Spring always brings forth new energy, and we see so many ways our community is contributing to the vibrant hum of the season. From filmmaker nominations, premieres, and awards to new faces joining the C&E team, there is much to celebrate. Speaking of, we're proud to announce the brand new recipient of the Chicken & Egg Films Award at Hot Docs (read on to learn more!).
As the documentary ecosystem continues to ride waves of uncertainty, we find ourselves returning to what CEO Jenni Wolfson shared in her keynote at this year’s Movies that Matter Festival: hope is not trite. Hope is not passive. There is so much good work being done. We’re grateful to share some of our highlights with you all.
Thanks for reading.
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The Forever Chorus receives the Hot Docs-Chicken & Egg Films Special Pitch Forum Award
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Pictured: The Forever Chorus still
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Congratulations to Meaghan and Ree Wright, whose film The Forever Chorus, about a queer chorus in Nova Scotia finding their collective voice amid personal change and societal resistance, won the Hot Docs-Chicken & Egg Films Special Pitch Forum Award. The award includes a $5K USD cash prize and AlumNest membership.
“Pitching in front of a live audience can be a remarkably nerve-wracking experience, and every filmmaking team did an exceptional job here," said Associate Director of Program Elaisha Stokes. "But with only one award to share this year, Chicken & Egg Films has chosen to center joy. The Forever Chorus exemplifies what it means to live and be celebrated as your authentic self, a powerful statement of defiance deeply needed today.”
As the Forum’s Wild Card pick, the The Forever Chorus team had less than 24 hours(!) to prepare before pitching live onstage at Hot Docs Cinema and taking home the win.
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Four supported films nominated for Emmy Documentary Awards
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From left to right: Stills from Black Snow, Union, Songs from the Hole, and Apocalypse in the Tropics
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Congratulations to the following filmmakers, whose nominations signify their amazing contributions to bold, in-depth nonfiction storytelling:
✦ Alina Simone’s Black Snow: Best Documentary
✦ Brett Story and Stephen Maing’s Union: Best Documentary
✦ Contessa Gayles’ Songs from the Hole: Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary, Outstanding Writing: Documentary, Outstanding Music Composition: Documentary, Outstanding Art Direction/Set Decoration/Scenic Design: Documentary
✦ Petra Costa’s Apocalypse in the Tropics: Outstanding Direction: Documentary
✦ (AlumNest) Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus’ Cover Up: Outstanding Investigative Documentary and Outstanding Editing: Documentary
Winners will be announced May 28 in NYC.
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Connection and community at CPH:DOX
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Pictured: CEA dinner at CPH:DOX
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For the first time, we hosted our Chicken & Egg Award retreat in Copenhagen, and a delegation of C&E staff, board, and filmmakers shared a week of creative exchange, industry learning, and meaningful time together at CPH:DOX. It all culminated in a special dinner to celebrate the bonds forged within this year’s cohort of filmmakers and a Happy Hour to toast our several supported filmmakers screening at the festival.
While at CPH, we also connected with peers from around the world, strengthened our engagement with one of the field’s leading forums, attended so many screenings, and reinforced what drives our mission forward: time together investing in a global community of brilliant storytellers.
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A message of hope at Movies that Matter
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Pictured: CEO Jenni Wolfson, courtesy Movies that Matter
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“The great poet June Jordan said ‘We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.’ Intimidating, perhaps, but true. The things that are bringing me hope today are indeed intrinsic to us as filmmakers, activists, and independent film champions… These are the instincts we should hold near and trust as this moment asks us to forge a new path.” –Jenni Wolfson
Last month, CEO Jenni Wolfson opened Movies that Matter’s Impact Morning with a keynote on the function of hope in challenging times. She also served on the Activist Lens competition jury alongside supported filmmaker Alina Simone.
