2024
Jury
2024
JURY
Narratives
Anna McMurphy
Anna McMurphy currently resides in Los Angeles and is the Chief People Officer at MNTN. MNTN provides self-service advertising software for brands of all sizes. Anna’s work in this space has brought her all over the country guiding others to design forward thinking, performance enhancing and rich company culture. She has designed communication principles and leadership systems for her company and now advises others in structuring their organizations to reflect an ethic of culture, vitality and wellness. At MNTN she creates environments where everyone feels like they have a seat at the table and a voice in the company’s vision and day to day.
Her goals for the future are to build on a vision of a deeper humanity, mitigating toxic company culture, and supporting each and every person in knowing what they have to contribute to this world.
George Prentice
George Prentice has been honored for his decades-long career in broadcast and print journalism. He has won dozens of awards for his investigative reporting, and took home top prizes in the fields of crime/courts, environmental, health, religion and feature reporting.
As host of Morning Edition, he helms one of the highest rated broadcasts in the Mountain West. He has taken the live broadcast on the road, reporting from the White House, Broadway, Olympic games, and presidential inaugurations in D.C.
George has also been honored for his work with Idaho foster children, winning the Governor’s Brightest Star grand prize award. He’s also been a film critic for more than three decades, and is a regular fixture at some of the world’s best film festivals.
Ted Hope
American independent producer, Ted Hope, has been a producer on over 70 films, a studio executive on over 60, a CEO of a start-up streamer, a co-head of three production companies, an executive director of a film society and festival, a professor of practice at two universities, and a founder of a post-production facility, two websites, two think tanks, as well as an app. He launched Amazon’s foray into feature film production, leading them to 19 Oscar nominations and five wins. As a producer, his films have received 25 Oscar nominations and six wins. Hope’s memoir and newsletter, “Hope For Film,” are both must reads, as he has helped launch the feature film careers of Ang Lee, Nicole Holofcener, Hal Hartley, Michel Gondry and many others. His most recent films include the first narrative, Cassandro, from Oscar-winning documentary director, Roger Ross Williams, as well as the documentary on Taiwan, Invisible Nation, directed and produced by Vanessa Hope.
documentaries
Todd Traina
Todd Traina has served as Producer on over 25 Feature films, which have won Awards or premiered at numerous prestigious International film festivals including Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, Deauville, Berlin, Toronto and more.
Traina recently produced “One Stupid Thing” directed by Linda Yellen, based on the book of the same name, which is currently in post-production. Todd is an Executive producer on “Edge of Everything” which made its debut at the Munich Film Festival and will premiere in theaters in ‘24. Traina was also an EP on “Sasquatch Sunset“ starring Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg which made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year. Traina served as an Executive producer on “War Pony“ directed by Riley Keough and Gina Gammell, which won the New Directors Award at Cannes and premiered in the US in 2023. Todd co-wrote and Produced the feature film “I Hate Kids” and also served as Producer on Sian Heder’s directorial debut “Tallulah,” which premiered at Sundance and sold to Netflix.
Other notable films include “Ten Thousand Saints,” “What Maisie Knew,” “Goats,” “Another Happy Day,” “The Romantics,” “Morning,” “10 Things We Should Do Before We Break Up ,” “Archie’s Final Project” (aka “My Suicide”), “What We Do Is Secret,” “Stanley’s Gig,” “Grace is Gone,” “Life Sold Separately” and the popular music documentary “Punk’s Not Dead.”
Todd also served as Executive Producer on the episodic mockumentary series Dope State. In 2007, Traina was named a “Top Ten Producer to Watch” by Daily Variety.
