2026 JURORS
Meet the members of the Slamdance Film Festival’s 2026 jury! Key figures from the world of independent film charged with selecting the competition winners of the Sparky awards. We thank them for undertaking this challenging task and look forward to their decisions
DOCUMENTARY FEATURES & SHORTS JURY
Rosanna Xia
Documentary Features & Shorts Jury
Rosanna Xia is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and environmental reporter for the Los Angeles Times, where she specializes in stories about the coast and ocean. She directed and produced the award-winning feature documentary Out of Plain Sight, which was selected as Slamdance’s 2025 opening night film. Her celebrated book, California Against the Sea, received the PEN America/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award and a special citation from the Library of Congress, among other honors.
Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine
Documentary Features & Shorts Jury
Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine is an actor and Slamdance-alumni filmmaker. His documentary Memories of Love Returned, executive produced by Steven Soderbergh, was a Spotlight Feature at Slamdance 2025. As an actor, he next appears in Ron Howard’s Alone at Dawn. TV credits include Apple TV’s Smoke and Showtime’s Dexter: Resurrection.
Adam Pertofsky
Documentary Features & Shorts Jury
With 30 years of experience across commercials, music videos, and features, Adam Pertofsky is an award-winning director and editor. A partner at MakeMake (previously Rock Paper Scissors) he has collaborated with filmmakers including Robert Altman, Todd Field, and Mark Romanek, editing films and commercials honored with Clios, Cannes Lions, and AICP awards. His documentary short The Witness From the Balcony of Room 306 earned Academy Award and Emmy nominations. His debut feature documentary, Ubuntu, premiered in 2023.
NARRATIVE FEATURES & BREAKOUTS JURY
Andrew Kightlinger
Narrative Features & Breakouts Jury
Andrew Kightlinger was born and raised in Madagascar before settling in South Dakota. His multi-racial, omni-cultural background fuels a passion for commercial, character-driven storytelling across genres. His feature Lost on a Mountain in Maine, produced by Sylvester Stallone, was released theatrically and reached Netflix’s Global Top 10. He’s also a past winner of the Slamdance Screenplay Grand Prize.
Chris Bauer
Narrative Features & Breakouts Jury
Chris Bauer’s acting credits span 300 episodes of television, 40 feature films, and multiple plays on Broadway and off. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, he has enjoyed longstanding relationships with writer/directors John Patrick Shanley, Jez Butterworth, Alan Ball, David Simon, Ethan Coen, and David Mamet among others. Memorable roles include Frank Sobotka in “”The Wire’, and Wild Bill Hancock in ‘Heels’. Recent independent film appearances include “”Maddie’s Secret””, “”Henry Johnson””, and “”3HAAD””, which he wrote and directed
Marie Jamora
Narrative Features & Breakouts Jury
Born and raised in Manila, MARIE JAMORA produced, wrote, and directed WHAT ISN’T THERE, which premiered at Slamdance. Her short film FLIP THE RECORD won the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative at Urbanworld and was shortlisted for the 90th Academy Awards®. Marie was a Slamdance Features programmer; Indies Features Jury; Head of Jury, Manila International Film Festival, and Feature Film Jury for Bentonville. Marie has taught at AFI, Sundance Collab, and is the 2025 Guest Artistic Director of AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women.
NARRATIVE SHORTS & EPISODES JURY
Daniel Casey
Narrative Shorts & Episodes Jury
Daniel Casey made his filmmaking debut in 2007 as writer and director of THE DEATH OF MICHAEL SMITH, which premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival. Since that time, Daniel has transitioned into a career in screenwriting. His current projects include a TV adaptation of MASS EFFECT for Amazon Studios, an UNTITLED CRIME THRILLER for Sony Pictures and Plan B, as well as projects for Netflix, 21Laps and Bad Robot. Daniel’s screenwriting work includes 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE for Paramount Pictures, KIN for Lionsgate, and FAST AND FURIOUS 9 for Universal Pictures.
Giovanni Labadessa
Narrative Shorts & Episodes Jury
Giovanni Labadessa is a writer-producer based between Los Angeles and New York. Recent credits include Fishgirl (PÖFF Critics’ Pick Special Mention), Dog of God (2026 Academy Awards Latvia’s entry for Best International Feature and two 2026 European Film Academy nominations), and Isabel (Berlinale Panorama). He champions distinctive auteur voices not only through his producing work, but also as the founder of Nòt Film Fest in Italy, currently in its 9th edition.
Andrew Reid
Narrative Shorts & Episodes Jury
Born in Jamaica, Andrew Reid is a disabled writer/director who holds an MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. His short IRON LUNG won the 2025 Slamdance Grand Jury Prize for Best Unstoppable Short, and his award-winning films have screened at over 90 festivals worldwide.
ANIMATED SHORT, EXPERIMENTAL, & 99 SPECIAL JURY
Erick Oh
Animated Short, Experimental, & 99 Special Jury
Erick Oh is an Academy nominated filmmaker and a former Pixar animator, currently based in San Francisco and Seoul, Korea.
Imani Davis
Animated Short, Experimental, & 99 Special Jury
Imani Davis is film programmer at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles, and also a producer and writer. At the American Cinematheque, a 501c3 nonprofit boasting over 1,600 film screenings a year, Imani has worked to put on events with A-list filmmakers and talent such as Sofia Coppola, Spike Lee, Sean Baker, Jordan Peele, Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Damien Chazelle, Christopher Nolan, and many more. Imani is also the founder and lead programmer of the American Cinematheque’s newest short film festival called PROOF, which is the only festival completely dedicated to proof-of-concept short films.
Don Hertzfeldt
Animated Short, Experimental, & 99 Special Jury
Don Hertzfeldt is a two-time Academy Award nominee whose animated films include “It’s Such a Beautiful Day”, “ME”, “The Meaning of Life”, “Paper Trail”, “Rejected”, and the “World of Tomorrow” series. His work has received hundreds of awards and in 2014 made a special appearance on “The Simpsons”.
UNSTOPPABLE SHORTS & FEATURES JURY
Radha Mehta
Unstoppable Features & Shorts Jury
Radha Mehta is an award-winning filmmaker with an MFA from AFI for Directing. A two-time Slamdance alumna and Slamdance George Starks Spirit Award winner, her works explore women empowerment and dismantling cultural taboos. Her films include DOSH, Winds of Silence, Witness, and SŪNNA. She’s in development on her debut feature ANITYA.
Natasha Ofili
Unstoppable Features & Shorts Jury
Natasha Ofili is a multihyphenate actress, writer, and director. She wrote, directed, and starred in her 2025 horror short film “What I Was Trying To Say,” produced with Katia Washington. This is Natasha and NIOVISION’s second short film, following the success of The Multi, which was accepted into 16 film festivals, including Slamdance’s Unstoppable category in 2022. Natasha’s acting work includes Principal Vaughn in Netflix’s The Politician, Hailey Cooper in Marvel’s Spider-Man games, and the Creative Director and Lead performer for Coldplay’s VMA-nominated music video, “feelslikeimfallinginlove.”
Beth Prouty
Unstoppable Features & Shorts Jury
Beth is a former documentary producer with more than a decade of film festival programming experience across a variety of genres, over two decades of involvement in the world of film and filmmaking, and a bit more than four decades of experience living as a disabled person.