A couple of tips for those applying to Chicken & Egg Pictures.

Here are some answers to some frequent questions I have been getting about applying to our open call.

CAN'T FIND OUR GUIDELINES?
If you click on the "letter of inquiry" on the contact page of our website this will take you to our LOI. Click on the word "guidelines" featured on the first line to be taken to our guidelines.

IS JUNE 30th THE RECEIVED BY DATE OR POSTMARK DATE?
RECEIVED BY.

LOI WON'T SUBMIT?
Getting an error message that the LOI won't submit? Maybe because a budget isn't attached when it is? This is usually due to something else. Look in the other fields for problem notes - the most common being that you have exceeded the word limit or not entered the numerical fields as instructed.

WORK SAMPLE DESCRIPTION - 1,000 WORDS:
This is just a web design default and shouldn't guide you in your answer. If you have submitted a password-protected website to view your projects then please submit viewing information here. Letters submitted with DVDs will not be circulated to the panel so make sure you enter any viewing notes in this field for the panel to see or attach directly to your DVD. Example notes would be: "no sound mix" or "here is where we are at, here is where we will go from here" or "select scenes are from this event" etc etc.

You can email natalie@chickeneggpics.org with any other questions but I HIGHLY SUGGEST you look refer to the guidelines first. The review process has begun so I may not be able to answer all your questions but also appreciate emails with comments/areas of confusion in regards to our LOI so we can ensure to serve filmmakers best during the tireless fundraising quest you all face.

GOOD LUCK! Natalie

Afghan Star opens this FRIDAY

Chicken & Egg grantee Havana Marking's brilliant festival hit Afghan Star hits the Cinema Village in New York this weekend. First weekend counts so lets get bums on seats!

Read an Indiewire article on it here: http://www.indiewire.com/article/the_debate_it_starts_is_incredible_afghan_star_director_havana_marking/

Find out more about the film here: http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/afghanstar/

WINNER - WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY
AUDIENCE AWARD
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2009

WINNER - WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY
DIRECTING AWARD
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2009

In Afghanistan you risk your life to sing. After thirty years of war and five devastating years of Taliban rule, pop culture is beginning to return to the country. Since 2005, millions have been tuning in to Tolo TV’s wildly popular American Idol-style series Afghan Star. Like its Western predecessors, people compete for a cash prize and record deal. More surprisingly, the contest is open to everyone across the country despite gender, ethnicity or age. Two thousand people audition, including three extremely brave women. And when viewers vote for their favorites via cell phone, it is, for many, their first encounter with the democratic process.

Winner of the Directing and Audience Awards in Sundance’s 2009 World Documentary competition, Havana Marking’s timely and moving film follows the dramatic stories of four young finalists—two men and two women—as they hazard everything to become the nation’s favorite performer.

ONE WEEK TO GO TILL Chicken & Egg Pictures OPEN CALL DEADLINE!!

Calling all applicants - Tuesday, June 30th is the deadline for Chicken & Egg Pictures to receive all materials for your applications by. Get 'em in now!

Click here for more information http://loi.chickeneggpics.org/loi

Pray the Devil Back to Hell screening next week

You haven't seen Pray the Devil Back to Hell yet? Then lucky for you Abigail Disney is bringing her award-winning film back to New York for a one-off screening with DCTV and Shooting People.

Details:
Thursday, June 25th, 7.30pm.
DCTV. 87 Lafayette Street, NYC

About the film:
Pray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the remarkable story of the courageous Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country.

Thousands of women — ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim — came together to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace. Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they demanded a resolution to the country’s civil war. Their actions were a critical element in bringing about a agreement during the stalled peace talks.

A story of sacrifice, unity and transcendence, Pray the Devil Back to Hell honors the strength and perseverance of the women of Liberia. Inspiring, uplifting, and most of all motivating, it is a compelling testimony of how grassroots activism can alter the history of nations.

CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS

Some easy pitfalls for those of you thinking of applying to Chicken & Egg Pictures' open call

Basil Tsiokos has the inside scoop on the most common mistakes made in documentary filmmaking; he screens hundreds of docs a year for various establishments including Sundance and POV. Follow him on Twitter to read his pointers for filmmakers entitled "Dear Documentary Filmmakers". So popular are his tweets Indiewire asked him to write some of his Do's and Don'ts up which you can find here

For some general guidelines about Chicken & Egg's Open Call (deadline June 30th) click here but Basil sure has some golden nuggets to think about.