Tatiana Siegel
Tatiana Siegel is Executive Editor Film & Media at Variety, where she covers the business of the entertainment industry, ranging from deeply reported investigative pieces to incisive cover profiles. In February 2022, she landed an American Society of Magazine Editors nomination for excellence in reporting for an exposé on Scott Rudin and an investigative follow-up feature on the complicity machine behind the mega-producer. In 2019, she was named print journalist of the year at the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards for work that included an abuse-of-power bombshell that led to Warner Bros. chief Kevin Tsujihara resigning. She has written nearly 100 cover stories for Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard that span both people (Mick Jagger, Drake and Scarlett Johansson) and scandals (the Sony hack and the career implosion of NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell). In addition, she has won multiple SoCal Journalism Awards for such stories as the 2018 profile “Playmate to Politico: How Pamela Anderson Became an International Woman of Mystery” and frequently offers her showbiz analysis everywhere from ABC’s Good Morning America to NPR’s All Things Considered. Her previous posts include Senior Writer at Rolling Stone and Executive Film Editor at The Hollywood Reporter. The Boston native holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northeastern University and a master’s degree in journalism from New York University.
sam bisbee
Sam Bisbee is an Emmy Award-winning and Independent Spirit and Peabody Award-nominated producer and founding partner of Park Pictures Features. Over the last decade, Sam and Park Pictures have produced the Sundance Sloan Award winner ROBOT AND FRANK, the Golden Globe-nominated INFINITELY POLAR BEAR (Sony Pictures Classics), the Independent Spirit Award winner OTHER PEOPLE (Netflix), the Sundance Audience Award winner THE SENTENCE (HBO), which went on to win a Primetime Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking, the Criterion Collection film FAREWELL AMOR (IFC), the BAFTA and Indie Spirit nominated EARTH MAMA (A24/Film4) and, most recently, Daughters, the winner of the 2024 Sundance “Festival Favorite” award. Sam is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
shorts
IAN MICHAELS
Ian Michaels is an independent producer based in Los Angeles. Past narrative films include “Face 2 Face,” a coming-of-age drama (Paramount +); the Duplass Brothers’ dramedy “Rainbow Time,” which premiered at SXSW and sold to the Orchard and Netflix; and “Unlovable,” a dramedy that Ian Executive Produced with the Duplass Brothers, starring John Hawkes and Melissa Leo, which sold to MGM/ Orion Classics. Ian also produced the award-winning comedy “Friended to Death,” which played in theaters in the US and Japan and was released on VOD by Gravitas Ventures. Additionally, he Executive Produced the thrillers, “Feral State” (Vertical Entertainment), “Antidote” (Uncork’d Entertainment), and “Mid-Century” (Lionsgate). Recent films currently playing the festival circuit include “Wayward,” and “For When You Get Lost.”
Documentaries include, “Stars and Strife,” which he produced with Barry Levinson (Starz) and the upcoming “America’s Burning,” produced alongside Michael Douglas and Barry Levinson.
Ian also has a number of projects in various stages, from development to post-production. Most notably, the action/comedy, “Above-the-Line,” starring Cedric the Entertainer. Ian is a member of the PGA.
Maggie Contreras
Maggie Contreras is a documentary filmmaker. Her critically-acclaimed directorial debut MAESTRA premiered in competition at Tribeca (2023) where it won an audience award. This intimate verite turned nail-biting competition film follows five internationally-based women as they prepare for and perform in La Maestra, the only competition in the world for female orchestra conductors. She produced feature doc PRECONCEIVED, a deep dive into the world of crisis pregnancy centers which will have its world premiere at SXSW ’24. Award-winning JONATHAN SCOTT’S POWER TRIP whic premiered at Hot Docs and made its broadcast debut as part of PBS Independent Lens is the titular HGTV celebrity and activist’s journey across the USA to examine the utility monopoly system and how solar holds the key to energy freedom. The beloved feature GILBERT, a Gilbert Gottfried story, premiered at Tribeca and was distributed by Gravitas with exclusive SVOD on Hulu. Weather its a feature series or branded spots, all of her work is driven by an insatiable curiosity about what drives the human spirit.
Thomas Torrey
Thomas Torrey is an American filmmaker based in the Southeast. He has written and directed two feature films through his production company, Bad Theology. These films include the ride-share thriller Fare, praised by the Los Angeles Times as “stunning”, and the forthcoming musical drama Long December, currently in film festivals. In addition, Thomas co-wrote and produced the sci-fi thriller Minor Premise, which Forbes called “one of the best sci-fi films of the last few years.” Prior to launching Bad Theology, Thomas created and oversaw the award-winning short film initiative Moments.org, producing a vast and diverse slate of short narratives and documentaries for a global audience.