The SXSW Film & TV Festival is delighted to announce the Jurors for this year’s Narrative and Documentary Feature competitions, Shorts Programs, Music Videos, Poster Design, and XR competitions.
The 2025 SXSW Films & TV Awards will take place on Wednesday, March 12 at 7:30pm CST at the Paramount Theatre. Follow SXSW on Instagram where the 2025 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.
2025 Film & TV Jury
Narrative Feature
Clayton Davis | Clayton Davis, Variety's Senior Awards Editor, is a two-time Emmy-nominated host of PBS' "Variety Studio: Actors on Actors" and co-hosts the "Variety Awards Circuit Podcast".
Rebecca Ford | Rebecca Ford is the Senior Awards Correspondent at Vanity Fair, covering awards season’s Emmy and Oscar contenders, and co-hosting Vanity Fair's Little Gold Men podcast.
Ryan Lattanzio | Ryan Lattanzio is the Deputy Editor of Film at IndieWire, where he oversees movies coverage while writing and editing reviews and features.
Documentary Feature
Tim Grierson | Tim Grierson is the Senior U.S. Critic for Screen International. His writing frequently appears in the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Vulture and RogerEbert.com.
Aisha Harris | Aisha Harris is a culture critic and co-host of the award-winning NPR podcast “Pop Culture Happy Hour” and the author of Wannabe: Reckonings With the Pop Culture That Shapes Me.
Jen Yamato | Jen Yamato is a freelance journalist and film critic based in Los Angeles whose reviews appear in the Washington Post. Previously she was a staff reporter for the Los Angeles Times.
Narrative Shorts Jury
Amy Beecroft | In 2015, Amy Beecroft joined Verve to start their independent film finance and sales arm, Verve Ventures. She has propelled the team into a major player in the independent film landscape.
Jaycie Luo | Jaycie Luo is a film executive at MRC who oversees marketing, publicity, and sales across the company’s film slate. She has extensive experience in the emerging filmmaker space.
Sara Rastogi | Sara Diya Rastogi EVP of Development at HOORAE, currently releasing One of Them Days, produced alongside Issa Rae, Deniese Davis, and Macro. HOORAE’s additional releases include Rap Sh!t, seasons 1 & 2, and Project Greenlight.
Documentary Shorts Jury
Chloe Gbai | Chloe Gbai currently works on the Original Documentary Films team at Netflix, having exec'd titles such as Daughters, Martha, and Stamped From the Beginning. Previously she launched POV shorts.
Corinne Gilliard Fisher | Corinne is an Emmy® Award-nominated and Critics Choice Award-winning producer and development executive. She is an active member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and the Television Academy.
Amanda Spain | Amanda Spain, Head of Documentary, oversees all documentaries and documentary series for EverWonder Studio. With over 20 years of experience, she has a unique 360 perspective on the industry.
Animated Shorts Jury
Brandon Bui | Associate Creative Executive at Walt Disney Animation Studios, where he nurtures stories that instill wonder and inspiration across the globe. Alongside his studio work, he is an independent Creative Producer for narrative shorts.
Silvia Olivas | Silvia Olivas is an incredibly versatile Annie, Humanitas nominated, and two-time Emmy® Award Winning Writer. She has worked on multi-camera and single-camera sitcoms, dramas, live action, animation, and feature films.
Adam Zehner | Adam Zehner has managed Funimation/Crunchyroll’s Japanese partnerships since 2005. As head of Acquisitions, Adam has licensed more than 2,000 titles, including such hits as Attack on Titan, Cowboy Bebop, Akira, Your Name, My Hero Academia, One Piece, Tokyo Ghoul, and more.
Midnight Shorts Jury
Alayna Glasthal | Alayna Glasthal works as a Creative Executive for Film at Atomic Monster, overseeing film development for the company. Most recently, she was the on set producer for the M3GAN spinoff, SOULM8TE, that will be released in January 2026.
Emily Gotto | SVP of Acquisitions and Productions at AMC Networks Shudder, Emily has Acquired over 300 titles including Box office hits Skinamarink, Late Night With The Devil, Mad God, Revenge and Speak No Evil. She has Executive Produced over a dozen titles.