Best Practices Workshop

This past Monday Chicken & Egg held it’s first Best Practices Workshop at WMM (Women Make Movies) for past applicants. Judith Helfand led the workshop of 20 women, all eager and open-minded to hear the advice of what funders like Chicken & Egg really want to hear and see from the filmmakers.

The workshop began with an overview of the best way to pitch or propose a film. The discussion covered questions such as: How much money is appropriate to ask for? And should you address your weaknesses as a filmmaker when pitching your film? Some of the conclusive points that seemed to come out of Helfand’s discussion was the most effective way of pitching a film is to tell a “small story with a big heart;” even if your film is about something as obscure and remote as a mushroom field in Eastern Europe, find a way to link it back to the personal and the local.

After the initial discussion on how to pitch a film, the group looked at trailers and rough cuts of their projects. It took Judith only a few minutes of watching the films to provide the filmmakers with lucid and helpful advice as to how to improve their projects.

As one participant who showed her work in progress 'Dear Mandela' affirmed "the night reminded me that funders are real people too. They respond to human stories that are beautifully told - and that is what we'll be focusing on as we edit our new fundraising trailer over the next two weeks."

By the end of the night, the small conference room was hot, humid, and stuffy, yet there seemed to be an overwhelming sense of gratitude and companionship among the filmmakers as they stuck around after the workshop finished discussing each other’s trailers and trading contact information. We hope these filmmakers benefitted from the advice and criticism in the workshop and will use it to improve their films as they apply for the Chicken & Egg Open Call deadline on June 30th.

Open Call Deadline LOI:
http://loi.chickeneggpics.org/loi

VOTE TODAY ONLY for C&E grantee Dee Rees' entry to the Netflix competition.

C&E grantee, Dee Rees is currently 4th in the Netflix competition for her project PARIAH where the winner receives $350k and support to finish their film. Please take a minute to give Pariah a 5 star rating here:

http://www.netflixfindyourvoice.com/?id=2

About Pariah:
Pariah is a coming-of-age drama about a lesbian teenager who unsuccessfully juggles multiple identities to avoid rejection from her friends and family.

Set against the kinetic and incongruous social landscape of middle class New York City, Alike vacillates between being a proud and sexually independent woman amongst her openly gay friends and being the feminine, obedient girl that her strict Christian upbringing dictates she be.

Torn by mounting pressure from home, school, and within, the line between her dual personas wears thin with explosive consequences.

Wendy Ettinger to participate in NYWIFT Panel - June 13th.

Fundraising and Financing for Independent Documentary Films: An Intensive Seminar
Event: Saturday Jun. 13, 2009

Is any funding still available for high-quality independent films or videos? What grants are still out there? Who is getting them? Are there other ways to raise funds? What promise does the internet hold?

NYWIFT and Women Make Movies present this comprehensive, all-day seminar, providing unique access to funders and television executives who might be looking for your project. Speakers will explore the diverse sources of funding available for independent film and videomakers-including grants, television pre-sales and on-line communities, Panelists will include funders representing foundations, television entities as well as independent filmmakers who have successfully raised the funds they needed to complete their projects.

Reps from POV, ITVS, the Sundance Channel will join funders from the Fledgling Fund, Chicken and Egg Pictures, Gucci Tribeca Doc Fund and others.

Award-winning filmmakers will share their war stories and advise you on how to move forward with your project.

Attendees will receive a resource packet with information on funding sources, proposal writing, fundraising trailers and upcoming deadlines.

A networking reception will follow the seminar.
Click here to register

POV's 2010 Call for Entries closes June 30th

Attention, all filmmakers! POV, public television's premier showcase for independent, nonfiction film seeks programs from all perspectives to showcase in its annual national PBS series. All subjects, styles and lengths are welcome.

Check out the POV Blog to learn more about the categories of submissions that we are looking for. Please note: All entries must be received by Tuesday, June 30, 2009.

Click here to apply and check out their spanking new website while you are at it!

Chicken & Egg Pictures is open for submissions!

