Sundance has announced the 16 jurors granting awards at this year’s film festival, ranging from playwright Jeremy O. Harris to Oscar winner Marlee Matlin.
This year’s Sundance Film Festival will take place from Jan. 19-29 in Utah, marking its first return to Park City since the pandemic. The awards ceremony will take place on Jan. 27, with grants bestowed for feature and short films.
Jurors are Harris, Matlin and Eliza Hittman for U.S. dramatic competition; W. Kamau Bell, Ramona Diaz and Carla Gutierrez for U.S. documentary competition; Shozo Ichiyama, Annemarie Jacir and Funa Maduka for world cinema dramatic competition; Karim Amer, Petra Costa and Alexander Nanau for world cinema documentary competition; Madeleine Olnek for the NEXT competition section; and Destin Daniel Cretton, Marie-Louise Khondji and Deborah Stratman for the short film program competition.
“The jury plays a crucial role in the festival by amplifying breakthrough works and providing the audience with further opportunities for discovery,” said Joana Vicente, CEO of Sundance Institute. “We thank them for their dedication to artistic excellence and their thoughtful lens on cinematic expression and all that independent film offers.”
The jury for Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize is Dr. Heather Berlin, Jim Gaffigan, Dr. Mandë Holford, Shalini Kantayya and Lydia Dean Pilcher. They deliberated in advance of the festival and selected “The Pod Generation,” directed by Sophie Barthes.
“We are thrilled to welcome these esteemed and accomplished visionaries to the festival as our jury,” said Kim Yutani, Sundance’s director of programming. “Together they will embark on a journey through our program to highlight the artistic achievements and honor the compelling storytelling in this year’s festival. We can’t wait to hear what they think.”
Festival attendees will have a role in voting for this year’s audience awards, open to movies in the U.S. competition, world competition and NEXT categories. Festival-goers can also vote for the festival favorite, which is selected across the entire feature film program.