Chicken & Egg Films Announces 2026 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantees and Relocation of Filmmaker Retreats to Canada

"Chicken & Egg Films, the Brooklyn-based organization that champions women and gender-expansive documentary filmmakers with funding, mentorship, and access, announces today the grantees of its 2026 (Egg)celerator Lab. Nine feature documentary film projects, all helmed or co-helmed by first- or second-time directors, will receive one year of professional mentorship and a $40,000 production grant. Coinciding with the 2026 (Egg)celerator Lab announcement is news that C&E will, for the first time in the organization's history, host its signature retreats in Canada."

"Indeed, several project amid the 2026 cohort directly confront issues of democracy, migration, environmentalism, race, class and queer identity. Among them are Alyse Shorland's The People's Network, about the unique role C-SPAN has played historically and now; Fenced, Gabriella García-Pardo's essayistic map of seen and invisible American fences; Devon Blackwell's Untitled Panda Film, which observes China's practice of loaning these creatures abroad; Taxi Driver, Sara Chishti's vérité portrait of a group of NYC cabbies;"

Chicken & Egg Films will fund nine feature documentary projects, all helmed or co‑helmed by first‑ or second‑time directors, with $40,000 production grants and one year of professional mentorship through the 2026 (Egg)celerator Lab. The organization will hold its signature retreats in Canada for the first time in response to growing difficulty of travel to the United States for artists worldwide. The cohort’s projects confront democracy, migration, environmentalism, race, class, and queer identity. Selected films include Alyse Shorland's The People's Network about C-SPAN; Gabriella García-Pardo's Fenced, an essayistic map of American fences; Devon Blackwell's Untitled Panda Film observing China's panda loan program; and Sara Chishti's Taxi Driver, a vérité portrait of NYC cabbies.

Read at Filmmaker Magazine