Meet the Jury Members of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival

Jeremy O. Harris is the playwright and creator of the most Tony-nominated Broadway play ever, Slave Play. His play Daddy opened to great acclaim at the Almeida Theatre in London in March 2022, and in Japan at the Tokyo Globe Theatre and Cool Japan Park Osaka. Jeremy co-wrote A24’s critically-acclaimed feature Zolaalongside director Janicza Bravo, which won two 2022 Independent Spirit Awards. His television credits include HBO’s Euphoria and TV adaptation of Irma Vep.

Eliza Hittman is an award-winning filmmaker. Her latest film, Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Focus Features, 2020), had its U.S. premiere at Sundance, where it won a special jury prize. Hittman received the Directing Award in the U.S. Dramatic category at Sundance the year of her second feature, Beach Rats (NEON, 2017). Her debut feature, It Felt Like Love (2013), premiered at Sundance in NEXT and was a New York Times Critic’s Pick.

W. Kamau Bell is a comedian and director and executive producer of the Showtime documentary, We Need To Talk About Cosby. He’s the host and executive producer of CNN’s United Shades of America and the author of the New York Timesbestseller, Do The Work: An Antiracist Activity Book, co-written with Kate Schatz.

Ramona S. Diaz is a Peabody, Gotham, IDA, and Emmy award-winning Asian American filmmaker best known for her character-driven documentaries that combine a profound appreciation for cinematic aesthetics and potent storytelling. Her films – Imelda, Motherland, and A Thousand Cuts, among others – have been screened and won awards at Sundance, Berlin, Busan, HotDocs, IDFA, and many other top-tier film festivals. Diaz is both a Guggenheim and a USA Fellow.

Carla Gutiérrez, ACE, edited the Oscar-nominated films RBG and La Corona. Her latest film, Julia, premiered at Telluride and played at the Toronto Film Festival. She edited the Emmy-nominated Pray Awayfor Netflix. Her work has received awards at Sundance, Tribeca, Berlinale, the Critics’ Choice Awards, the National Board of Review, and the duPont-Columbia Awards. Gutiérrez was nominated for an American Cinema Editors Eddie Award and is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures.

Shozo Ichiyama is a film producer based in Tokyo, known for Flowers of Shanghai by Hou Hsiao-hsien and A Touch of Sin by Jia Zhang-ke, as well as the programming director of Tokyo International Film Festival.

Annemarie Jacir has written, directed, and produced over 16 films with premieres at Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Toronto. All three of her features were Palestine’s Oscar entries. She shot the first feature by a Palestinian woman director, the acclaimed Salt of this Sea. Founder of Philistine Films, Jacir regularly collaborates with fellow filmmakers as an editor, screenwriter, and producer. She has been a jury member for numerous festivals, including Cannes and Berlin.

Funa Maduka is an award-winning filmmaker and the former head of international original films at Netflix where she worked with the world’s top global and upcoming filmmakers. She pioneered Netflix’s move into international film production and her film acquisitions garnered multiple Academy Award nominations. Funa also wrote, directed, and produced the first Nigerian film to world premiere at Sundance. Alongside her own creative projects, Funa’s current entrepreneurial venture focuses on developing talent across the emerging markets globally.