Chicken & Egg Pictures, the film foundation for women nonfiction filmmakers, has announced Mexican-American filmmaker Natalia Alamada as one of the five documentary directors who are the recipients of the 2018 Breakthrough Filmmaker Award. The honor, recognizes and elevates five mid-career women* directors with unique voices who are poised to reach new heights and become strong filmmaker-advocates for urgent issues. The award consists of a $50,000 unrestricted grant and a year-long mentorship tailored to each filmmaker’s individual goals.
Recipient of the 2012 MacArthur “Genius” Award, Natalia Almada’s debut feature narrative Everything Else / Todo lo demás premiered at the 2016 New York Film Festival and was nominated for an Ariel Award from the Mexican Academy of Film. Her three feature documentaries, El Velador, El General (winner of the 2009 Sundance US Directing Award: Documentary), and Al Otro Lado, all broadcast on the award-winning program POV. Natalia lives between Mexico City and San Francisco.
The other four Breakthrough Filmmaker Award winners are Nanfu Wang, Ramona Diaz, Laura Nix, and Kimi Takesue. Previous Breakthrough Award winners include Geeta Gandbhir (I Am Evidence), Kirsten Johnson (Cameraperson), Dawn Porter (Trapped), and Yoruba Richen (The New Black).
