Sundance names jurors for the 2023 film festival

Actor Marlee Maitlin, comedian Jim Gaffigan, and Dr. Heather Berlin, neuroscientist and clinical psychologist, are among the many jurors of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

Sundance Institute announced in a press release on Wednesday the 16 individuals, renowned in film, art and culture, who will resolve which movies shall be awarded for artistic cinematic excellence on the festival that runs in person Jan. 19-29 in Park City, Salt Lake City and on the Sundance Resort.

A number of movies may also be available online across the country Jan. 24-29.

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Individual film tickets are actually available for purchase at festival.sundance.org/tickets.

The jury list, which incorporates the five who awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Film Prize to Sophie Barthes’ “The Pod Generation” a number of weeks ago, are as follows (See below for jurors’ biographies:

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U.S. Dramatic Competition

• Jeremy O. Harris
• Eliza Hittman
• Marlee Matlin 

U.S. Documentary Competition

• W. Kamau Bell
• Ramona Diaz
• Carla Gutierrez

World Cinema Dramatic Competition

• Shozo Ichiyama
• Annemarie Jacir
• Funa Maduka 

World Cinema Documentary Competition

• Karim Amer
• Petra Costa
• Alexander Nanau

NEXT competition section

Short Film Program Competition

• Destin Daniel Cretton
• Marie-Louise Khondji
• Deborah Stratman

Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize

• Dr. Heather Berlin
• Jim Gaffigan
• Dr. Mandë Holford
• Shalini Kantayya
• Lydia Dean Pilcher

“The jury plays a vital role within the Festival by amplifying breakthrough works and providing the audience with further opportunities for discovery,” Sundance Institute Chief Operating Officer Joana Vicente said in an announcement. “We thank them for his or her dedication to artistic excellence and their thoughtful lens on cinematic expression and all that independent film offers.” 

Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Fesgival director of programming, stated that she is thrilled to welcome such “esteemed and completed visionaries” because the jury. “Together they’ll embark on a journey through our program to spotlight the artistic achievements and honor the compelling storytelling on this 12 months’s Festival,” she said. “We will’t wait to listen to what they think.”

Along with the 16 official jurors, Sundance Film Festival audiences attending in person can have a job in voting for the 2023 Audience Awards, open to movies within the U.S. Competition, World Competition and NEXT categories.

Attendees willl also capable of vote for the Festival Favorite, which is chosen across all the feature film program.

This 12 months’s awards for feature and short movies shall be announced on Friday, Jan. 27. This 12 months’s awards ceremony shall be an intimate gathering of artists comprising the festival lineup, with the festival’s social channels sharing the award recipients as they’re announced.

For information, visit festival.sundance.org/

U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION JURY

• Jeremy O. Harris is the playwright and creator of probably the most Tony-nominated Broadway play ever, “Slave Play.” His play “Daddy” opened to great acclaim on the Almeida Theatre in London in March 2022 and in Japan on the Tokyo Globe Theatre and Cool Japan Park Osaka. Harris co-wrote A24’s critically-acclaimed feature “Zola” alongside director Janicza Bravo, which won two 2022 Independent Spirit Awards. His television credits include HBO’s Euphoria and TV adaptation of Irma Vep.

• Eliza Hittman is an award-winning filmmaker. Her latest film, “Never Rarely Sometimes At all times” (Focus Features, 2020), had its U.S. premiere at Sundance, where it won a special jury prize. Hittman received the Directing Award within the U.S. Dramatic category at Sundance the 12 months of her second feature, “Beach Rats” (NEON, 2017). Her debut feature, “It Felt Like Love” (2013), premiered at Sundance in NEXT and was a Latest York Times Critic’s Pick.

• Marlee Miatlin’s first film, “Children of a Lesser God,” garnered her the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her 35-year profession includes “CODA,” which broke records at Sundance and went on to win the SAG Award for Best Ensemble and the Academy Award for Best Picture. Nominated for 4 Emmy Awards, Matlin also starred within the Tony Award-nominated revival of Spring Awakening. In 2023, Matlin will make her directorial debut for Sony’s Accused on Fox.

