Memento Mori) 15. Anabel Rodríguez Ríos (dir.) - Venezuela (The Journey to Santa Rosa de Amanadona) 16. Carola Fuentes (dir.) - Chile (Untitled Chilean Documentary)

*Working title

ABOUT CHICKEN & EGG FILMS

Chicken & Egg Films champions women and gender-expansive documentary filmmakers around the globe with funding, mentorship, and access so they can tell stories that ignite change. We match strategically-timed grants with creative guidance, peer community-building, and industry connections. This support system is tailored to meet the unique needs women and gender-expansive people experience in their filmmaking and career trajectories. 

As of 2024, we have provided over $14 million in grants and thousands of hours of creative mentorship to over 500 filmmakers from across the globe. Films supported by our work have been nationally and internationally recognized with critical accolades, including Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, and Peabody Awards. 

Recipient of honors including the Social Impact Media Awards Vanguard Award and the International Documentary Association’s Amicus Award, Chicken & Egg Films was first founded in 2005 to address the “chicken or egg” inequities women filmmakers faced. We’ve since evolved our eligibility criteria to support all filmmakers impacted by gender bias. 

ABOUT THE NETFLIX FUND FOR CREATIVE EQUITY

The Netflix Fund for Creative Equity is a dedicated effort to help train creatives for job opportunities on Netflix productions and set talent up for success in entertainment. Since its launch in 2021, Netflix has partnered with over 80 organizations in more than 50 countries.