A distinguished jury of some of the biggest names in news media, nonfiction filmmaking, scholarship, and show business award the Best Documentary Feature and Best New Documentary Filmmaker prizes. Learn more about the jury, which includes Amir Bar-Lev, Michael Cera, R.J. Cutler, Abigail Disney, Whoopi Goldberg, Louie Psihoyos, Peter Scarlet.
Amir Bar-Lev
Amir Bar-Lev directed the films Fighter (2001) My Kid Could Paint That (2007,) and The Tillman Story (2010). He co-produced the documentary Trouble The Water, which won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2008 and was nominated for an Academy Award®. Bar-Lev is currently working on a biopic about Jerry Garcia’s early days with The Merry Pranksters, Augustus Owsley Stanley III, and the early Grateful Dead.
Michael Cera
Michael Cera has become one of the most sought after actors in the business. After garnering critical acclaim for his portrayal of George-Michael Bluth in the Emmy-winning Fox series Arrested Development, Cera quickly found himself amongst the young comedy elite when Judd Apatow cast him as the lead in the hit film, Superbad. On the heels of Superbad, Cera co-starred in the Oscar®-nominated Juno opposite Ellen Page and former Arrested Development co-star Jason Bateman. He also starred in Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Year One opposite Jack Black for director Harold Ramis, and Paper Heart, a critical favorite out of Sundance in 2009. Last year, Cera starred in Youth in Revolt, a film based on his favorite book, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World,a film based on the Oni Press graphic novel. Past credits include a young Chuck Barris in George Clooney’s Confessions of a Dangerous Mind as well as television credits including Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job, Tom Goes to the Mayor, and Veronica Mars.
R J Cutler
R.J. Cutler is an acclaimed filmmaker best known for his movies The War Room and The September Issue and his television series American High and 30 Days. In 2009, Cutler produced and directed The September Issue, the feature documentary about legendary Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, which won the Best Cinematography prize at the Sundance Film Festival and enjoyed successful theatrical runs throughout the world. Cutler began his career producing The War Room, the Oscar®-nominated documentary about Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign for the presidency. Other projects include the films A Perfect Candidate and Thin and more than 20 television series, including American High, 30 Days, Black White, Freshman Diaries, The Residents,
Flip that House,and Military Diaries. Cutler has won an Emmy Award, a Peabody Award, and a GLAAD Award and has been nominated for an Academy Award®, a Producer's Guild Award, and an Independent Spirit Award among others. Last year, Cutler received the Television Academy’s prestigious Honor Award for his work “creating television with a conscience,” and the Museum of Television and Radio held a five-day retrospective in celebration of his work.
Abigail Disney
Abigail Disney is a filmmaker, philanthropist, scholar, and president of Fork Films. Her first film as producer was the acclaimed Pray the Devil Back to Hell, about the Liberian women who peacefully ended their civil war. She is currently producing the miniseries Women, War & Peace for PBS, about the unreported role of women in peace processes around the world. The co-production of WNET and Fork Films is scheduled for broadcast on PBS in fall 2011. Along with her husband, Pierre Hauser, Abigail co-founded the Daphne Foundation in 1991 and has since played key roles in philanthropy and social activism. Abigail holds degrees from Yale, Stanford, and Columbia. She lives in New York City with her husband and four children.
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is one of an elite group of artists who have won the Academy Award®, Grammy, Emmy, and Tony. She got her start onstage and was last seen on Broadway in 2008 in Xanadu. In 2005, she earned a Tony nomination for her return to the Lyceum Theatre, commemorating the 20th anniversary of her original one-woman show. Previously, she starred in the revivals of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. She won the Tony for producing Thoroughly Modern Millie and produced the hit West End production of Sister Act: The Musical, which is currently running on Broadway, and the provocative new rock musical White Noise. Whoopi earned an Oscar® nomination and a Golden Globe Award for her film debut in The Color Purple and won the Oscar® and a Golden Globe for Ghost. Her other films include Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Sister Act, Made in America, Boys on the Side, Ghosts of Mississippi, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Girl Interrupted, The Lion King, and Rat Race. Whoopi is the moderator on ABC’s The View. She has appeared on numerous television series, specials, miniseries, and television movies, hosted her own late-night talk show, and has cohosted eight Comic Relief specials, four Academy Awards® telecasts, and the 2008 Tony Awards.
Louie Psihoyos
Louie Psihoyos is the executive director of the Oceanic Preservation Society and is widely regarded as one of the world's most prominent still photographers. He has circled the globe dozens of times for National Geographic and has shot hundreds of covers for other magazines, including Fortune Magazine, Smithsonian, Discover, GEO, TIME, Newsweek, The New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine, Sports Illustrated, and Rock and Ice. His work has also been seen on the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Television, and the History Channel. His imagination, wit, and iconic imagery have helped illustrate a wide array of complex subjects and has carried over to his filmmaking. Psihoyos’ first documentary film, The Cove, has garnered more than 70 awards globally from festivals and critics, including the Oscar® for best documentary in 2009. The Cove touches many with its unflinching examination of a dark subject and its ability to reveal the humanity and compassion in each of us. Its underlying themes transcend the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji to address the larger picture of the threat our entire world faces due to human impacts.
Peter Scarlet
Peter Scarlet has long been considered one of the most respected film programmers on the international film festival scene. He was at the helm of the San Francisco International Film Festival, the oldest in the US, from 1983-2001. He left to assume the role of Director General of Paris’s Cinémathèque Française, Returning to the US in 2003, he served as Artistic Director of the Tribeca Film Festival for six years. In 2009, he moved to the UAE as Executive Director of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, whose innovative programs have attracted widespread attention under his leadership. The Festival has launched SANAD, an innovative development and postproduction fund for Arab filmmakers. Scarlet was named a Knight- and later, an Officer- in France’s Order of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture. A juror at leading festivals all over the world, he served for three years as programmer and host of Link TV’s now-lamented Cinemondo series of foreign film broadcasts.
