Jurors for the 2022 SXSW Film Festival Announced

The SXSW Film Festival is delighted to announce the esteemed Jurors for this year’s Narrative and Documentary Feature competitions, Shorts Programs, Louis Black “Lone Star” Award, Music Videos, Poster Design, Title Design, and XR competitions. Many of of this year's Jurors are proudly representing SXSW's beloved home state, Texas.

The 2022 SXSW Films Awards will take place on Tuesday, March 15 at 7:30pm CT at the Paramount Theatre. Follow official SXSW social media channels as the 2022 winners are 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.

2022 Film Jury

NARRATIVE FEATURE JURY

Sheri Linden | Sheri Linden is a film critic for The Hollywood Reporter and was a longtime contributor of reviews, features and essays to the Los Angeles Times.

Siddhant Adlakha | Siddhant is a filmmaker and freelance critic for The New York Times, IGN, Vulture, and more. Originally from Mumbai, he now lives in New York City.

Jenelle Riley | Jenelle Riley is the Deputy Awards and Features Editor at Variety, a three-time Emmy Award winner for her work on Actors on Actors, and writer of the award-winning shorts Warning Labels and Crazy Love.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE JURY

Jason Bailey | Jason Bailey is a film critic, historian, and author. He is a regular contributor to the New York Times, Vulture, and The Playlist.

Carlos Aguilar | Originally from Mexico City, Carlos Aguilar is a film critic and journalist based in Los Angeles whose work has appeared in prestigious publications such as Los Angeles Times, Variety, The New York Times, among others. He is a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) and the National Society of Film Critics (NSFC).

Beandrea July | Beandrea July is a freelance film critic whose work has appeared in The Hollywood Reporter, Vanity Fair and heard on NPR. She is a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and currently reviews films for The New York Times. Of the nine films that Sidney Poitier directed, the eighth one, a 1980s dance movie about kids from Ohio, is still a favorite. (@beandreadotcom)

SHORTS PROGRAM JURY

Mohammad Gorjestani | Mohammad Gorjestani is an Iranian-born Director. His films have earned awards including the SXSW Jury Prize, The Tribeca “X” Award, & Vimeo “Video of the Year.”

Natalie Haack Flores | Natalie Haack Flores is the Vice President of Development at Nuyorican Productions, the production company led by Jennifer Lopez and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, developing film and television projects under the company’s first-look deal with Netflix.

Inga Diev | Inga Diev serves as the General Manager of Ouat Media, a Toronto-based short film distribution and sales company. Recognized internationally as one of the world’s primary destinations for work by the industry’s rising stars, Ouat Media boasts an award-winning catalogue of titles featuring 12 Oscar nominees including 3 Oscar winners to date. In her role, Inga is responsible for the company’s business operations and oversees all the film sales and acquisitions.

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS JURY

Greg Rhem | A New Jersey based writer, director, and producer – Greg Rhem works as a creative consultant for MTV Documentary Films, helping to discover distinctive new shows.

Ryan Harrington | Ryan Harrington is a film and television industry veteran of nearly 20-years. He is currently the Head of Film for Kinema, a new social-cinema platform that brings communities together, in-person and virtually, in non-theatrical settings.

Yvonne Ashley Kouadjo | Yvonne Ashley Kouadjo is the series producer for Op-Docs, the short documentary series from the New York Times.

ANIMATED SHORTS JURY

Julia Pott | Julia Pott is a British animator living in Los Angeles. She is the creator of the animated show Summer Camp Island on HBOMAX.

John Agbaje | SVP of Animation at Bad Robot working on features and series. Previously a development executive at FX where he launched Cake, a short-form animation showcase.

Brook Keesling | Brooke Keesling is the Head of Animation Talent Development at Bento Box Entertainment, an animation instructor at CalArts, and the Vice President of ASIFA Hollywood.

MIDNIGHT SHORTS JURY

Barbara Crampton | Barbara Crampton is an actor and producer whose career as an iconic figure in the horror and thriller genres has spanned 4 decades. She has received 5 Lifetime Achievement awards at festivals around the world for her contributions to the horror genre.

Dana Gills | Dana Gills is SVP of Development and Production at Monkeypaw where she manages a slate of film and TV projects, championing emerging filmmakers and underrepresented voices.

Bea Sequeira | Born and raised in Spain, Beatriz Sequeira joined Blumhouse in 2014 where she’s produced films like Get Out and The Invisible Man.

