Skip to main content

37th Annual IDA Documentary Awards Judging Committee Chairs and Members

Nominations for the IDA Documentary Awards are established through an independent judging process. Judging committees review films, series and audio documentaries without any participation or input from sponsors, production companies or distributors. To maintain fairness and integrity, judges do not review any films in which they partake or have vested interest.


Nominating Committee - Feature Documentary and Best Director

Chairs: James Costa and Brenda Robinson

Judges: Cindy Chyr, Juan Devis and Julie Morris

Feature Documentary

Chairs: Claire Aguilar, Zeynep Güzel, Meghan Monsour, Cynthia Kane, Jim Kolmar, Marangeli Mejia Rabell, Marion Schmidt and Basil Tsiokos

Judges: Jameka Autry, Anne Aghion, Adriana Barbosa, Tazeen Bari, Abner Benaim, Asha Boston, Amanda Branson Gill, Joe Brewster, Gary Byung-seok Kam, Azza Chaabouni, Samara Chadwick, Juliana Chagas Gouveia, Pritha Chakraborty, Ayça Çiftçi, Cara Cusumano, Ramona Diaz, Ina Fichman, Sonia Fritz, Alex Fumero, Jamie Gonçalves, Alexandra Halkin, Andrew Houchens, Lynn Hughes, Roseli Ilano, Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi, Laura Kloeckner, Elizabeth Lawrence, Violeta Lockhart, Amit Madheshiya, Andrés Martínez, Selin Murat, Mohammed Ali Naqvi, Tracy Nguyen-Chung, Antigoni Papatoni, Martijn te Pas, Alenka Pavlin, Marta Popivoda, Omar-Camilo Ramos, Nada Riyadh, Claudia Rodríguez, Karin Rywkind Segal, Ray Santisteban, Liz Sargent, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon, Sophie Schrago, Yuliya Serdyukova, Jenny Shi, Kirill Sorokin, Juan Souki, Michele Stephenson, Medhin Tewolde, Angela Tucker, Nicole Tsien, Rudy Valdez, Chai Vasarhelyi, Vivian Vazquez Irizarry and Iikka Vehkalahti

Short Documentary

Chairs: Laura Bermúdez and Betsy Tsai

Judges: Carolina Arias Ortiz, Thomas Barker, Bianca Beyrouti, Toby Bull, Elvis Caj, Gloria Carrión F., Sue Ding, Celina Escher, Marcela Esquivel Jiménez, Isabella Galvez, Roisín Geraghty, Mina Nabil, Scarlett Robertson, Carla Roda, Youssef Sanheji, Natalia Solórzano Vásquez, Anais Taracena and Duiren Wagua López

Curated Series

Chair: Emily Abi-Kheirs

Judges: Brenda Avila-Hanna, Ron Bachman, Robert Chang, Cassandra Gardiner, Faridah Gbadamosi, Qila Gill, Carlos Gutierrez, Jessica Estelle Huggins and Margje de Koning

Episodic Series

Chair: Nevo Shinaar

Judges: Rachel Gregg, Nadav Kurtz, Troy Josiah Lewis, Gilberto Loffer, Júlio Molica, Piter Moreira, Azalia Muchransyah, Natasha Nair, Brittany Nugent, Fernanda Pessoa, Sebastián Pinzón Silva, Veena Rao and Abraham Troen

Multi-Part Documentary

Chair: Jana Diaz Juhl

Judges: Kelly Anderson, Jheanelle Brown, Charlotte Engel, Virginia Espino, Elizabeth Fiedorek, Mladan Jurkovic, Patricia Luna, Ana Mascarenas, Gavin Mottram, Weng San Sit, Heather Trawick, Pegi Vail and Camila Zavala

Short Form Series

Chair: Sky Dylan-Robbins

Judges: Hina Ali, Aurore Cloé Dupuis, Priscilla Gonzalez Sainz, Amelia Hanibelsz, Shako Liu, Andrea Mereles, Kayden Phoenix and Veda Shastri

Audio Documentary

Chairs: Sonari Glinton and Se'era Ricks

Judges: Sonya Ayears Green, Je-Anne Berry, Pauly Denetclaw, James Kim, Monique LaBorde, George Lavender, Sachar Mathias, Bienvenida Matias and Christabel Nsiah-Buadi

Best Music Documentary

Chair: Melissa Haizlip

Judges: James Erskine, Claudia Escobar, Edward Gerrard, Marcia Jarmel, Evan Joseph, Meshell Ndegeocello, Nwaka Onwusa, Sam Osborn, Joel Quizon, Josh Ralph and Sam Roseme

