Our HIFF Competition honors emerging directors from around the world in narrative feature, documentary feature, and short film competition sections. Juried by world-class filmmakers and industry professionals, these competitions represent the important, provocative premieres by cinema’s next wave of master filmmakers.
Meet the HIFF 2016 Narrative and Documentary jury members.
Narrative Jury
Julie Goldstein is currently President of Production at Endgame Entertainment. Her credits for the company include: THE DISCOVERY, FREEHELD, LOOPER and SIDE EFFECTS. She also served as Executive Producer on BELLE, which she developed independently. Previously, she held key executive positions at both HBO and Miramax Films. At HBO, Goldstein produced feature films such as KIT KITTREDGE: AN AMERICAN GIRL, as well as on-air films, including Emmy® and Golden Globe® winner GREY GARDENS. While at Miramax, Goldstein rose from assistant to Executive Vice President during her tenure. There she worked on an extensive list of much-admired and honored films, including among others: Best Picture Academy Award®-winners CHICAGO and SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, Academy Award nominee BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY, FINDING NEVERLAND, DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, PROOF, AN IDEAL HUSBAND and THE MIGHTY. Goldstein is the recipient of two Screen Actors Guild Honor Awards, a Golden Laurel Award, and two Humanitas Prizes.
David Edelstein has been chief film critic of New York magazine since 2006. He is also the film critic of NPR’s Fresh Air and a regular commentator for CBS Sunday Morning. He was for ten years the film critic of Slate and before that the Village Voice and the New York Post. He has been a guest host on Turner Classic Movies, presenting 16 films of Francois Truffaut and Orson Welles respectively. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, and Rolling Stone. With producer Christine Vachon, he wrote the L.A. Times bestselling book Shooting to Kill. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics.
John Krokidas made his feature directorial debut with KILL YOUR DARLINGS (HIFF opener 2013), starring Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan, which he also co-wrote. After premiering at Sundance, the film appeared at Toronto and Venice, where it won Venice Days’ Best International Film, and landed on several Best Films of 2013 Lists. SHAME NO MORE, his first short film, played at 70+ film festivals and aired on PBS, IFC and the Sundance Channel. The second, SLO-MO, screened at Telluride and Sundance, and played on HBO before becoming a finalist for the Academy Awards®. For television, John’s credits include Wayward Pines, and upcoming episodes of Lee Daniels’s Star and John Ridley’s American Crime. Krokidas is currently developing projects at Fox Searchlight and Participant Films, and is attached to direct COLLEGE REPUBLICANS.
Documentary Jury
Producer Alexis Alexanian is currently President of Production at Locomotive, a film, television and financing company that recently executive produced Rebecca Miller’s MAGGIE’S PLAN (SPC). After working on big-budget studio films, including MISSISSIPPI BURNING, BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES and STRIPTEASE, Alexanian partnered with Gary Winick to establish the groundbreaking digital film initiative InDigEnt, where she produced Sundance favorites TADPOLE, PIECES OF APRIL, Independent Spirit Award winner PERSONAL VELOCITY and Cannes Director’s Fortnight favorite CHELSEA WALLS, among others. Named as one of Variety’s 10 PRODUCERS TO WATCH, Alexanian has consulted for leading industry players and on features struggling with creative and financial challenges. Alexanian serves as President of the Board of NYWIFT and is a frequent collaborator with Tribeca Film Institute and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Programs. With Locomotive, she is currently in post-production on the feature film LOOK AWAY.
Emmy® and Golden Globe® Award winner Mariska Hargitay stars as Olivia Benson on Wolf Films/Universal Television’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; she also recently became a producer on the show and has directed several episodes. Inspired by her role on SVU, Hargitay created the Joyful Heart Foundation, with the mission to transform society’s response to sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse and support survivors’ healing. Since its inception, Joyful Heart has directly served over 15,000 survivors; spearheaded groundbreaking public awareness campaigns; and effected policy changes in jurisdictions from New York to California. Hargitay, who is currently producing a documentary on the backlog of untested rape kits in the U.S., lives in New York with her husband and their three children. Follow her on Twitter @Mariska and Instagram @therealmariskahargitay.
Jason Janego was Co-Founder and Co-President of RADiUS, the boutique film label of The Weinstein Company, responsible for distributing such groundbreaking films as SNOWPIERCER, IT FOLLOWS and BACHELORETTE, and back-to-back Oscar®-winning documentaries 20 FEET FROM STARDOM and CITIZENFOUR . Previously, he was the COO at Big Beach Films, a film production and finance company. Before joining Big Beach, Janego was Head of Business & Legal Affairs for Magnolia Pictures, Magnolia Home Entertainment, and Landmark Theatres, all subsidiaries of 2929 Entertainment. Janego has also worked at Miramax Films and Cinetic Media. Janego is a graduate of Bucknell University and the University of Michigan Law School, and serves on the Film Committee at the Museum of Modern Art.
