The SXSW Film & TV Festival is delighted to announce the Jurors for this year’s Narrative and Documentary Feature competitions, Shorts Programs, Music Videos, TV Pilot, and XR competitions.
The 2026 SXSW Films & TV Awards will take place on Wednesday, March 18 at 7:30pm CT at the Paramount Theatre. Follow SXSW on Instagram where the 2026 winners will be announced live. Following the ceremony, a complete list of winners will be posted on sxsw.com.
SXSW is an official qualifying festival for the Academy Awards® Short Film competition, as well as BAFTA nominations, and Independent Spirit Awards. Winners of our Best Animated, Best Narrative and Best Documentary Short Film categories become eligible for Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awards (Oscars). Any British Short Film or Animation that screens at SXSW is eligible for BAFTA nomination. See more information on Awards eligibility.
2026 FILM & TV JURY
NARRATIVE FEATURE JURY
Monica Castillo | Monica Castillo is a critic and film programmer based in New York City. Her curatorial work has appeared at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, Jacob Burns Film Center and the Paley Center for Media, and her journalism and criticism have appeared in NPR, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Colorado Public Radio, KCRW, RogerEbert.com, The Wrap, Remezcla, Elle Magazine, Mashable, and Vulture among others. She is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle, Critics Choice Association, and National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
Gregory Ellwood | A journalist and critic, Gregory Ellwood has covered film and television for over 20 years. A co-founder and editor-in-chief of HitFix, which was acquired by Uproxx in 2016, he has written for the LA Times, Variety, THR, and Vox over his career. Ellwood is currently an editor-at-large at The Playlist.
Amy Nicholson | Amy Nicholson is the film critic of the Los Angeles Times and the host of the podcast "Unspooled." She is a current on-air voice at LAist and KCRW, and a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics. Her first book, Tom Cruise: Anatomy of an Actor, was published by Cahiers du Cinema, and her second, Extra Girls, will be published by Simon & Schuster.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE JURY
Carlos Aguilar | Originally from Mexico City, Carlos Aguilar writes about film for multiple publications including the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and Variety. He is a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the National Society of Film Critics (NSFC), and the Critics Choice Association (CCA).
Angie Han | Angie Han is a Los Angeles-based critic who has been with The Hollywood Reporter since 2021. Previously, she wrote for Mashable and Slashfilm.com.
Tatiana Siegel | Tatiana Siegel is an award-winning journalist who recently joined the California Post after working at Variety since January 2023 as Executive Editor Film & Media and host, executive producer and co-writer of the iHeart podcast Variety Confidential. Previously, she was a Senior Writer at Rolling Stone and an Executive Film Editor at The Hollywood Reporter, where she began covering the business of the entertainment industry in 2003. In 2022, she received an American Society of Magazine Editors nomination for excellence in reporting, has won several Southern California Journalism Awards, and was named print journalist of the year in 2019 at the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northeastern University in Boston and a master’s degree in journalism from New York University.
NARRATIVE SHORTS JURY
Kara Durrett | Kara Durrett is the President and Head of Film & TV for Pinky Promise. Recent Producing credits include Eleanor The Great, I Don’t Understand You, The Last Showgirl, and Bird. Past accolades include two Golden Globe nominations, a BAFTA nomination, Variety's 2024 New Leaders, Sundance Film Festivals Producers Fiction Award, Janet Pierson SXSW Producing Award, a nominee for the Independent Spirit Piaget Award, and a Sundance Producing Lab Fellow.
Rheagan Kearney | A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Rheagan Kearney is a Creative Executive at Ley Line Entertainment, working on Features development and production. She oversees submissions and manages the production of films across a wide range of genres covering everything from horror to family dramas, coming of age stories, and comedy.
Ryan Koo | Ryan Koo's debut feature, AMATEUR, began as a short film and Kickstarter campaign before being selected for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. It was then financed and released by Netflix, where it premiered as one of the top-five most-watched films worldwide. Previously, Koo won a Webby Award and was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Film for his DIY web series THE WEST SIDE. He is the founder of the leading filmmaking publication No Film School.
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS JURY
Opal Hope Bennett | Opal H. Bennett is the Emmy-winning Senior Producer at POV and Executive Producer at POV Shorts. In 2020, POV Shorts won the 2020 IDA Award for Best Short Form Series and the series broadcast the 2021 NewsDoc Emmy Winner for Short Documentary The Love Bugs. Previously, Opal was Shorts Programmer and Director of Artist Development at DOC NYC and Senior Programmer at Athena Film Festival. Opal has also worked with Nantucket Film Festival, Aspen ShortsFest, Tribeca Film Festival and consulted for The Gotham (formerly IFP). She is a Programming Consultant for the March On! Film Festival. A Columbia Law grad, Opal holds a Masters in Media Studies from the LSE, and received her B.A. from New York University.
