Chicken & Egg's CEO Jenni Wolfson was honored with the Leading Light Award at the 2024 DOC NYC Visionaries Tribute on November 13, 2024.

In her acceptance speech, Jenni shared:

"At Chicken & Egg Films, we offer radically tender support to women and gender-expansive artists so that they can thrive and not just survive as filmmakers. And in this increasingly challenging industry, we continue to be as focused on our filmmakers' careers as we are on their films. 

What does it mean to thrive? Our industry demands a lot from filmmakers who operate without the most basic safety nets. We pay particular attention to filmmakers from underrepresented communities who face steeper barriers due to their gender, race, ability, and economic status. We also provide filmmakers with more unrestricted funding. We trust them to determine where the money is most impactfully spent—to pay their crews, support their families, and maintain healthcare coverage, for example.

We are more resolute than ever in our mission. We are proud to have supported more than 500 filmmakers - many of whom might never have reached critical audiences without the guidance, mentorship, and funding made possible by many of you in the room here tonight.  Our filmmakers are why we do this work and will continue to do so—with radical tenderness, guts, and, above all, joy. Thank you for this honor."

The Leading Light Award honors an individual making a critical contribution to documentary in a role other than as a filmmaker, and has previously gone to Erika Dilday, Sonya Childress, and Chi-hui Yang. Read more.