Meet the jurors on our five features juries and our two shorts juries for SIFF 2023.
Feature film juries include New Directors, New American Cinema, Ibero-American, Official Competition, and Documentary. Short film juries include Narravite and Documentary & Animated.
Documentary Competition
Misael, also known as Misa, is a documentary filmmaker and the owner of MediaRoom, a media production company located in Olympia, WA. Born in Puerto Rico, he was raised in both Borikén (the Taino name for Puerto Rico) and Kiskeya (the Taino name for the Dominican Republic). His cultural roots play a significant role in his documentary work, which highlights issues of food justice, colonialism, and art. In 2022, he premiered Raíces, a documentary about food sovereignty in Puerto Rico, after five years of production. When not working on documentaries or commercial film projects, Misa serves as the President of the Seattle Documentary Association (SeaDoc), conducts production workshops, and supports the Olympia Film Collective. He also enjoys using his old-school DJ skills to play retro dance music on vintage turntables.
Documentary Competition
Melanie Miller is an Academy Award®-winning producer and recipient of the 2020 Sundance Institute/Amazon Studios Nonfiction Producers Award with her producing partner Diane Becker. Fishbowl Films, which she co-founded in 2009 with Diane, focuses on unique and diverse voices with an uncanny sensibility that shines a spotlight on timely and compelling issues. Their documentary films include Sundance alums Inventing Tomorrow (POV), which was awards a Peabody in 2019, Whirlybird (Mubi), and Navalny (CNN Films/HBOMax), which won the US Documentary Audience Award and the Festival Favorite at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and was also awarded a DuPont, PGA, BAFTA, and the Oscar® for Best Documentary Feature. Additionally, their award-winning film On the Divide premiered on POV in April 2022, just prior to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and in November the deeply personal and heartfelt Stutz by Jonah Hill launched on Netflix, receiving critical acclaim for an intimate portrait about active therapy surrounding one's mental health and maintains a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Recent credits also include the docu-series' “Trial by Media” (Netflix), “Equal” (HBOMax) and “Marvel 616” (Disney+). Next up is Maestra, which will have its world premiere at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival. Melanie is a member of the Documentary Producers Alliance (DPA), the Producers Guild of America (PGA), and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS).
Documentary Competition
Clémence Taillandier was until recently the Director of theatrical sales at Kino Lorber, a leading independent arthouse distributor. Before Kino, she worked for nearly two decades in arthouse film distribution and audience development expertise for boutique distributors such as Zeitgeist Films, Film Movement, Music Box Films, Good Deed Entertainment, and others.
She now operates her own distribution services and handles theatrical and festival bookings for boutique distributors or self-distribution. She is currently handling theatrical bookings for Film Movement. Over the years, she has enjoyed working hand-in-hand with emerging and acclaimed talents, creating distribution opportunities for filmmakers working outside of the mainstream. It has always been her passion to provide audiences with thought-provoking and alternative voices in films and to make sure that they experience cinema *in* a cinema.
Ibero-American Competition
Jas Keimig is a writer and critic based in Seattle. They previously worked on staff at The Stranger, covering visual art, film, and music. Their work has also appeared in i-D, Netflix, Crosscut, Feast Portland, and The Ticket. Jas has juried short film festivals like HUMP!, SLAY, and SPLIFF. They also co-write “Unstreamable” for Scarecrow Video, a column and screening series highlighting films you can’t find on streaming services. Jas won a game show once and is working on their first documentary short.
Ibero-American Competition
Jim is an independent film curator, and has programmed for South by Southwest Film Festival since 2008. He also programs for Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival and was a founding committee member of Festival Internacional de Cine Tulum (FICTU). Recent curatorial projects include a package of films for KINO! Germany Now 2023 (Goethe Institute/German Film Office), and the upcoming PANORAMICA for PLAY Acción Cultural (Spain).
