Chicken & Egg Pictures and Fork Films are joining forces on a new creative story workshop for documentarians. Women and Hollywood can exclusively reveal that the orgs have selected the participants for the inaugural Fork Films and Chicken & Egg Pictures Story Workshop. The program will take place virtually through the end of October.
The workshop is designed for filmmakers who have previously been supported by Chicken & Egg or Fork Films, and are currently in production on a feature-length doc. As part of the program, they will share work-in-progress footage. They will also receive feedback from their peers and guidance from Chicken & Egg and Fork Films mentors “to explore story structure, learn production best practices, and leave with a sharper vision for their films,” per a press release.
The inaugural Story Workshop’s projects include Kristy Guevara-Flanagan’s “Body Parts,” which explores the filming of Hollywood sex scenes in the age of #MeToo, and Denali Tiller’s “Fight Song,” which sees three young women training and competing as fighters. “The Half Truths,” from Hemal Trivedi, is a look at India’s bloodiest conflict zone, and Eva Weber traces Angela Merkel’s life and career with “Merkel.” Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt’s “Power & Light” focuses on a pastor and his wife as they work to turn their clergy’s attention to climate justice, and Jialing Zhang’s “The Total Trust” examines China’s surveillance state.
“We are thrilled to partner with Chicken & Egg Pictures on this inaugural workshop. The alignment of our respective missions makes this partnership a perfect fit, and we are excited to offer our combined expertise to support these six [alumnae] filmmakers’ current films,” said Jess Kwan, COO at Fork Films.
Chicken & Egg Pictures Program Director Lucila Moctezuma added, “Together we are stronger! This opportunity to combine our mission-aligned organizations and take advantage of our organic synergy to champion filmmakers is so valuable. It allows us to further support and elevate filmmakers as they continue to explore the stories in their films and learn about production best practices. We couldn’t be more excited about this partnership.”
An org supporting women and gender nonconforming documentary filmmakers, Chicken & Egg announced the latest round of Project: Hatched grantees last month. Among them are “On the Divide,” following three very different people who are connected by the last abortion clinic on the U.S./Mexico border. Fork Films is dedicated to telling stories that promote peace, amplify marginalized voices, and build bridges. The company has funded titles including “Crip Camp” and “The Invisible War.”
The inaugural Story Workshop’s selected projects and synopses are below.
BODY PARTS
Directed by Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
Produced by Helen Hood Scheer
BODY PARTS explores the making of Hollywood intimacy scenes in a post #MeToo era. From a kaleidoscopic range of perspectives, the film traces how a cinematic legacy of exploitation and ingenuity have shaped the entertainment industry and audiences. Can an authentic, more ethical vision of female sexuality be conveyed? The answers go beyond movie-making and impact the world at large.
FIGHT SONG
Directed and produced by Denali Tiller
Maia, Kayla and Alli are three young women who have aspirations as many young women do: to find love, success, and purpose in their work. But for these three women, their work involves getting hit, punched, body-slammed, kicked, tackled – and doing the same to others. As these women emerge from tender teenage years to a rough, brutal world of punching bags, dummies, broken bones, and razor’s edge competition, we will witness the emotional and physical strength that’s required to compete at a high level, and explore the threshold between fighting for fitness, validation, control, or self-defense in the face of trauma.
THE HALF TRUTHS
Directed by Hemal Trivedi
Produced by Hemal Trivedi, Amelia Hanibelsz, Cynthia Kane
India’s bloodiest conflict zone is Chhattisgarh, an environmentally fragile region and state where the country’s last dense forest exists, the “lungs of India”. A multinational mining company is eviscerating the land while simultaneously at war with rebel tribal forces. Soni, a tribal school teacher, runs an orphanage and is unexpectedly caught in the crossfire. She is arrested, tortured, and raped. Her arduous quest for justice makes her an international symbol of resistance against state oppression. After release from prison term, and with little choice in the matter, a leader emerges to save her cherished forest and find a path to peace.
MERKEL
Directed by Eva Weber
Produced by Lizzie Gillett, Sigrid Dyekjaer, Eva Weber, Sonja Henrici
As Angela Merkel leaves the world stage, MERKEL explores how a triple outsider – a woman, an East German and a scientist – re-invented herself to become one of the world’s most powerful politicians. Told from an international perspective for an international audience, this film is the definitive re-examination of Angela Merkel’s life and career, delicately told with humour, subtlety, and poignancy.
POWER & LIGHT
Directed by Marion Lipschutz, Rose Rosenblatt
Produced by Rose Rosenblatt, Sabrina Alvarez, Jesse Epstein
In Lawrence, MA a Dominican Pastor and his Anglo wife transform a fractious group of evangelical LatinX clergy into a fighting force for climate justice, determined to make their town a showcase for a green future. Power & Light is a portrait of a marriage that sits on the fault lines of race, culture, gender and religion, mirroring the larger tensions of a story about organizing for climate justice. Sue and Joel’s perspective, and their marriage, emotionally anchor the larger story of how a community informed by spiritual faith struggles to organize around man-made disasters.
THE TOTAL TRUST
Directed and produced by Jialing Zhang
The Total Trust (working title) takes a visceral look at the realities of a society in the throes of a digital invasion. From cameras to AI profiling, China is facing an unprecedented level of surveillance, upheld in equal measure through fear and trust. By exploring the relationship between the watched and the watching, our film uncovers the trauma and hope engendered by these measures and lends a voice to those that stand in resilient defiance of such blatant abuse of power.
