Distinguished International Group Includes Gillian Armstrong, Christine Jeffs, Virginia Madsen and Sam Pollard
Park City, UT(RushPRNews) 01/08/09—The 2009 Sundance Film Festival announced today the members of the six juries awarding prizes at the Festival, which runs January 15-25, 2009 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. The juries collectively are comprised of twenty-four individuals from the global film community, each of whom brings unique perspective and range of experience. Awards will be announced the evening of January 25 at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony at the Park City Racquet Club.
The six juries for the 2009 Sundance Film Festival are:
Dramatic Jury
• Virginia Madsen – (Actress: Sideway, Number 23, The Rainmaker, David Lynch’s Dune)
• Scott McGehee – (Producer/Director/Writer: Uncertainty, The Deep End, Suture)
• Maud Nadler – (Producer/HBO Films: Relative Values)
• Mike White – (Writer/Director/Producer: Year of the Dog)
• Boaz Yakin – (Director/Writer/Producer: Fresh, Remember the Titans, Hostel)
Documentary Jury
• Patrick Creadon – (Cinematographer/Director/Writer: Wordplay, I.O.U.S.A., Flow: For the Love of Water)
• Carl Deal – (Director/Producer: Trouble the Water)
• Andrea Meditch – (Executive Producer/Producer: Man on Wire, In the Shadow of the Moon)
• Sam Pollard – (Editor: When the Levees Broke, Jungle Fever, Mo’ Better Blues)
• Marina Zenovich – (Director/Producer/Writer: Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired)
World Dramatic Jury
• Colin Brown (New York) – (Editor: Screen International)
• Christine Jeffs (New Zealand) – (Director/Writer: Rain, Stroke; Director: Sunshine Cleaning)
• Vibeke Windelov (Denmark) – (Producer: Dogville, Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark)
World Documentary Jury
• Gillian Armstrong (Australia) – (Director: Death Defying Acts, Oscar & Lucinda, Little Women)
• Thom Powers (New York) – (Documentary Programmer, Toronto International Film Festival)
• Hubert Sauper (France) – (Director/Producer: Darwin’s Nightmare)
Shorts Jury
The Short Film Jury will present the Jury Prizes in Short Filmmaking to one U.S. and one international short film playing at the Festival, as well as Honorable Mentions based on outstanding achievement and merit. Shorts Awards will be announced at the Sundance Film Festival Shorts Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, January 20th.
• Gerardo Naranjo – (Director/Writer/Producer: Voy a explotar, Malachance, Perro Negro)
• Lou Taylor Pucci – (Actor: Thumbsucker)
• Sharon Swart – (Reporter: Variety)
Alfred P. Sloan Jury
Provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Prize is presented to the writer and director of an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character.
• Fran Bagenal – (Professor of Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado)
• Rodney Brooks – (Panasonic Professor of Robotics, MIT Computer Science & AI Lab)
• Ray Gesteland – (Department of Human Genetics, University of Utah)
• Jeffrey Nachmanoff – (Writer: The Day After Tomorrow; Writer/Director: Traitor)
• Alex Rivera – (Director/Writer/Editor: Sleep Dealer)
Jury Awards
The competitive categories of the Sundance Film Festival have introduced audiences to some of the most intriguing independent films and filmmakers of the past 25 years. At the 2009 Festival, Grand Jury Prizes will be awarded to one U.S. dramatic film and one U.S. documentary film screening in competition; World Cinema Jury Prizes will be awarded to one world dramatic film and one world documentary film screening in competition.
In addition to the top jury prizes, all films in Competition are eligible to receive a range of awards, including: Directing Awards, Excellence in Cinematography Awards, and Documentary Editing Awards. The Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award will be presented to a U.S. film by the Dramatic Competition Jury, with the World Cinema Dramatic Competition Jury presenting the World Cinema Screenwriting Award. All films in Competition are eligible for Sundance Film Festival Audience Awards as selected by Film Festival audiences.
Special Jury Prizes
The documentary and dramatic juries may, at their discretion, select films from each of the Festival’s four competitions to receive special recognition for their unique vision or excellence.
The 2009 Sundance Film Festival Sponsors help sustain not only the Festival but also the year-round programs of the non-profit Sundance Institute. Their support is crucial to the Institute’s mission of nurturing independent artists, inspiring risk-taking, and encouraging diversity in the arts. This year’s Festival Sponsors include: Presenting Sponsors – Entertainment Weekly, HP and Honda; Leadership Sponsors – American Express, Delta Air Lines, DIRECTV, Google, Microsoft Corporation and; Sustaining Sponsors – Blockbuster Inc., the National Milk Mustache “got milk?”® Campaign, Le Tourment Vert Absinthe Francaise, L’Oréal Paris, The New York Times, Ray-Ban, Sony Electronics, Inc., Stella Artois®, Timberland, and Utah Film Commission. Sundance Channel is the Official Television Network of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
The Sundance Film Festival is the premier showcase for U.S. and international independent film, held each January in and around Park City, Utah. Presenting 120 dramatic and documentary feature-length films in seven distinct categories, and 80 short films each year, the Sundance Film Festival has introduced American audiences to some of the most ground-breaking films of the past two decades, including sex, lies, and videotape, Maria Full of Grace, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, An Inconvenient Truth, Trouble the Water and Central Station. www.sundance.org/festival
Founded by Robert Redford in 1981, Sundance Institute is a not-for-profit organization that fosters the development of original storytelling in film and theatre, and presents the annual Sundance Film Festival.
Internationally recognized for its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, film composers, playwrights and theatre artists, Sundance Institute has nurtured such projects as Angels in America, Spring Awakening, Boys Don’t Cry and Born into Brothels. www.sundance.org