38th Annual IDA Documentary Awards Judging Committee Chairs and Members

Nominations for the IDA Documentary Awards are established through an independent judging process. Judging committees review films, series and audio documentaries without any participation or input from sponsors, production companies or distributors. To maintain fairness and integrity, judges do not review any films in which they partake or have vested interest.

Feature Documentary

Chairs: Aisha Jama, Basil Tsiokos, Jessica Beshir, Jim Kolmar, Marangeli Mejia Rabell, Meghan Monsour, Rintu Thomas, Sam Soko, Sushmit Ghosh, Talal Afifi

Judges: Abner Benaim, Aboozar Amini, Alex Lee, Amir George, Andres Martinez, Angela Tucker, Baby Ruth Villarama, Bernadett Tuza-Ritter, Claudia Rodríguez Valencia, Elena Fortes, Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi, Frank W. Albers, Ilana Coleman, Ilinca Calugareanu, Inney Prakash, Jamie Gonçalves, Janaína Oliveira, Jessica Khoury, Jessica Kingdon, Jihan Hamdi El Tahri, Joe Brewster, Jowe Harfouche, Juan Souki, Julian Etienne, Karin Anna Rywkind Segal, Kellen Quinn, Khalid Shamis, Kimi Takesue, Kirill Sorokin, Lauren DeFilippo, Maia Lekow, Martin Rafael Blanco Lamas, Michèle Stephenson, Michelle Coffey, Mohamed Siam, Nelson Makengo, Netsanet Negussie, Noor Haydar, Ola Kamel Alsheikh, Pablo Dewin Reyes Maulin, Peter Murimi, Phil Cox, Rahul Desai, Rendah Haj, Robin Petré, Rodolfo Castillo-Morales, Ruby Yang, Rumbi Katedza, Ruth Somalo, Ryan Mullins, Samia Osman, Seggen Mikael, Sihle Hlophe, Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing, Suzannah Mirghani, Tiffany Hsiung, Tracy Nguyen-Chung, Violeta Lockhart

Transparency Note:  Sam Soko was a Feature Documentary Chair and served as Producer of No Simple Way Home. The Feature Documentary deliberations were made with utmost consideration of this conflict of interest to ensure accountable decision-making. 

Short Documentary

Chairs: Betsy Tsai, Laura Bermúdez, Shilpi Gulati

Judges: Amber Espinosa-Jones, Anais Taracena, Apoorva Bakshi, Carla Roda, Duiren Wagua, Elizabeth D. Costa, Elvis Rigoberto Caj Cojoc, Farha Khatun, Harry Vaughn, Jessica Guifarro, Joaquin Ruano, Julian Cautherley, Marcela Zamora, Martha Clarisa Hernandez Chavez, Mina Nabil, Nida Mehboob, Pamela Guinea, Patricia Drati, Patricia Velasquez, Sagorika Singha, Sonali Gulati, Tahiat Mahboob, Tulika Bhattacharjee

Curated Series

Chairs: Emily Abi-Kheirs

Judges: Brenda Avila-Hanna, Cassandra Gardiner, Colleen Thurston, Devin Karambelas, Faridah Gbadamosi, Juan Pedro Agurcia, Luma Haj, Margje de Koning

Episodic Series

Chair: Denise Khumalo

Judges: Amelia Abdullah, Andy S. Chikwehwa, Brenda Nascimento, Brittney Flemons, Cleyton Msosa, Daphne Gabriel, Imani Dlamini, Joshua Edward Faber, Marco Peralta, Mimi Mgawe, Rocio de la Grana, Stanford L. Khumalo, Taylor Beasley, Zul Manzi

Multi-Part Documentary

Chairs: Claire Aguilar, Nevo Shinaar

Judges: Anders Bruus, Barbara Truyen, Brittany Nugent, Carlos Rojas Felice, Dan Soles, Fernanda Pessoa, Gary Byung-seok Kam, Greg Sanderson, Igor Myakotin, Ines Sommer, Itay Stern, Julia Lesage, Júlio Molica, Kira Dane, Marie Therese Guirgis, Mohammed Ali Naqvi, Priyankar Patra, Ramsey George Tesdell, Sharon La Cruise, Sigrid Jonsson Dyekjaer, Tracy Rector, Vaishali Sinha

Short Form Series

Chairs: Sky Dylan-Robbins

Judges: Andrea Gonzalez Mereles, Andrea Yu-Chieh Chung, Ariadna Cebrián, Elettra Fiumi, Grace Hsin-Jui Lin, Jasmine Cannon, Nundrisha Wakhloo, Shako Liu, Shanshan Chen

Audio Documentary

Chairs: Josephine Karianjahi, Rhea Chedid

Judges: Dhashen Moodley, Isabel Cadenas Cañón, Jasmin Bauomy, Lorenzo Benedetti, Megan Bradshaw, Nasri Atallah, Odudu Efe (FayFay), Sidibé Tsippora

