This year’s Sundance Film Festival announced its 17-person jury on Tuesday, which includes such names as Tatiana Maslany, Martin Starr, Azazel Jacobs, A.V. Rockwell, Janicza Bravo, Nisha Ganatra and more.
The U.S. Dramatic Competition Jury consists of Azazel Jacobs (writer/director of 2024’s “His Three Daughters”), Janicza Bravo (who wrote and directed “Zola”) and Nisha Ganatra (who saw box office success this year after directing “Freakier Friday”).
The U.S. Documentary Competition Jury includes Natalia Almada (a 2012 MacArthur Fellow and two-time Sundance Film Festival Directing Award winner), Justin Chang (a National Society of Film Critics chair who won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism for his work at the LA Times) and Jennie Livingston (the director behind the widely acclaimed documentary “Paris Is Burning”).
“This year’s jury represents a rare depth of creative conviction and exceptional range, made up of artists and thinkers who know what it means to take risks,” said Eugene Hernandez, Sundance Film Festival and Public Programming director. “They bring curiosity, rigor and a deep respect for bold storytelling, qualities that are essential to discovering the films that will define the future of independent cinema.”
Tatiana Maslany will serve on the World Cinema Dramatic Competition Jury alongside Ana Katz (“Mi Amiga del Parque”) and So Yong Kim (“In Between Days”). Martin Starr is on the Short Film Program Competition Jury alongside publishing director Liv Constable-Maxwell and “A Thousand and One” director A.V. Rockwell.
Other juries include the World Cinema Documentary Competition Jury (Toni Kamau, Bao Nguyen, Kirsten Schaffer) and the NEXT Jury (John Cooper, Trevor Groth).
The Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize jury, which includes Sophie Barthes, Dr. Heather Berlin, Dr. Andrea Ghez, Ari Handel and Nicole Perlman, already met ahead of the festival. The group awarded the prize to “In the Blink of an Eye” director Andrew Stanton and screenwriter Colby Day.
“Planning this special year, it felt especially meaningful to invite a slate of jurors who have a rich history with the Festival, all deeply rooted in the creative community they will now help champion,” said Kim Yutani, the Festival’s Director of Programming. “It’s a full-circle way to honor many of the artists, partners and industry members who have played such a pivotal role in shaping the Sundance Film Festival’s legacy for more than 40 years.”
The 42nd edition of Sundance Film Festival will be the final one to take place in Park City and Salt Lake City before moving from Utah to Boulder, Colorado. It will also be the first Sundance since the death of festival founder Robert Redford.
The 2026 Sundance Film Festival will take place from Thursday, Jan. 22, to Sunday, Feb. 1.
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