Alexis Galfas | Alexis Galfas is a manager at Cinetic Media. Her nonfiction clients include Academy Award-nominated filmmakers Julie Cohen & Betsy West (RBG) and Ema Ryan Yamazaki (INSTRUMENTS OF A BEATING HEART), as well as SXSW alumni Contessa Gayles (SONGS FROM THE HOLE) and Kathlyn Horan (THE RETURN OF TANYA TUCKER). She has been at Cinetic for 12 years working across finance, sales, and management sourcing emerging talent and commercially viable award-winning films.
Anna Klein | As Director of Documentary Programming at HBO, Anna Klein is part of the team responsible for the development and production of HBO’s documentary films and series. Anna curates and develops documentary films and series at all stages of production, from idea through their on-air debut. Anna joined the documentary programming team in 2019 and previously worked on film and series publicity at HBO and Discovery. Anna received a Bachelor of Science in Television, Radio and Film from Syracuse University and currently lives in Los Angeles.
ANIMATED SHORTS JURY
Kirsten Lepore | Kirsten Lepore is an LA-based director and animator, and alumna of CalArts. She was the Animation Director on the A24 feature, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, which was nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe, and won three Annie Awards, a National Board of Review and New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Animated Picture among others. She wrote and directed the Marvel Studios I Am Groot series, which won an Emmy in 2023 for Outstanding Short Form Program, and is currently streaming on Disney+.
Previously, Kirsten's viral short Hi Stranger garnered upwards of 200 million views online, and her stop-motion episode of Adventure Time won a 2016 Emmy & Annie award. She has worked with clients such as Apple, Google, MTV, Mini Cooper, Silk, Skippy, Nestle, and many more.
Adrian Molina | Adrian is a 20-year Pixar Animation Studios veteran. His writing and directing credits include the Academy Award®-winning film Coco, Elio, and the upcoming Coco 2. Molina attended the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Character Animation.
Ellen Willis Brenner | Ellen Willis Brenner is a Creative Executive at Netflix Animation Studios with a background spanning story, production, and creative development across Netflix, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, and Nickelodeon with credits that include Incredibles 2, Frozen 2, Raya & the Last Dragon, Encanto, and Wish. She works closely with filmmakers to develop animated features from early concept through production, and has a passion for finding and elevating emerging voices in animation.
MIDNIGHT SHORTS JURY
Dana Gills Mycoo | A proud Chicago native and Spelman College alumna, Dana Gills has a track record of shaping bold and culturally resonant stories across major studios and platforms. Dana is the EVP of Production & Development at Monkeypaw Productions, where she oversees a diverse slate of film and television projects from inception to release. Known for her sharp creative instincts and commitment to amplifying audacious filmmakers, she endeavors to challenge perspectives and champion a new era of storytelling.
Adam Hendricks | Adam runs Divide/Conquer alongside his partner Greg Gilreath. The company has produced more than 30 feature films, most notably Universal/Blumhouse’s BLACK PHONE 2, M3GAN and M3GAN 2.0, Spyglass/Sony’s HEART EYES, Focus Features' VENGEANCE, Magnolia’s LUCKY starring Harry Dean Stanton, Netflix’s CAM, Universal Pictures’ FREAKY, as well as Amazon’s THE VOYEURS and TOTALLY KILLER. They have several films to be released within the year including Legendary’s FACES OF DEATH.
Rebekah McKendry, PhD | Rebekah McKendry, PhD, is an award-winning director, writer, and podcaster. She is also a Professor of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. She began her career working for Fangoria Entertainment and went on to produce, write, and direct for media companies like Shudder, Universal, Dark Horse, Fangoria, Blumhouse, Sony, AMC, and more. Rebekah holds a PhD in Media Arts with a focus on the horror genre, as well as master’s degrees in Film Studies and Education. She is also an award- winning podcaster and currently hosts Fangoria’s Colors of the Dark podcast.
TEXAS SHORTS JURY
Seckeita Lewis | Seckeita Taylor Lewis is an award winning filmmaker, a classically trained marketing CMO, and the co-founder of Lewis Taylor Productions. She is a recipient of both an Austin Film Society grant and Panavision's New Filmmaker Grant for her groundbreaking narrative feature, ImPossible, starring Sherri Shepherd and JoMarie Payton, shining a unique light on obesity and diabetes. Seckeita has been a juror for the Denton Black Film Festival, Catalina Film Festival and Brand Storytelling at Sundance prior to joining the jury at SXSW.
