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36th Annual IDA Documentary Awards Judging Committee Chairs and Members

Judging of the IDA Documentary Awards is based on overall creative excellence. The nominees were selected by independent committees of 191 documentary makers, curators, critics, and industry experts from 25 countries.


Best Feature and Best Director Nominating Committee

Chairs: James Costa 

Members: Eric Deggans, Laura Kim, Jack Lerner, Lauren Lexton, Cynthia Lopez, Gil Robertson, Linda Johnson Rice, Brenda Robinson, Don Young

Best Feature Shortlist Committee

Chairs: Claire Aguilar, Jeanelle Augustin, Meghan Monsour, Marion Schmidt, Basil Tsiokos

Members: Talal Afifi, Anto Astudillo, Amanda Branson-Gill, Joe Brewster, Azza Chaabouni, Pritha Chakraborty, Miriam Chandy, Ashley Clark, Rhea Combs, Joseph Fahim, Jason Fitzroy Jeffers, Ksenia Gapchenko, Amir George, Cíntia Gil, Everardo González, Alana Hauser, Darian Henry, Set Hernandez Rongkilyo, Martin Horyna, Darol Kae, Gary Byung-seok Kam, Butheina Kazim, Laura Kloeckner, Jim Kolmar, Selin Murat, Guevara Namer, Tracy Nguyen-Chung, Martha Orozco, Inney Prakash, Yoruba Richen, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Jon Sesrie-Goff, Paisley Smith, Michele Stephenson, Abby Sun, Sarah Tai-Black, Kimi Takesue, Jean Tsien, Rudy Valdez, Chai Vasarhelyi, Aldo Velasco, Baby Ruth Villarama, Cameron Yates, Mostafa Youssef

Best Short Committee

Chairs: Cynthia Kane, Betsy Tsai

Members: Anne Aghion, Ra'anan Alexandrowicz, Asha Boston, Sue Ding, Roisin Geraghty, Lisa Scott Gordon, Toni Kamau, Elizabeth Lawrence, Mitch Levine, Jess O’Kane, David Osit, Alenka Pavlin, Richard Ray Perez, Kellen Quinn,  Scarlett Robertson, Liz Sargent, Sophie Schrago, Iliana Sosa

Best Curated Series Committee

Chairs: Ann Hassett, Bob Niemack

Members: Enrique Del Rio, Stephen Farrier, Jerry Gonzalez, Susanne Guggenberger, Susan Hoskins, Dan Jackson, Marlene McCurtis, Cornelius Uliano, Gee Yeung

Best Episodic Series Committee

Chair: Gita Saedi Kiely

Members: Justine Armen, Danfung Dennis, Andrew DeVigal, Martina Durac, Joanne Feinberg, Indu Krishnan, Greg Snider, Brooke Swaney

Best Multi-Part Documentary Committee

Chair: Poh Si Teng

Members: Kelly Anderson, Charlotte Engel, Chloe Gbai, Dario Guerrero, Lucila Moctezuma, Smriti Mundhra, Pegi Vail, Lisa Valencia-Svensson

Best Short Form Series Committee

Chair: Nevo Shinaar

Members: Sigrid Dyekjær, Razi Jafri, Mor Loushy, Brittany Nugent, Sebastián Pinzón Silva, Veena Rao, Gil Sima, Naeema Jamilah Torres

Best Audio Documentary Committee

Chair: Sonari Glinton

Members: John Asante, Je-Anne Berry, Leah Donnella, Sonya Green, George Lavender, Paola Mardo, Rich Preston, Madhulika Sikka

Best Music Documentary Committee

Chair: Amy Goldstein

Members: Joan Churchill, Melissa Haizlip, Maya Daisy Hawke, Jayson Jackson, Nicole London, Doug Pray, Fernando Villena

David L. Wolper Student Documentary Committee

Chair: Erica Ginsberg

Members: Josh Davidsburg, Helen De Michiel, Sherard Duvall, Peter Gerard, Gretchen Hildebran, Brian Hu, Chithra Jeyaram, Anjanette Levert, Stephanie Tangklisan

Best Cinematography Committee

Chair: Shana Hagan

Members: Sandra Chandler, Bryan Donnell, Asad Faruqi, Jerry Henry, Samir Ljuma, Arlene Nelson, Judy Phu, Clair Popkin, Martina Radwan, Goro Toshima

Best Editing Committee

Chair: Juli Vizza

Members: Victoria Chalk, Kelly Creedon, Sarah Garrahan, Princess A. Hairston, Rabab Haj Yahya, Chris McNabb, Julia Neill, M'Daya Meliani, Randy Redroad, Josaen Ronquillo

Best Writing Committee

Chair: Victor Buhler

Members: Julian Cautherley, Bedatri Choudhury, Emily Cohen Ibañez, Chico Colvard, Jess Conway, Carol Dysinger

Best Music Score Committee

Chair: Vivek Maddala

Members: Mark Adler, Ramon Balcazar, Jongnic Bontemps, BC Campbell, Sherri Chung, Joel Goodman, Mark Killian, Nora Kroll Rosenbaum, Jonathan Zalben

Pare Lorentz Committee

Chair: Harrison Engle

Members: Dennis Dimmick, Hillary Grey, Tilly Grey, Tamara Kotevska, David Resha


Pre-Screening Committee

Compiled of both film students and emerging industry professionals, the Pre-Screening Committee is responsible for screening submissions in all categories to ensure eligibility.

Members: Anna Lee Ackermann, Olivia Andrus, Alessandra Berti, Evyenia Constantine, Pedro Cota, Megan Daniels, Rita Dennin, Nancy Dionne, Nick Forsythe, Ronak Gandhi, Yuxing Guo, Zulfiya Hamzaki, Ryan Howard, Emory Chao Johnson, Chloe Kurabi, Boning Li, Laura Lovo, Christine Luther, Brynne McKee, Grant Miller, Clara Mokri, Ana Montgomery-Neutze, Sylvia Mueller, Becca Olson, Eleonora Privitera, Christine Saab, Sarah Sabatke, Olga Shelukhova, Maria Smith, Sofia Stuart-Rasi, Marie Vanderrusten, Brie White, Goran Zaneti, Laura Zephirin


Awards Staff

Ranell Shubert, Awards Competition Manager
Kenneth Brown, Awards Competition Coordinator
Eddie Hustleby, Awards Competition Assistant
Simon Kilmurry, Awards Show Producer
Cassidy Dimon, Awards Show Producer
Susan Yin, Digital Marketing and Visual Identity
Rounak Maiti, Marketing Video Editor
Jina Chung, Development Director
Trent Nakamura, Sponsorship Manager
Adam Segal/2050 Group, Publicity

NK Productions, Inc.

Live Streaming Services and Consulting:
Nathan Keough, Producer 
Cameron Pearce, Creative Producer and Lead Editor
Marcia Roth, Motion Designer
Nino Mancuso, Assistant Editor

Accessibility

Andréa Lust & Bill Pugin
The Sign Language Company - ASL Interpretation

Tiffany Thomas
Video Caption Corporation - Closed Captions

Matt Lauterbach & Reveca Torres
All Senses Go - Consulting