Jim has consulted and participated on numerous international festival juries, panels, and committees, including Adelaide Film Festival, Bogotá Audiovisual Market (BAM), EFM, FICCALI, and Ventana Sur. For the last two years, he has also mentored students for London Film School.
Ibero-American Competition
Born in Argentina in 1962, Gabriel Lerman studied literature and anthropology at the University of Buenos Aires. He has enjoyed a successful career as a journalist over the last 30 years living in Los Angeles. During this time, he has worked as the L.A. correspondent for many outlets in Spain and Latin America, including the daily newspaper La Vanguardia from Barcelona, as well as such magazines as Dirigido Por and Ethic from Spain, Estilo from Honduras, and Acción from Argentina. He regularly interviews directors and actors from Latin America and Spain for the website GoldenGlobes.com. From 1991 to 2008, Lerman was Managing Editor for the Los Angeles-based weeklies Variedades, Mundo LA, and La Guia. Lerman was also a contributor for many prestigious outlets including La Nacion, Pagina 12, and La Capital from Argentina, El Pais from Uruguay, Ultimas Noticias and La Epoca from Chile, Reforma, Público, and La Jornada from Mexico, and El Comercio from Ecuador. He also wrote for the magazines Maxim's and Tres Puntos from Argentina, Access and In from Chile, as well as Cinemania, Esquire, and Life & Style from Mexico. Additionally, Lerman regularly contributed to Costa Rica’s Fem magazine, Telva, and Imágenes de Actualidad from Spain. As a domestic journalist, Lerman regularly freelanced for the newspapers El Nuevo Herald from Miami, Hoy from New York, and Rumbo in San Antonio, Texas. Other magazines include Selecciones del Reader's Digest and People en Español. Since 2004, he has been a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, where he is now serving on the Board of Directors. In 1988, Lerman was nominated for the International Media Award presented by the Publicists Guild of America and received twelve awards from the National Association of Hispanic Publications. Prior to moving to the United States in 1989, Lerman contributed to the Argentinian dailies Clarín and Sur, and the magazines El Periodista, Satiricón, Caras y Caretas, Humor, and Siete Días. In Argentina, Lerman published two books of interviews and a children’s book, “The SEDIM Project.” His unpublished novel, “The Inhabitants of the Mirror,” was awarded the second prize by the sole juror, Adolfo Bioy Casares, in the First Bienal de Arte Joven in 1989.
New American Cinema Competition
Matt Grady is the founder of Factory 25, an independent film production and distribution company launched in 2009. Factory 25 is a home for conceptually provocative narratives and documentaries. Grady was recently named "One of the Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture” and has been called "One of the most important curatorial voices of new, independent American films." His mission is to expose the world to under-the-radar films, music, and other curiosities theatrically and digitally, as well as on TV, VOD, VHS, and limited edition discs with vinyl LPs and books. Factory 25 titles include Warm Blood (2022 SIFF), The Oregonian, I Am Secretly an Important Man, Amy Seimetz's Sun Don't Shine, Ham on Rye, Actual People, Superior, Christmas, Again, All This Panic, MA, Sylvio, August at Akiko's, Uncle Kent 2, Stinking Heaven, Alex Ross Perry's The Color Wheel, and the restored Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning film In the Soup by Alexandre Rockwell. Grady also produced Nathan Silver's The Great Pretender, Onur Tukel's Applesauce and Summer of Blood, Theodore Collatos & Carolina Monnerat's Queen of Lapa along with You Mean Everything to Me by Bryan Wizemann and Inspector Ike by Graham Mason. Factory 25’s headquarters are located in Brooklyn, New York.
New American Cinema Competition
Jourdain Searles is a film critic, programmer, and performer. She has written for The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Vulture, Indiewire, and Hyperallergic, among many other publications. She is currently a Features Programmer for Outfest LA. When she's not writing or attending film screenings, Jourdain also performs as a stand-up comedian. She lives in Brooklyn with all her anxieties.