David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award

Chair: Chithra Jeyaram

Judges: Michelle Aguilar, Elizabeth Chatelain, Kira Dane, Pulkit Datta, Nathan Fitch, Indrani Kopal, Judy Lieff, Jonna McKone, Hira Nabi and Monica Wise

Best Cinematography Award

Chair: Sam Soko

Judges: Greta Hagen-Richardson, David Alvarado, Vanessa Carr, Asad Faruqi, Daphne Matziaraki, Peter Murimi, Arthur Pratt, Goro Toshima and Jamila Wignot

Best Editing Award

Chairs: Sarah Garrahan and M'Daya Meliani

Judges: Jess Alvarenga, Victoria Chalk, Sofia Chang, Steph Ching, Rubin Daniels, Janah Elise, Stephanie Filo, Rabab Haj Yahya, Amber Love, Viridiana Lieberman, Charlotte Munch Bengtsen, Sasha Perry, Jean Rheem, Carolina Siraqyan, Susannah Smith, Randy Snapp Redroad, Juli Vizza and Inés Vogelfang

Best Music Score Award

Chair: Vivek Maddala

Judges: Mark Adler, Ramon Balcazar, BC Campbell, Timo Chen, Stephanie Economou, Mark Killian, Heather Macintosh, Gingger Shankar and Jonathan Zalben

Best Writing Award

Chair: Victor Buhler

Judges: Maria Bukhonina, Philip Byron, Sarba Das, Asako Gladsjo, Mandon Lovett, Christie McConnell, Chris Charles Scott and Bridget Topp

Pare Lorentz Award

Chair: Harrison Engle

Judges: Dennis Dimmick, Pippa Ehrlich, Hillary Grey, Tilly Grey and David Resha


Pre-Screening Committee

Coordinator: Eddie Hustleby

Judges: Rj Adams, Luqman Aly, Nana Frimpong Adwoa, James Barclay, Sidney Beeman, Thaakirah Behardien, Alessandra Berti, Ruthanne Beutler, Mikhail Bobrov, Dan Byrnes, Katherine Chivers, Juan Chong, Lily Correa, Julio Deras, Chayce Donovan, Yuliana Franco, Cameron Geeding, Giuliana Gentile, Michael Graziano, Mary Grueser, Anthony Gutierrez, Anvar Hassanpour, Liza Hazelwood, Ngoc Hoang, Joann Huang, Chisato Hughes, Madeline Johnson, Oshee Johri, Brent Kirkland, Chloe Kurabi, Lokchi Lam, Alina Mogollon-Volk, Lisa Murzin, Olivia Muse, Ríain O’Donoghue, Marco Cervantes Antonio Panduro, Rebecca Paunescu, Andrea Pavez, Anthony Pena, Mallory Pogue, Alicia Quick, Jane Rivas, Christine Saab, Victoria Silman, Jackson Sjogren, Aisling Sweeney, Nikolas Theodorakidis, John Tolipani, Sean Tong, Ash Verwiel, Yanyi Xie and René Zadoorian


Awards Staff

Rick Perez, Executive Producer
Kristal Sotomayor, Awards Competition Manager
Eddie Hustleby, Awards Competition Coordinator
Katy Hurley, Awards Competition Associate
Cassidy Dimon, Awards Show Producer
Harrison Reynolds, Awards Show Producer
Ruzelle Castillo, Public Programs & Events Manager
Susan Yin, Associate Director, Communications, Design and Digital Projects
Jessica Rodriguez, Digital Communications Specialist
Hansen Bursic, Digital Communications Coordinator
Trent Nakamura, Strategic Partnerships Manager
Adam Segal/2050 Group, Publicity
Gabe Loredo, Graphic Designer

NK Productions, Inc.

Live Streaming Services and Consulting:

Producer - Nathan Keough
Producer - Harrison Reynolds
Creative Producer - Cameron Pearce
Lead Editor - Cameron Pearce
Projectionist - Charlotte Ibarra
Director of Photography - Steve Smith
Video Engineer - Eric Rucker
Video Engineer - Taylor Goldstone Perez
Audio Engineer - Luke Ehret
Audio Engineer - Brandon Kawachi
Lighting Programmer - Eric Esse
Lighting Assistant - David Danfifer
Hair - Karina Vega
Makeup - Becca Abraham
Production Assistant - Thomas Thomas

Accessibility

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