Big congrats to our filmmakers on their MTM awards:
✦ Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni’s Cutting Through Rocks: Activist Lens Award
✦ (AlumNest) Alisa Kovalenko’s Traces: Grand Jury Documentary Award
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Celebrating Will Tamura and welcoming Veronica Cook
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After three wonderful years, Program Coordinator Will Tamura is beginning an exciting new chapter. Will supported every aspect of our core programs and brought deep expertise, dedication, and thoughtfulness to their work. They’ve been a truly invaluable member of the C&E team, shaping our filmmakers' experiences in lasting ways. We’re proud to see Will grow and wish them the best on their journey!
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Pictured: Program Assistant Veronica Cook
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Congratulations to former Program Intern Veronica Cook, who has stepped into the role of Program Assistant. A sharp and reliable team member since last September, Veronica will continue supporting our programs more deeply moving forward.
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✦ Join our team! We’re hiring an Associate Director of Program to oversee our key programs and partnerships, lead staff, build community, support donor relationships, and represent C&E in the documentary world. Could it be you?
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Monthly Film Spotlight: Jaripeo
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“Jaripeo gives visibility to queer rancheros too rarely acknowledged on screen and honours the fragile, often compromised ways they navigate family, faith, desire, and belonging. It is a film of delicate observation, one that understands that survival within a hostile structure can itself be a complicated kind of courage.” —Eye for Film
Jaripeo invites us to discover the hidden queer world inside Michoacan’s hyper masculine rodeos. Directed by Efraín Mojica and Rebecca Zweig, the film weaves cinema vérité with super 8 film to create a stylish visual language. Mojica, who grew up between Michoacan, Mexico, and Riverside, California, narrates the film, and through them we meet rancheros Noe and Joseph. Their interactions help us begin to understand the complexity of living and expressing queerness within this space.
Jaripeo had its World Premiere at Sundance 2026 and will have its New York premiere at the Margaret Mead Festival on Sunday, May 3. Don’t forget to grab your tickets!
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April Community Highlights
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Chicken & Egg Films is mourning the tragic loss of Julia Ritchie, our organization’s strategic planning consultant, who passed away unexpectedly earlier this month.
“We had the tremendous honor of working with Julia over the past year. An exceptional, brilliant person, Julia brought keen observational skills, clarity, wisdom, and her super power as a facilitator to every conversation we shared. She was deeply dedicated to helping organizations grow and change for the better. We will remember her welcoming smile and warm laugh, and we’ll carry her spirit with us in our work and lives always.” –Sarah Anderson, COO
We share our sincere condolences with Julia's family, friends, and loved ones.
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✦ “Are we really in a ‘golden age’ of documentary?” In Cultured, Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni join Morgan Neville and Sara Dosa to name pressures shaping the field today, from distribution barriers to the lack of support for patient, observational work.
✦ In “If We Don’t Shape the Future of Civic Media, the WBD-PSKY Merger Will,” Future Film Coalition and the Shorenstein Center’s Jax Deluca calls for a redesigned civic media system that sustains the public-interest infrastructure communities rely on for trusted information, cultural memory, and access to local knowledge.
✦ According to ReFrame’s Gender & Hiring in Film report, 2025 marked a setback for gender-balanced films, with the lowest numbers of women-directed films in six years. Only 11 made the 2025 Top 100 list.
✦ Center for Media and Social Impact’s investigation of film impact campaigns published four studies examining campaign impacts on audience experience, public discourse, cultural influence, and grassroots movements.
✦ The indie distribution market’s instability, while challenging, is inspiring creative, diverse solutions. In Silver Linings Playbook: Meet the New Indie Distributors for Filmmaker Magazine, Anthony Kauffman explores a cautious resurgence in distribution.
✦ “My vision as a filmmaker is to flood our culture with beautifully complex portrayals of working-class women of color. Nonfiction cinema is a mirror, an offering, a sword, a balm. It is sustenance.” In an essay for Cinema Tropical, Firelight Media CEO Laura Limbal explores how nonfiction cinema made by filmmakers of color serves as a vital tool for cultural survival and beyond.
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