HIFF29: Competition Jury

Sam Bisbee

Narrative Competition
Sam Bisbee is an Emmy Award-winning and Independent Spirit Award-nominated producer and founding partner of Park Pictures Features, the feature film division of acclaimed commercial production company Park Pictures. In 2009, Sam produced THE NEW TENANTS, which won the Academy Award in 2010 for best Live Action Short. For over a decade Bisbee and Park Pictures have brought 13 films to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival: 2012’s Sloan Award winner ROBOT AND FRANK, 2013’s Golden Globe nominated INFINITELY POLAR BEAR (distributed by Sony Pictures Classics) and GOD’S POCKET (distributed by IFC), 2015’s Midnight selection COP CAR (distributed by Focus World/NBC/UNIVERSAL), 2016’s Independent Spirit Award winner (Molly Shannon) and four-time nominee OTHER PEOPLE (distributed by Netflix), 2017’s THE HERO (The Orchard), 2018’s HEARTS BEAT LOUD (Gunpowder and Sky/Sony Worldwide), AN EVENING WITH BEVERLY LUFF LINN, and Rudy Valdez’s THE SENTENCE (HBO) for which Sam also composed the original score. THE SENTENCE won the 2018 Sundance Audience Award for US Documentary Competition and the 2019 Primetime Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking. Sam and Park Pictures debuted four features at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival – FAREWELL AMOR, THE LAST SHIFT, THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS, and US KIDS. THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS continued its 2020 festival run at Cannes, Telluride, TIFF, and NYFF and was released by Sony Pictures Classics in spring of 2021. THE LAST SHIFT was released by Sony in September 2020, and FAREWELL AMOR was released by IFC in December of 2020, earning the National Board of Review distinction of one of the top 10 Independent Films of 2020.

Bill Collage

Narrative Competition
Bill Collage is a screenwriter who has worked on over 50 films for major studios and streaming services. His produced credits include,ASSASSINS CREED, starring Michael Fassbender; Ridley Scott’s EXODUS, starring Christian Bale; ALLEGIANT, starring Shailene Woodley; and TOWER HEIST, starring Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy. He has worked with directors Martin Scorsese, Darren Aronofsky, Cary Fukunaga, Ron Howard and Antoine Fuqua, among many others. Bill’s script EMANCIPATION was a 2020 Blacklist selection and is currently in production, starring Will Smith.

Wendy Ettinger

Documentary Competition
Wendy Ettinger has been producing award-winning documentaries and narrative films for over 25 years. She began her documentary film career producing THE WAR ROOM with DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus. in 2005 co-founded Chicken & Egg Pictures to fund and bring creative mentorship to women documentary filmmakers whose artful storytelling catalyzes change. In 2013, Ettinger co-founded Gamechanger Films, the first equity fund to finance narrative films directed by women. She currently serves on the board of Imagine Science Films, MAX and is on the Advisory board of Sandbox Films. She is a proud member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Leah Greenblatt

Narrative Competition
Leah Greenblatt is Critic at Large at Entertainment Weekly, where she serves as chief film critic and also writes about music, books, and theater. She is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and lives in Brooklyn and Los Angeles.

Ina Pira

Documentary Competition
Ina Pira is a Senior Curator for Staff Picks at Vimeo. Prior to championing filmmakers online at Vimeo, she was the Senior Programmer at the Hamptons International Film Festival, the Montclair Film Festival, and the Sarasota Film Festival.

Jane Schoenbrun

Documentary Competition
Jane Schoenbrun (they/she) is a non-binary filmmaker whose first narrative feature WE’RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD’S FAIR premiered in the NEXT section at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. The film recently played at the 50th annual New Directors/New Films, and will be released in theaters soon by Utopia Pictures and then made available for streaming via HBOMax. Jane’s previous projects include co-creating the touring variety series THE EYESLICER (Tribeca 2017), creating the Radical Film Fair (a film flea market and mentorship event that drew thousands of attendees), directing the feature documentary A SELF-INDUCED HALLUCINATION (Rotterdam 2019), producing Aaron Schimberg’s CHAINED FOR LIFE (Kino Lorber 2019), EPing season one of Terence Nance’s Random Acts of Flyness (HBO 2018), and creating the omnibus ‘dream film’ collective:unconscious (SXSW 2016). Jane sometimes publishes the column “Continue Watching” for Filmmaker Magazine, and has previously worked as the Senior Film Lead at Kickstarter and as the Associate Director of Programming at IFP.