New American Cinema Competition
Guentzler is currently the Senior Director of Acquisitions for Gravitas Ventures, one of the leading all-rights distributors of independent films and documentaries in North America. After spending a summer studying in Berlin in 1998, he joined the Cleveland International Film Festival as an intern and grew with the organization, ultimately being named Artistic Director in 2005, a position he held for 15 years. During his time at CIFF, he was part of the team making the festival one of the largest and most well-respected film festivals in the U.S. and one of the first in the world to transition to an online format in 2020. In his brief hiatus from the film industry, he worked for Medworks, a Cleveland-based nonprofit organization linking people who are uninsured and underinsured with vital healthcare services. Guentzler holds a BA in Communications from Cleveland State University, which named him one of its inaugural 50 Fascinating Alumni. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Cleveland Social Venture Partners.
New Directors Competition
Born and raised in Seattle (go Nathan Hale Raiders!), Dr. Cara Ogburn moved to Milwaukee in 2002 to attend graduate school at UWM, where she completed her Ph.D. in English in 2015. In 2011, she joined Milwaukee Film in a seasonal capacity as Panels Producer, a role she held for two years before joining the full-time, year-round education staff in 2013. Since then, she has held many titles within the education and programming departments of Milwaukee Film and in 2020 was named Artistic Director; in this role she leads the organization’s artistic vision, team, and strategy across its two festivals, cinema, and education programs for filmmakers and filmgoers of all ages. Cara serves on and is the immediate past president of the Board of Directors of the national Film Festival Alliance.
New Directors Competition
Anika Duncan is the Vice President of Marketing for ALLBLK and WE tv at AMC Networks. She started her career at HBO in New York City and spent many years at 20th Century Fox prior to joining AMC Networks. She obtained an MBA from The Anderson School at UCLA and is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University, where she was initiated into Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. Anika is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and resides in Los Angeles.
New Directors Competition
Aaron Oravillo was raised between Seattle and the Bay Area in California. He is currently working at Nia Tero, a nonprofit with the mission of “Securing Indigenous guardianship of vital ecosystems.” Aaron is passionate about community organizations that center immigration, gender, race & equity, and environmental justice. He is passionate about the rights of the homeless community and is committed to the mission of assisting Indigenous communities in attaining and maintaining sovereignty over their lands.
Official Competition
Rebecca Fons is Director of Programming at the Gene Siskel Film Center, a public program of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and serves as the Development and Programming Director for the historic Iowa Theater in her hometown of Winterset, IA. Rebecca previously served as Programming Director for FilmScene in Iowa City, IA; Director of Film at the John and Nancy Hughes Theater in Lake Forest, IL; and as Education Director for The Chicago International Film Festival for nearly a decade. Rebecca received her MA from Columbia College Chicago and BA from the University of Iowa. She is co-founder of the Chicago event series Destroy Your Art and has proudly served on screening committees and juries for festivals across the country, including True/False, SXSW, and the Hawaii International Film Festival.
Official Competition
Faridah Gbadamosi is a film curator and culture critic working towards making the space more inclusive. In particular, her interests are in changing the space of tastemakers and rethinking the models for curation and exhibition. She has worked in various roles at different film festivals and other film organizations, including the California Film Institute, Athena Film Festival, SIFF, and many more. She recently worked as the Artistic Director of Outfest during its 40th anniversary. In addition to her programming roles, she has also worked as the Director of Distribution at Open Your Eyes and Think MF, the distribution wing of David Magdael & Associates, a consultant on different film projects, and a freelance culture critic. She currently works at Tribeca Enterprises as a Senior Programmer.
Official Competition
Amy Lillard is the Executive Director of Washington Filmworks, a statewide economic development agency to support the growth and sustainability in the film and the creative industries. Serving in this capacity since 2006, Lillard has worked with over 126 projects as part of the production incentive program. These projects have had over $447M of economic impact across Washington State and created over 24,800 jobs for Washington workers. In 2019, Lillard launched Washington Filmworks partner organization Whipsmart, a trade association to support creative workers and creative businesses.