U.S. DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION JURY

• W. Kamau Bell is a comedian and director and executive producer of the Showtime documentary, “We Need To Talk About Cosby.” He’s the host and executive producer of CNN’s “United Shades of America” and the creator of the Latest York Times bestseller “Do The Work: An Antiracist Activity Book,” co-written with Kate Schatz.

• Ramona S. Diaz is a Peabody, Gotham, IDA and Emmy award-winning Asian American filmmaker best known for her character-driven documentaries that mix a profound appreciation for cinematic aesthetics and potent storytelling. Her movies  — “Imelda,” “Motherland” and “A Thousand Cuts,” amongst others — have been screened and won awards at Sundance, Berlin, Busan, HotDocs, IDFA and lots of other top-tier film festivals. Diaz is each a Guggenheim and a USA Fellow.

• Carla Gutiérrez, ACE, edited the Oscar-nominated movies “RBG” and “La Corona.” Her latest film, “Julia,” premiered at Telluride and played on the Toronto Film Festival. She edited the Emmy nominated “Pray Away” for Netflix. Her work has received awards at Sundance, Tribeca, Berlinale, the Critics’ Selection Awards, the National Board of Review and the duPont-Columbia Awards. Gutiérrez was nominated for an American Cinema Editors Eddie Award and is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures.

WORLD CINEMA DRAMATIC COMPETITION JURY

• Shozo Ichiyama is a movie producer based in Tokyo, known for “Flowers of Shanghai” by Hou Hsiao-hsien and “A Touch of Sin” by Jia Zhang-ke, in addition to the programming director of Tokyo International Film Festival.

• Annemarie Jacir has written, directed and produced over 16 movies with premieres at Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Toronto. All three of her features were Palestine’s Oscar entries. She shot the primary feature by a Palestinian woman director, the acclaimed “Salt of this Sea.” Founding father of Philistine Movies, Jacir frequently collaborates with fellow filmmakers as an editor, screenwriter and producer. She has been a jury member for varied festivals, including Cannes and Berlin.

• Funa Maduka is an award-winning filmmaker and the previous head of international original movies at Netflix where she worked with the world’s top global and upcoming filmmakers. She pioneered Netflix’s move into international film production and her film acquisitions garnered multiple Academy Award nominations. Funa also wrote, directed and produced the primary Nigerian film to world-premiere at Sundance. Alongside her own creative projects, Funa’s current entrepreneurial enterprise focuses on developing talent across the emerging markets globally. 

WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION JURY

• Karim Amer is an Egyptian-American Emmy, BAFTA and Academy Award nominated filmmaker. He has directed and produced several award-winning movies and docuseries, including “The Lincoln Project” (Showtime), “Flight/Risk” (Amazon Prime Video), “The Vow” (HBO) and “The Great Hack” (Netflix). Moreover, he was also a producer on “Ramy” (Hulu), “The Breadwinner,” “Rafea: Solar Mama,” “The Square” and “You Resemble Me.” Amer is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

• Petra Costa is a Brazilian documentary filmmaker whose work lives on the borderlines of the private and political. She directed “The Fringe of Democracy” (2019), which was nominated for the Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2020; “Undertow Eyes” (2009); “Elena” (2012); and “Olmo and the Seagull” (2015). Costa is associate producer of Bárbara Paz’s “Babenco” (2019), producer of Moara Passoni’s “Ecstasy” (2020) and executive producer of Rebeca Huntt’s “BEBA” (2021).

• Alexander Nanau’s documentary, “The World In response to Ion B.” (2009), was awarded an International Emmy Award in 2010. “Toto and his Sisters” (2014) premiered on the San Sebastian IFF and was a European Academy Award nominee in 2015. His latest documentary “Collective” (2019) premiered on the Venice IFF and was nominated for Best International Feature (Romania) and Best Documentary on the Academy Awards in 2021. Nanau is teaching and mentoring at several international film universities and film labs.

NEXT JUROR

• Madeleine Olnek is a Latest York City director-playwright, Guggenheim Fellow and award-winning filmmaker and has had 4 movies at Sundance: “Hold Up,” “Countertransference,” “The Foxy Merkins” and “Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same.” She wrote and directed the primary onscreen portrayal of a queer Emily Dickinson within the groundbreaking “Wild Nights With Emily,” starring Molly Shannon. As a playwright, Olnek belonged to the Emerging Playwrights Lab at Latest York’s Public Theater; in downtown NYC performance spaces she wrote and directed over 24 of her original plays. She is a co-author of “A Practical Handbook for The Actor” (Vintage/Random House/foreword by David Mamet), a widely used acting text which is required reading at many universities.

