“Master of None” star Lena Waithe, directors Mira Nair and Debra Granik, and astrophysicist Dr. Nia Imara are among the jurors who will be bestowing awards at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
They will be making the trek to Park City for the 40th annual festival, which takes place from Jan. 18-28.
The 2024 jurors include Granik, Adrian Tomine and Waithe for U.S. Dramatic Competition; Shane Boris, Nicole Newnham and Rudy Valdez for U.S. documentary Competition; Jennifer Kent, Nair and Rui Poças for World Cinema Dramatic Competition; Mandy Chang, Monica Hellström and Shaunak Sen for World Cinema documentary Competition; Christina Oh, Danny Pudi and Charlotte Regan for Short Film Program Competition; and Zal Batmanglij for the Next competition section.
“For our 40th festival, the jury members this year are all artists who have had films at prior festivals,” said Kim Yutani, Sundance’s director of programming. “They know what it is to introduce new work to the Sundance community and we are so pleased to be able to welcome them back to Sundance to take in the films our programming team has curated. We can’t wait to see what resonates with them.”
The jury will return not only to judge the films in competition but also partake in programming events, such as talks, panels and a special 40th edition trivia night. It will announce the awards for feature films — across five competition sections — at a ceremony on Jan. 26. Short film jury winners will be revealed at a separate party on Jan. 23.
The jury for the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize — consisting of Dr. Mandë Holford, Dr. Nia Imara, Matt Johnson, Theresa Park and Courtney Stephens — deliberates ahead of the festival. It awarded the prize to “Love Me,” directed by Sam and Andy Zuchero. The jury, which includes both film and science professionals, presents the honor to a feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character.
Festival audience members who attend in person can vote for the 2024 Audience Awards, open to films in the U.S. Competition, World Competition and Next categories. Attendees are also able to vote for the Festival Favorite, which is selected across all in-person eligible feature film screenings.
“The Sundance Film Festival is known for discovering and platforming visionary emerging artists. We cannot do this without our jury, who so thoughtfully help us recognize and amplify the next generation of independent storytellers,” said festival director Eugene Hernandez. “We are thrilled to announce the talented, accomplished artists who comprise this year’s jury.”