Chicken & Egg Pictures June 30th Open Call is now open for submissions:
Deadline June 30th 2009

Chicken & Egg Pictures is a hybrid film fund and non-profit production
company dedicated to supporting women filmmakers who are as passionate about
the craft of storytelling as they are about the social justice,
environmental and human rights issues they¹re embracing, translating and
exploring on film.

We match strategically timed financial support with rigorous, respectful and
dynamic mentorship, creative collaboration and community-building to nurture
women filmmakers whose diverse voices represent a range of lived experience
and realities that have the power to change the world as we know it.

Filmmakers are supported at pivotal "chicken & egg" moments, and can apply
for support -- development to completion. Since founding in 2005, Chicken &
Egg Pictures has provided approximately $1 million dollars in funding to
over 50 women-made films.

This open call is for non-fiction projects (unless otherwise solicited) -
that are dedicated to progressive social change -- both short and feature
length, "webisodes", animation, experimental and multiplatform new-media
hybrids.

Visit www.chickeneggpics.org for more information and to apply

The Envision Documentary Forum envisions new ways of fundraising for filmmakers

Chicken & Egg Pictures is a proud supporter of the Envision Documentary Forum which came to NYC last month. Judith Helfand had the pleasure of sitting with a stellar group of panelists: Nina Chaudry, Senior Producer, Wide Angle; Philipp Engelhorn, Founder & Executive Director, Cinereach; Patricia Finneran, Senior Consultant, Sundance Documentary Film Program; Judith Helfand, filmmaker, Co-Founder, Chicken & Egg Pictures; Emily Verellen, Senior Program Officer, The Fledgling Fund, on a Panel entitled The Issue is Money which focused on fundraising for issue-related films. The panel was moderated by director Annie Sundberg who proved to also be an excellent contributor from a filmmakers' standpoint.

Key notions of the panel?
To coin a phrase in relation to Chicken & Egg/Working Films methodology- Story Leads to Action! "If you’re moved you will seek the facts and wrestle with those facts in your own way, status and entity." - Judith Helfand.

And to make this effective you must think beyond your film.
“Your film isn’t just a film, it’s a project.” - Patricia Finneran.

Thank you to everyone at IFP who put on an invigorating two days. We hope you'll join us next year! Please visit www.envisionfilm.org.

Photos courtesy of Michael Kornegay

C&E film topic in the news!

Tonight (June 2nd) at 6 pm PBS/ World Focus will be doing a special on the Zaballeen and killing of the hundreds of thousands of pigs in the Cairo area due to the government's fears of swine flu. The Zaballeen and their plight over the past few years against the Egyptian goverment was the focues of the Chicken & Egg funded recently released documentary film Garbage Dreams, directed by Mai Iskander. The film has had much success, including winning the Al Gore's REEL current award in April. It is still circulating film festivals and will be shown at the Seattle Film Festival on June 9th and 10th. For more information on the film go to www.garbagedreams.com.

Mentorship on Steroids

Amidst a flurry of deadlines and work-in-progress editing, we work hard to explore the complicated issues and balanced narrative in our film "Made in India," a feature doc about the human experiences behind the growing phenomena of "outsourcing" surrogate mothers to India (www.madeinindiamovie.com). Of course, this is not an easy task to achieve when fully immersed in the process. Here the dynamic Judith Helfand and Chicken & Egg Pictures have played a key role.

You would think a hospitalization due to a bad reaction to sulpha drugs would slow a woman down - but not so for our fearless mentor, Judith. Not only was she eager to watch the latest "Made in India" work in progress cut, but she didn't hesitate to meet with us in her hospital room for over two hours. Quite literally, mentorship on steroids.

As usual, Judith's advice was smart, insightful and inspiring. And the unusual setting and circumstances didn't change that at all. Having filmed much of this movie in fertility clinics and surrogacy homes, we're used to some pretty intimate situations - but this was a new one even for us.

Chicken & Egg were early sponsors of "Made in India", and their generous assistance helped fund our filming and initial editing. Now that we're editing, they remain strong supporters and mentors to the film. As evidenced in this pic!

Now that's dedication! Thank you Judith.
-- Rebecca Haimowitz & Vaishali Sinha
Co-Directors/Producers, "Made in India"