The Sundance Institute has today named the jurors who will preside over awards for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. The 16-person lineup features everyone from CODA star Marlee Matlin to We Need To Talk About Cosby‘s W. Kamau Bell, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton and actor-comedian Jim Gaffigan.
Matlin will assess the awards potential amongst titles in U.S. Documentary Competition with Slave Play creator Jeremy O. Harris and Never Rarely Sometimes All the time filmmaker Eliza Hittman. Bell, meanwhile, will oversee U.S. Documentary Competition, being joined in that arena by filmmaker Ramona S. Diaz (A Thousand Cuts) and editor Carla Gutiérrez (Julia).
While Wild Nights with Emily filmmaker Madeleine Olnek will preside alone over the NEXT section, Cretton has been assigned to the Short Film Program Competition, being joined there by artist-filmmaker Deborah Stratman and Marie-Louise Khondji, who founded the free streaming platform, Le Cinéma Club.
Those set as jurors for Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition include Japanese producer Shozo Ichiyama (Flowers of Shanghai), Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir (Salt of This Sea) and Nigerian-American filmmaker Funa Maduka (Waiting for Hassana). Creatives presiding over the World Cinema Documentary Competition include Egyptian-American filmmaker Karim Amer (The Vow), Brazilian documentarian Petra Costa (The Fringe of Democracy) and German-Romanian filmmaker Alexander Nanau (Collective).
This brings us to Gaffigan, who has already discharged his duty as a part of the Jury for the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize. Those agreeing with him prior to the kickoff of the festival handy over the award to Sophie Barthes’ opening-night film, The Pod Generation, included neuroscientist Dr. Heather Berlin, marine chemical biologist Dr. Mandë Holford, and filmmakers Shalini Kantayya (Coded Bias) and Lydia Dean Pilcher (Radium Girls).
“The jury plays an important role within the Festival by amplifying breakthrough works and providing the audience with further opportunities for discovery,” stated Sundance Institute CEO, Joana Vicente. “We thank them for his or her dedication to artistic excellence and their thoughtful lens on cinematic expression and all that independent film offers.”
“We’re thrilled to welcome these esteemed and completed visionaries to the Festival as our jury,” remarked the Festival’s Director of Programming, Kim Yutani. “Together they’ll embark on a journey through our program to spotlight the artistic achievements and honor the compelling storytelling on this yr’s Festival. We are able to’t wait to listen to what they think.”
The 2023 edition of Utah’s Sundance Film Festival will happen in-person in Park City and Salt Lake City, and on the Sundance Resort from January 19-29, with a big choice of movies also to be made available online starting on the twenty fourth. Festival audiences will have the ability to vote for the Audience Awards across the U.S. Competition, World Competition and NEXT categories, and for a Festival Favorite, with the Sundance awards ceremony to happen on the twenty seventh.
More information on those appointed as Jury Members for Sundance 2023 may be found below.
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. Jeremy 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 All the time (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 yr 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 Matlin‘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, she 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 writer 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 plenty 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’ Alternative 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 non-public 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). Petra 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 line with 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, Madeleine 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 put in writing 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’ 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 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 writer 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 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 use venoms and venomous marine animals to check 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’ Alternative Award, and an NAACP Image award, and now streams on Netflix. Her debut feature, Catching the Sun, executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, released on Netflix and was named a NY 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 twelve 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.