MUSIC VIDEOS JURY

Andrew Unterberger | Andrew Unterberger is a Deputy Editor at Billboard, where he's written and edited stories about popular music and the charts for the last five years.

Shanna Green | Shanna Green is the Director of Communications, Commercials & Short-Form Content for Academy Award- and Grammy-winning media company Anonymous Content.

Meghan Oretsky | Meghan is a Senior Curator at Vimeo, where she makes selections for the Vimeo Staff Picks channel by watching hundreds of short films each year.

TEXAS SHORTS JURY

Cat Cardenas | Cat Cardenas is an Austin-based writer and photographer. As an Associate Editor at Texas Monthly, she writes about culture, entertainment, and the state's Latinx community.

Eric Webb | Eric Webb is the entertainment editor for the Austin American-Statesman, and he's written about film, music and pop culture for a decade.

Monique Walton | Monique Walton produces fiction and nonfiction features and shorts that have premiered at Cannes, Sundance and SXSW. Her feature Bull (dir. Annie Silverstein) received three Independent Spirit Award nominations. She is based in Austin.

EPISODIC PILOT COMPETITION

Randi Kleiner | Randi Kleiner is the co-Founder and CEO of SeriesFest, an organization dedicated to championing artists at the forefront of episodic storytelling. SeriesFest culminates in a Denver-based festival taking place this year May 5-11, 2022.

Selome Hailu | Selome Hailu is a reporter for Variety, where she covers television and film. Now based in Los Angeles, she is a born and raised Austinite.

Augustine Frizzell | Augustine Frizzell is a filmmaker, SXSW alum, and cat lover from Dallas, Texas.

TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORTS JURY

Bart Weiss | Bart Weiss teaches cinematic arts at UT Arlington, is the founder of the Dallas VideoFest and producer of Frame of Mind on KERA TV.

Lindsey Ashley | Lindsey Ashley is the Deputy Director at the Texas Film Commission, helping to market Texas locations and resources for productions of all shapes and sizes.

Dr. Tere Garza | Dr. Tere Garza is Professor of Communication at St. Edward’s University. Her teaching, scholarship, and publications include Native American-Chican@ film, communication and popular culture. (Photo credit: Chelsea Purgahn)

LOUIS BLACK LONE STAR JURY

Richard Whitaker | The Austin Chronicle's resident Englishman, Richard leads the culture desk, and may be the only Rotten Tomatoes critic who is also a pro-wrestling ring announcer.

Kathy Blackwell | Kathy Blackwell is an executive editor at Texas Monthly magazine and lives in Austin.

Karen Valby | Karen Valby writes about arts and culture for Vanity Fair and The New York Times. She is the author of Welcome to Utopia: Notes from a Small Town.

TITLE SEQUENCE DESIGN JURY

Victoria Nece | Victoria Nece is a Principal Product Manager for Motion Graphics at Adobe. Before joining Adobe, she was a motion designer for documentaries in New York.

Hazel Baird | Hazel Baird is an Emmy award winning Creative Director and Designer at Elastic specializing in film and television opening titles and graphic content.

Saskia Marka | Saskia Marka is an award winning independent designer from Berlin, specialized in conceptual title design and typography.

POSTER DESIGN JURY

Barak Epstein | Barak has produced three feature films that have screened at SXSW. He also runs the legendary Texas Theatre in Dallas, co-founded the Oak Cliff Film Festival and is chairman of the non-profit Top Ten Records.

Becky Cloonan | Becky Cloonan is an illustrator and cartoonist, living in Austin, Texas. Currently she writes Wonder Woman and Batgirls for DC Comics.

Kevin Tong | Kevin Tong has been a self employed illustrator working in the industry for seventeen years. He lives in Austin, TX.

XR JURY

Nonny de la Peña | Nonny de la Peña, Ph.D. is the founder of the award-winning XR company Emblematic Group and the founding director of Arizona State University's new Narrative and Emerging Media center located in downtown Los Angeles.

Kent Bye | Kent Bye has published over 1000 Voices of VR podcast interviews featuring XR artists, storytellers, and technologists driving the resurgence of virtual reality since 2014.

Loren Hammonds | Loren Hammonds is a NYC-based media executive, Film and TV producer, and immersive curator. He is the Co-Head of Documentary at TIME Studios.

See You There

Join us this March 11-20 in Austin, TX and online for SXSW 2022. Explore Conference sessions, Music Festival showcases, Film Festival screenings, world-class Exhibitions, and beyond on the SXSW Schedule.

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Photo by Tico Mendoza