Steve Maing
2025 International Competition Jury
Steve Maing
2025 International Competition Jury
Stephen Maing is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and cinematographer. His most recent feature film, UNION, and his 2018 film Crime + Punishment both won Special Jury Awards at Sundance and were shortlisted for the Best Documentary Oscar. His upcoming film, The Great Experiment, is an ambitious, cinematic observation of four years of life in America. Maing is a United States Artists Fellow, Sundance Institute Fellow, and recipient of the International Documentary Association‘s prestigious Courage Under Fire Award.
Emma D. Miller
2025 International Competition Jury
Emma D. Miller
2025 International Competition Jury
Emma D. Miller’s films have screened at festivals, including Venice, Toronto, SXSW, and CPH:DOX. She produced Cinema Eye Honors-nominated Mistress Dispeller and Gotham Award-nominated What We Leave Behind, directed The School of Canine Massage, and co-produced Love+War. A 2023 Sundance Producers Fellow, she was named one of DOC NYC’s “40 Under 40” and one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film.”
Igor Myakotin
2025 International Competition Jury
Igor Myakotin
2025 International Competition Jury
Igor Myakotin is a BAFTA & Peabody-winning filmmaker who produced Queendom and Welcome to Chechnya, both of which were shortlisted for the Best Documentary Oscar. He explores the nuance of queer liberation in conservative environments. Igor is a part of 2025 Berlinale Talents and a 2022 Sundance Creative Producing Lab Fellow. His films have screened at Sundance, Berlinale, BFI London, Palm Springs, Zurich, Athens, CPH:DOX, Camden, True/False, Sydney, and other film festivals.
Patricia E. Gillespie
2025 U.S. Competition Jury
Patricia E. Gillespie
2025 U.S. Competition Jury
Emmy Award–winning documentarian Patricia E. Gillespie’s work centers around character-driven narratives of unforgettable underdogs. With noisy storylines, her films have a proven track record of engaging broad audiences around issues that matter, particularly those related to class, justice, public health, and gender. Her directorial features include The Fire That Took Her, They Called Him Mostly Harmless, and The Secrets We Bury—which has its non-competitive, NYC premiere at DOC NYC this year.
Hugo Perez
2025 U.S. Competition Jury
Hugo Perez
2025 U.S. Competition Jury
Hugo Perez is the writer and director of the feature documentary Omara, which aired on PBS in 2025. He is currently in production on a documentary biopic of Latino film icon Ricardo Montalban. Perez was a writer on John Leguizamo’s award-winning American Historia series. He is a recipient of the NALIP Estela Award for documentary filmmaking and the HBO Short Film Award.
Mars Verrone
2025 U.S. Competition Jury
Mars Verrone
2025 U.S. Competition Jury
Mars Verrone is a filmmaker, musician, and educator. Their first feature as a producer, UNION, premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where it won a special jury award, and was shortlisted for an Oscar. As producer, Mars received a Cinema Eye Honors Award for “Outstanding Achievement in Production.” Mars has been awarded fellowships with Sundance Institute, NBC Original Voices, the Producers Guild of America, Firelight Media, and Brown Girls Doc Mafia.
Felipe Estefan
2025 Metropolis Competition Jury
Felipe Estefan
2025 Metropolis Competition Jury
Felipe Estefan is a storyteller, strategist, and investor working at the intersection of democracy, media, and technology. Currently a fellow at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center, Felipe was previously Vice President for Narrative Change and Latin America at Luminate, where he supported more than 100 projects in film, civic engagement, digital rights, and journalism. He has been an executive producer for multiple documentaries, including The Territory, Apocalypse in the Tropics, State of Silence, and Igualada.
Lisa Immordino Vreeland
2025 Metropolis Competition Jury
Lisa Immordino Vreeland
2025 Metropolis Competition Jury
Lisa Immordino Vreeland is a director and producer who has been immersed in the world of fashion, art, and culture for years. Her works include Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel (the book and film); Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict; Love, Cecil (the book and film); Art of Style; Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation; Unknown Beauty: François Nars; and Jean Cocteau.
Ted Passon
2025 Metropolis Competition Jury
Ted Passon
2025 Metropolis Competition Jury
Ted Passon is a director whose work includes Patrice: The Movie and Philly D.A. Awards for his projects include the Emmy Award for “Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking,” a Peabody Award, the Gotham Award for “Best Nonfiction Series,” a dupont-Columbia Award, the Sundance Nonfiction Producing Award, and the Humanitas Prize. His work was twice nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. He’s a co-owner of All Ages Productions and a board member of BlackStar Film Festival.
Bill Morrison
2025 Kaleidoscope Competition Jury
Bill Morrison
2025 Kaleidoscope Competition Jury
Bill Morrison is best known for Decasia (2002), the first film of the 21st century to be named to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, and Dawson City: Frozen Time, which has been listed among the best films of the 2010s. Incident won the International Documentary Association’s Best Short Documentary award, took the Cinema Eye Honors in 2025, and was nominated for an Oscar.
Karol Piekarczyk
2025 Kaleidoscope Competition Jury
Karol Piekarczyk
2025 Kaleidoscope Competition Jury
Karol Piekarczyk is the Artistic Director of Millennium Docs Against Gravity, the largest film festival in Poland. With an audience of over 180,000, it is the second most attended documentary festival in Europe. He has worked with documentary films and film festivals for over 15 years. He also oversees film distribution, releasing over 45 documentary films in cinemas in recent years. He has served on juries and as a consultant on documentary productions.
Tiffany Sia
2025 Kaleidoscope Competition Jury
Tiffany Sia
2025 Kaleidoscope Competition Jury
Tiffany Sia is an artist, filmmaker, and writer. Sia’s films have screened at TIFF, NYFF, MoMA’s Doc Fortnight, and elsewhere. She has had solo exhibitions at the Mudam, Luxembourg, and more. Her work has been included in group exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art and elsewhere. Sia is the author of On and Off-Screen Imaginaries. Her essays have appeared in Film Quarterly, October, and more.
Sean Glass
2025 Shorts Competition Jury
Sean Glass
2025 Shorts Competition Jury
Sean Glass makes films, produces, and exhibits at Reunion, a year-round screening and events series, which has collaborated with Sundance, Cannes, Tribeca, and live theater groups. He’s premiered films at festivals like Cannes, Venice, AFI FEST, and DOC NYC. Previously, he worked at Apple Music, Coachella, Universal Music Group, Epic Records, Ridley Scott/Wildcard’s 3AM, and his own label, Win Music. His new play, which he wrote and directed, debuts in December 2025.
Sam Sarowitz
2025 Shorts Competition Jury
Sam Sarowitz
2025 Shorts Competition Jury
Sam Sarowitz is the owner of Posteritati Movie Posters.
Caroline Suh
2025 Shorts Competition Jury
Caroline Suh
2025 Shorts Competition Jury
Suh has directed, produced, and been showrunner for many award-winning projects. She directed the New York Times film Sorry/Not Sorry, and the Emmy Award–winning Netflix series Working: What We Do All Day, which she developed with former President Barack Obama and Higher Ground. For Netflix, she directed Blackpink: Light Up the Sky and adapted Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat into a James Beard Award–winning series. Her directing debut was the feature documentary Frontrunners.