David Lawson Jr. | David Lawson moved to LA in 2006 and worked as a PA in music videos. After climbing the ladder, he made the leap to features with the 2012 film Resolution. His features include Something In The Dirt, Synchronic, The Endless, She Dies Tomorrow, and others.
Music Videos Jury
Britt Daniel | Britt Daniel co-founded Spoon in 1994 in Austin, Texas. Some thirteen records later, Spoon remains among the most respected and critically acclaimed groups of its generation, creating an enviable body of work that has withstood the myriad whims and vicissitudes of the music industry.
Alexis Hodoyán-Gastélum | Alexis Hodoyán-Gastélum is the music editor at Remezcla, the influential Latine publication known for having its pulse on the culture. She’s the leading reporter covering the intersection of Latine and K-pop music and culture and co-hosts the podcast “It’s a K-Pop Thing”.
Bryan Younce | Bryan Younce is Grammy-nominated producer and Executive Vice President of Video & Content Production at Columbia Records, where he has made music videos, documentary work and other visual content for dozens of major artists such as David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Adele, and Beyonce.
Texas Shorts Jury
Megan Creydt | Megan Creydt is Texas Monthly's executive producer for TV, film, and podcasts. She joined Texas Monthly in 2018 and previously worked at Grantland, MTV News, and New York Magazine. Recent projects include Love & Death, Hit Man, and Landman.
James Faust | Dallas Film Society Artistic Director, James Faust likes to rock and watch movies. Not in that order. He began as the festival’s Senior Programmer at its inception in 2006, when it was AFI DALLAS. He has served on juries and panels all over the world speaking about film festivals.
Michael Garcia | Over the past 25 years, Michael Garcia has been a Producer and Executive involved in a number of highly- acclaimed, award-winning television series. He has held roles as an Executive Producer, Network Executive and Studio Executive with both domestic and international experience.
TV Pilot Competition
Hannah Bang | Hannah Bang is a bilingual South Korean filmmaker with a love for stories about imperfect people. She most recently directed an episode of The Chi on Paramount + and is currently developing a TV series with Wiip.
Claire Brooks | Claire Brooks is a creative producer, writer, and advocate for emerging filmmakers. As the former Director of Production at Stephanie Allain’s Homegrown Pictures, she oversaw a robust film slate and developed multiple TV shows under a first look deal with WBTV.
Channing Godfrey Peoples | Channing Godfrey Peoples made her feature directorial debut with the critically acclaimed drama, Miss Juneteenth, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in U.S. Dramatic Competition. At SXSW, Miss Juneteenth won the Louis Black "Lone Star" Award (2020).
Poster Design Jury
Phoebe Joynt (FEEBEE) | FeeBee is a local artist, designer, and muralist. She is known for incorporating modern, urban, and street art elements into her ever-developing pop art style. Her background of street art and illustration was greatly influenced during her time in Brooklyn, NY.
Yen Tan | Yen Tan is a Malaysian-born graphic designer and filmmaker, known for his award-winning work. He is currently based in Austin.
Zuzu | Zuzu is an Austin-based Visual Artist and Creative Entrepreneur. She is the Founder of Pink Hair Productions, a dynamic creative house that pushes artistic boundaries through visual art, large-scale murals, immersive experiences, and strategic brand collaborations.
XR Jury
Christina Lee Storm | Christina Lee Storm is an award-winning producer and senior entertainment executive, recognized for her pioneering work at the intersection of storytelling and cutting-edge technologies across film, television, animation, documentaries, virtual reality, augmented reality and XR.
Caspar Sonnen | Caspar Sonnen is Head of New Media and founder of IDFA DocLab at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). He curates, commissions and showcases digital and immersive art, including XR, AI, sensory installations, full-dome and immersive theatre.
Diana Williams | Diana Williams is the CEO & Co-founder of Kinetic Energy Entertainment, a media venture studio specializing in building businesses around the development, production and marketing of IP that is entertaining, culturally impactful, and accessible across all media for the next generation audience.