Best Music Documentary

Chair: Melissa Haizlip

Judges: Adam Dorn, Akuol de Mabior, Chloe A. Genga, J. Ralph, Jennifer Washington, Jerry Henry, Joel Quizon, Nataleah Hunter-Young, Zak Ové

TV Feature Documentary or Mini-Series

Chair: Cynthia Kane

Judges: Adamu Chan, Alenka Pavlin, Asha Boston, Diana Holtzberg, Dolly Li, F. Leslie Siben, John Warburton, Remoy Philip, Roseli Ilano, Sophie Schrago

David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award

Chair: Gilberto Loffer

Judges: Carolina Borrero, David Watson, Eliana Araúz, Enea Lebrun, Enmanuel Martínez-Cornó, Enrique G. Kirchman B., Iván Jaripio Olea, Jose Manuel Lopez Vega, Luis Lorenzo Trujillo, Meilyn Abril Esquivel Hernández, Risseth Yanguez Singh, Said Isaac

Best Cinematography Award

Chair: Natasha Nair

Judges: Aarti Trikannad, Alisha Tejpal, Camila Guarda, Jennifer Boles, Karan Patil, Lindsey Mazur, Rahul Nair Rajagopal, Stephen Van Vleet Nelson, Tunali Mukherjee

Best Editing Award

Chairs: Kristina Motwani, Maria Luisa Santos

Judges: Alexandra Markovic, Amada Torruella, Andrea Chignoli, Cameron G. Quevedo, Daniel Chávez-Ontiveros, Gerardo del Valle, Hina Ali, Jess Alvarenga, Juan José Cid, Leonor Zuniga, Lorenzo Mora Salazar, Luisa Mora Fernández, Meme Flores, Michael Abitz, Michaelle McGaraghan, Natalia Solórzano Vásquez, Rebecca Adorno Dávila, Susannah H. Smith, Viana González Delgado, William Gazecki, Youssef Sanheji

Best Music Score Award

Chair: Jonathan Zalben

Judges: Alex Steyermark, Catherine Joy, Dana Nachman, Ed Gerrard, Jeff Toyne, Kate Havnevik, Michelino Bisceglia, Robert Honstein, Roman Kariolou, Shirley Abraham, Timo Chen

Best Writing Award

Chair: Victor Buhler

Judges: Alicia Godmasch, Ayesha Nadarajah, Bérénice Hahn, Bradley Glenn, Erik LeDrew, Gwendolyn Alston, Josh Dabdee, Judy Korin, Liz Hodes, Nicholas Bruckman, Rajesh Thind, Rubika Shah, Sam French

Pare Lorentz Award

Chair: Harrison Engle

Judges: Christopher Lucas, David Resha, Dennis Dimick, Hilary Hoagland-Grey, Leslie Norville, Tilly Lorentz Grey

Pre-Screening Committee

Coordinator: Eddie Hustleby

Pre-Screeners: Afton Quast Saler, Agnieszka Rogala, Alessandra Berti, Alex H. Rafi, Alina Mogollon-Volk, Amanda Branson Gill, Andréa Pavez, Andrés Senra, Austin Russell, Azalia Muchransyah, Barbara Ghammashi, Camille Horrocks-Denis, Chantal De Brouwer, Chayce Donovan, Chloe Kurabi, Gabrielle Garcia Steib, Hallie Haller, Imameleng Masitha, Jocelyn Ford, John Serunjogi, Julia Cain, Julia Carrigan, Katherin Machalek, Katherine Poggenpoel, Kathy Ou, Kayoko Nakamura, Lisa Murzin, Lizzie Friedrich, Lucas Anotado, LuvLeighAn Clark, Mary Grueser, Melina Tupa, Michael Graziano, Nhung Nguyen, Ran Zheng, Saeideh Akhkan, Sarah Li, Sidney Beeman, Steffie van Rhee, Taige Shi, Thaakirah Behardien, Tomasz Pawlik, Xinyi Zhang, Zane Ndonye, Ziyao Liu

Credits 

The Competition

Awards Competition Manager - Kristal Sotomayor

Awards Competition Coordinator - Eddie Hustleby

Awards Competition Associate - Arooba Khalique

Awards Competition Intern - Camille Creighton

The Awards

Host - Jenny Yang

Producer - James Costa

Director - James Costa

Event Producer - Camillia Shofani

Technical Director - Chase Simonds

Script Supervisor - Bryan Bingham

Videography & Livestreaming - NK Productions, Inc.

Teleprompter - Tony Finnetti

Voice Announcer and Nominee Reel Producer - Sean Verchick

Graphic Design - Maria Hinds

Motion Design - Ben Foster

Marketing & Communications - Zaferhan Yumru, Andrea Granera, Catalina Combs

Publicity - Adam Segal, 2050 Group

Trophies - Encore Awards

Check-In & Seating Mangers - Blue Room Events

ASL interpreters - Keturah Holiday & Wolfe Nelson