SHORT FILM PROGRAM COMPETITION JURY

• Destin Daniel Cretton was born in Maui and his short film “Short Term 12” won a Jury Prize at Sundance in 2009. Following this, he wrote and directed the feature “Short Term 12,” winning a Jury Prize and Audience Award at SXSW in 2013. He went on to jot down and direct “The Glass Castle” (Lionsgate), “Just Mercy” (Warner Bros.) and “Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” (Marvel Studios). 

• Marie-Louise Khondji is the founding father of Le Cinéma Club — a free, curated streaming platform presenting one film per week, with an emphasis on short formats. Prior to Le Cinéma Club, she worked in film production and distribution. She was an associate producer of Josh and Benny Safdie’s “Heaven Knows What” (2014) and Antonio Campos’s “Simon Killer” (2012). She is currently working with Robert Pattinson on his latest production company.

• Deborah Stratman is an artist and filmmaker who makes work that investigates problems with power, control and belief, exploring how places, ideas and society are intertwined. Her multi-disciplinary practice is anchored within the sonic and cinematic. Recent projects have addressed freedom, surveillance, sinkholes, comets, evolution, extinction, exodus, sisterhood and faith. Her greater than 40 movies have been exhibited and awarded internationally. She lives in Chicago where she teaches on the University of Illinois.

ALFRED P. SLOAN FEATURE FILM PRIZE JURY

• Dr. Heather Berlin is a neuroscientist, clinical psychologist and associate clinical professor of psychiatry and neuroscience on the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in Latest York. A passionate science communicator, Berlin has hosted series on PBS and Discovery Channel and co-wrote and starred within the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway and Edinburgh Fringe Festival shows, “Off the Top” and “Impulse Control.” She appears frequently on “StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson,” the History Channel, Netflix and National Geographic.

• Jim Gaffigan is a six-time Grammy nominated comedian, actor, author, producer, two-time Latest York Times best-selling creator and three-time Emmy winner. A staple of Sundance, Gaffigan’s many indie credits range from “Tesla” to “Troop Zero.” For Gaffigan’s indie omnipresence he recently received the Maverick Award at Cinequest. In 2023 Gaffigan will co-star in David Lowery’s “Peter Pan & Wendy,” Sloan Award winning “Linoleum,” “Susie Searches,” “Windfall” and Jerry Seinfeld’s highly anticipated directorial debut “Unfrosted.”

• Dr. Mandë Holford is a marine chemical biologist at Hunter College and CUNY-Graduate Center, with scientific appointments at The American Museum of Natural History and Weill Cornell Medicine. Her mollusks-to-medicine research uses venoms and venomous marine animals to review rapidly evolving genes and cellular communication in pain and cancer. She co-founded Killer Snails, LLC, an award winning EdTech learning games company. Honors include: A Distinguished Investigator Award from Allen Institute, an E.E. Just Fellow by the Marine Biological Laboratory, a Sustainability Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, Breakthrough Women in Science by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and NPR’s Science Friday, a Wings WorldQuest Women of Discovery Fellow and Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. Her PhD is from The Rockefeller University.

• Shalini Kantayya is an Award-winning filmmaker whose film “Coded Bias” premiered on the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, was Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary, a Critics’ Selection Award and an NAACP Image award and now streams on Netflix. Her debut feature, “Catching the Sun,” executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, was released on Netflix and named a Latest York Times Critics’ Pick. Her most up-to-date film “TikTok, Boom.” was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize on the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and broadcast on PBS.    

• Lydia Dean Pilcher is a author/director and two-time Emmy Award winner and Oscar-nominated producer of over 40 feature movies with auteur directors including 12 movies in a longstanding collaboration with Mira Nair. in 2018, Pilcher co-directed the dramatic feature “Radium Girls” starring Joey King and next directed “A Call to Spy,” a female-driven World War II spy thriller available on Netflix. She recently accomplished the sci-fi film “Homing Instinct.”

For more information, visit sundance.org