Lioness takes it to the hill!

Since their national broadcast on Independent Lens, LIONESS has continued to impact audiences and raise awareness of women veteran's issues with audiences around the country.

We are thrilled for Meg and Daria as they make their way tomorrow to Washington D.C. to present excerpts from the film to members of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Four of the women from the film will be present to answer questions. They will also discuss their experiences in Iraq in a press conference in support of a women veterans bill sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. These events are co-sponsored by Independent Television Service (ITVS), Disabled American Veterans (DAV), and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).

In addition, we are thrilled to share that Independent Lens/PBS has decided to rebroadcast the film on Tuesday June 2, 2009. Check local listings for exact time in your area.

http://www.lionessthefilm.com has more detailed information and will be updated with more from their Capitol Hill presentation. Chicken & Egg Pictures Co-Executive Produced LIONESS with The Fledgling Fund.

Co-founder, Julie Parker Benello, to feature at Barnard College evening next week

Whether exposing the harsh realities of environmental disasters or revealing the colorful history of jazz music, documentarians meet a unique set of challenges among filmmakers.

Please join Sandra Luckow, a Barnard lecturer who also teaches film production at the Yale School of Art, as she moderates a discussion with three award-winning Barnard filmmakers about what it takes to document the truth.





Julie Parker Benello ’92 is a co-founder of Chicken & Egg Pictures, a company that supports women filmmakers and produced the Sundance award-winning HBO documentary Blue Vinyl. Part eco-activism and part rollicking comedy, this is a film in search of the truth about America ’s most popular plastic.

Sarah Botstein ’94 has worked with Ken Burns and Florentine Films for more than a decade. She was a producer of the Emmy Award-winning documentary The War, and before that was an associate producer for the ten-part series, Jazz. She is currently producing a documentary about Prohibition.

Annie Leonard '85 was named one of Time Magazine’s Heroes of 2008. She is an international sustainability expert and the creator of the online film, The Story of Stuff. Within 6 months of its launch, more than 3 million viewers from around the world watched the film, which effectively and often humorously explains where all our stuff comes from and where it goes when we discard it.

Wednesday, March 25
6:30 PM
202 Altschul Hall

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit
www.barnard.edu or call 212.854.2037.

SXSW/Chicken & Egg Pictures Emergent Woman Narrative Filmmaker Award

Chicken & Egg Pictures is thrilled to be honoring one of the many talented female narrative directors at SXSW this year. We had a very spirited selection process, and the deep pool of talent, style, and substance of all of the nominated films knocked our socks off. The Chicken & Egg award recipient made a film that introduces us to a hapless character single-mindedly pursuing a dream despite many odd and seemingly insurmountable obstacles. With humor and a truly original voice, the filmmaker took us on a journey out of the country and into the heart of the American dream. We are proud to recognize Judi Krant and MADE IN CHINA as the first recipient of this award. We hope our award will start Judi on the road to her next feature!

Later that night, Judi shared with us what made this award so special; "As Jenn and Judith went to the podium to announce the recipient of the Chicken and Egg Award at last nights SXSW awards ceremony, I felt humbled just to be in the company of so many talented female filmmakers. Just being a part of that grouping was enough for me, but when they called out the name of my film "Made in China" - I was absolutely elated! As a filmmaker, my greatest goal is be be a good storyteller, so this acknowledgement lets me know that I'm on the right track! Plus - the support and mentorship of other women is particularly meaningful... I've never allowed my gender to affect my confidence in what I could accomplish in this industry, nevertheless, the fact remains that it's a very male dominated business. Thank you Chicken and Egg!!! This award allows me to shoot a few custard pies at that glass ceiling!"

The confidence in Judi, and her film, was further recognized moments later when she also received the SXSW Narrative prize. Jurors for this category were Scott Foundas, Ted Hope and Kim Voynar.

The picture was taken by Producer, and C&E juror for this award, Jennifer Small who coincidentally saw this on stage moments before the awards began. Many thanks to her for her time and expertise!

Story Leads to Action continues with a special Work-In-Progress screening of FOR THE NEXT 7 GENERATIONS

In honor of
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S MONTH

A WORK-IN-PROGRESS screening & interactive brainstorm
to explore and design the community engagement campaign for:

FOR THE NEXT 7 GENERATIONS

About the film:
Thirteen indigenous grandmothers from the Artic Circle, the Americas, Asia
and Africa come together to fulfill a prophecy. They were told that their
ancestral ways of prayer, peacemaking and healing were vitally needed.
Trained shamans and medicine women, when the Grandmothers choose, they are fierce warriors. Their challenge: awaken the people of the world to the catastrophic consequences we face if we don't change the way we relate to each other and to mother Earth. And to show us how. (No pressure).


SCREENING DETAILS:
Screening at 8PM

Followed by an interactive discussion with Filmmaker Carole Hart,
audience & invited activists.

Moderated by
Peabody Award-winning Filmmaker Judith Helfand,
Co-Founder of Chicken & Egg Pictures/Working Films
and
Molly Murphy, Deputy Director, Working Films

92YTribeca
200 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10013

Tickets are $12
Click here to purchase tickets


About Carole Hart:
Carole Hart is an award-winning television and film producer/writer. She began her career in television working with her partner and husband, Bruce Hart, as one of the original writers of Sesame Street, for which she won her first Emmy. She also produced, with Marlo Thomas, Free to Be...You and Me, the now classic children's album, best-selling book and Peabody Award-winning television special. Carole and Bruce created and produced Hot Hero Sandwich, an innovative Emmy-winning NBC series for adolescents. Her credits also include a number of movies and docudramas made for television: Sooner or Later, a movie musical that generated a top ten song and a Platinum soundtrack album; Leap of Faith, a groundbreaking docudrama about a woman who brought her cancer into remission through alternative means; and again teamed with Marlo Thomas, a multi-award winning mixed-media documentary for Lifetime Television, Our Heroes, Ourselves. Since October 2004, she has been producing and directing the documentary feature For the Next 7 Generations, for release in the first quarter of 2009.

Chicken & Egg's intern takes flight!

I am very proud to share with you Corinne Manabat's latest news for her brilliant short Excuse My Gangsta Ways. Corinne was our first ever intern so we are excited to see her and her projects take flight!

Excuse My Gangsta Ways at San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival

Saturday, March 14, 12PM
Tuesday, March 17, 9:30PM
Sundance Kabuki Cinemas
San Francisco, CA

Excuse My Gangsta Ways
We all go through transitions in life, whether it's a career change, or moving, but for Davina Wan, hers has been very extreme - from the gang life to a "normal" life. Excuse My Gangsta Ways is a documentary portrait on Davina Wan, a Chinese American woman, who was a former gang member from the 1990s Lower East Side. With interviews from her grandmother and godfather, we will take a look at the person she was and the person she has become, where fate and inspiration endure.
Corinne E. Manabat | documentary | 15 minutes | 2008 |

Documentary Fortnight, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2009
San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, 2009
African American Women in Cinema Film Festival, New York, 2008