Lillard started her career as an independent film publicist out of New York and Los Angeles designing the release campaigns for groundbreaking films such as The Blair Witch Project, American Psycho, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Amy retired from publicity in 2000 and took a trip around the world. Two years and 42 countries later, she settled in Seattle where she has worked in various capacities including director of publicity and promotion (SIFF 2003-04), festival director of the Reel Cinerama Film Festival (2003 and 2004), and producer of the Fly Filmmaking Challenge (2003-11).
Lillard lives in Magnolia with her son.
Narrative Shorts Competition
Sean Charles is a Development & Production Manager at ALLBLK, an AMC Networks property. He is responsible for producing and developing all original content for the streaming service in addition to assisting in acquisitions and scheduling.
Sean most recently worked in Corporate Communications as a Production Coordinator, working on all cross-branding and marketing assets across internal and external communications from Sundance Film Festival to Offsite meetings. He also formed and led the inaugural Black employee resource group, Vested Interest in Black Employees (V.I.B.E), from 2018 through 2021 as Co-Chair.
He received his BA in Media Communications from Queens College, CUNY and holds an MBA from Mercy College.
Narrative Shorts Competition
SJ Chiro is a Seattle filmmaker. Her latest feature film, East of the Mountains, stars Tom Skerritt, Mira Sorvino, and Annie Gonzalez. The film was distributed by Quiver Distribution in 2021 and maintains 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. East of the Mountains was nominated for two Satellite Awards: Best Picture (Drama) and Best Actor in a Leading Role (Drama).
Her first feature film, Lane 1974, starring Sophia Mitri Schloss and Katherine Moennig, premiered at SXSW in 2017. Lane 1974 went on to win the prestigious FIPRESCI award for New American Cinema as well as the Aluminum Gryphon Environmental Award from the Giffoni Film Festival and a Best Actress award for her young star at the 2017 DTLA Film Festival. Chiro is also known for her many award-winning short films, including Howard From Ohio, which was given a special jury award at SIFF 2012.
Narrative Shorts Competition
Ina Pira is a Senior Curator at Vimeo, where she leads the iconic Staff Picks program, a showcase for the best short films on the internet. In addition to her curation work, Ina has produced Webby award-winning work, launched original creator-focused programs and events, and programmed for film festivals.
Doc & Animation Shorts Competition
A.E. Hunt is a cameraperson in doc/narrative production, a film critic in publications such as Criterion, Film Comment, Sight & Sound, GQ, CNN Philippines, a freelance programmer, and a theatrical distributor.
Doc & Animation Shorts Competition
Ajuawak Kapashesit is an actor, writer, and director for stage and screen. His acting credits include Indian Horse (2017), Once Upon a River (2019), Indian Road Trip (2020), “Bad Blood” (CityTV/Netflix), and “Outlander” (Starz/Sony). In 2018, he was an Indigenous Film Opportunity Fellow with the Sundance Film Institute and a finalist for the Sundance Indigenous Filmmaker’s Fellowship. His short story, “A Fresh Start,” was published in the anthology Before the Usual Time by Latitude 46. He was a story editor and contributing writer for the second and third seasons of the sketch comedy show “Tallboyz” on CBC. Ajuawak is an alumnus of the CBC Actor's Conservatory at the Canadian Film Centre (2019), a Vision Maker Media Shorts Fellow (2020), and a 4th World Indigenous Media Fellow (2021). He is currently a filmmaker with Homegrown: Future Visions supported by Firelight Media, CAAM, and PBS. His directing credits include Seeds (co-directed with Morningstar Angeline; Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival ‘22), Carrying the Fire (Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival ‘22), and Language Keepers (Cleveland International Film Festival ‘23). He is Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), Cree, and Jewish.
Doc & Animation Shorts Competition
Laney is the Director of Development at Adult Swim. Previously, she worked at BitTorrent Inc, leading their film strategy, and at Sundance Institute. Laney is based in Los Angeles.