Andrew Logan | Andrew Logan is a screenwriter, producer, and journalist based in Austin. As a screenwriter, he co-wrote Chappaquiddick, a political thriller that chronicles the true story of the infamous Ted Kennedy scandal, starring Jason Clarke, Kate Mara, Ed Helms, and Bruce Dern. The script was listed on the prestigious Black List in 2015, and in 2017, Andrew was named on Variety’s 10 Screenwriters to Watch list. Additionally, Andrew has produced several independent films that have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and South by Southwest. His journalism has appeared in Texas Monthly, the Texas Observer, and other outlets.
Ryan McQuade | Ryan McQuade is an LGBTQIA+, Latino film critic, interviewer, podcaster, and Executive Editor of AwardsWatch, residing in San Antonio, Texas. He is the host of the AwardsWatch and Director Watch podcasts, and you can follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Letterboxd, and BlueSky at @ryanmcquade77.
MUSIC VIDEOS JURY
Marc Fort | Marc Fort is a radio producer & host/DJ at KUTX 98.9, KUT News, and KOOP 91.7. Marc has more than 30 years of music industry experience performing in numerous bands including Moving Panoramas, Schatzi, and The Fuckemos. Marc has also worked as a staff music journalist at the Austin American-Statesman and been a featured speaker at the North American Music Cities Summit, at Almedalen Week in Sweden, SXSW, CMJ and various music conferences around the world.
Warren Fu | Warren Fu is an acclaimed music video director known for creating iconic, visually driven work at the intersection of pop culture, design, and performance. His award-winning videos include Dua Lipa’s “Levitating,” Doja Cat and SZA’s “Kiss Me More,” and Daft Punk’s final video for “Infinity Repeating.” Across his career, Fu has helped shape the visual language of modern music through collaborations with artists such as The Strokes, Haim, Justice, The Killers, Phoenix, and Daft Punk.
Julyssa Lopez | Julyssa Lopez is the Deputy Music Editor at Rolling Stone, where she started as a staff writer. She’s written cover stories on Madonna and Maluma, Rauw Alejandro, and Daddy Yankee. Before joining Rolling Stone, she was a regular contributor at The Nation and Remezcla. Her work has also appeared in Vogue, GQ, Billboard, the Guardian, the Washington Post, and BBC, among other publications.
TV PILOT COMPETITION JURY
Kat Candler | Kat Candler’s award-winning feature Hellion starring Aaron Paul and Juliette Lewis, played in competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Her short films Hellion and Black Metal both premiered at Sundance. Candler's television work includes writing, directing, and producing episodes such as 13 Reasons Why, Queen Sugar, Truth Be Told, Murdaugh: Death in the Family and the upcoming Little House on the Prairie reboot for Netflix.
Billy Luther | Billy Luther is a writer and director based in Los Angeles - Dark Winds (AMC) and his debut feature FRYBREAD FACE AND ME (Netflix).
Lindsey Villarreal | Lindsey Villarreal is a television writer and independent feature writer and director. Her recent recognitions include The Gotham's 2025 Series Creators to Watch, Gotham Week's 2025 U.S. Features in Development, the Sundance Screenwriters Intensive 2024 as well as the WGA's Showrunner Training Program. Lindsey currently has original pilots in development with FX Networks, Onyx Collective, 20th Television, and Littlefield Co.
XR JURY
Katayoun Dibamehr | Katayoun Dibamehr is an Emmy-nominated Iranian French-Canadian Senior Producer with over a decade of leadership in the immersive and cultural sectors. Currently a producer at Floréal, she has a distinguished track record of delivering groundbreaking XR experiences in collaboration with global partners such as Meta, Unity, and France Télévisions. Previously, she served nearly 10 years at Canada’s Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, where she headed both New Media Programming and Public Financing. Her work, which frequently explores themes of social engagement and equity, has been recognized at the Venice Film Festival, Tribeca, Cannes, and the Producers Guild of America. She brings a deep understanding of the international XR ecosystem and a commitment to democratizing access to new media.
Fred Volhuer | Fred Volhuer is an award-winning executive with an Emmy, two Venice Lions, two Peabodys, and an Annecy Cristal to his name. A veteran of the immersive media space, he previously co-founded and led Atlas V and has steered venture-backed companies to successful exits. Frequently featured in Variety, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, Fred is a recognized voice in the future of entertainment, serving as a juror for the Cannes Film Festival and the Telly Awards.
Michele Ziegler | Woman of culture, Michele is Executive Director of NewImages in Paris, the world’s leading festival and market dedicated to immersive creation and XR. While promoting artists, creators and XR production, she carries at heart the mission to make immersive art accessible to everyone, everywhere.
