Sundance Institute Announces New Director Of Documentary Film Program

Sundance Institute today announced that Carrie Lozano will helm its Documentary Film Program, succeeding interim Director Kristin Feeley and prior Director Tabitha Jackson.

As Documentary Film Program Director, Lozano will elevate and support nonfiction filmmakers worldwide at all stages of creating and distributing new cinematic work. She will also work to advance and elevate the health of the independent nonfiction field, ensuring that diverse forms, viewpoints, and participants continue to be central to all Institute programs, which include Labs, global and national partnerships and film funds. She will also lead the Documentary Film Program's team, including Labs Director Kristin Feeley and Film Fund Director Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs. She will report to the Institute's Executive Director, Keri Putnam.

Says Putnam: "I am thrilled to welcome Carrie to this critical role at Sundance. As a filmmaker and field leader, she is a fierce advocate for independent voices, a thoughtful contributor to solving the most urgent challenges facing nonfiction artists, and deeply committed to the values of justice and equity. Her experience and perspective will be invaluable to the Documentary Film Program and the Institute's Leadership Team."

Lozano is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, journalist, and lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. She joins the Institute from the International Documentary Association's Enterprise Documentary Fund; where she co-founded and oversaw the program, which supported dozens of filmmakers over the last four years, with an emphasis on journalistic rigor, diversity and inclusion. Prior to the IDA, she led the Bay Area Video Coalition's National MediaMaker Fellowship and was an executive and senior producer at Al Jazeera America. Films that she has directed or produced have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival; her most recent film is 2016's The Ballad of Fred Hersch. Lozano serves on the boards of the nonprofit production companies Kartemquin Films, Swell Cinema and The Free History Project.

Says Lozano: "Sundance Institute has played a critical role in my career, so it's deeply personal for me to lead its Documentary Film Program. I'm humbled to follow in the footsteps of the visionary women who've been at its helm, and grateful to my longtime colleagues at the International Documentary Association and U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism. On the precipice of a new, undetermined era, it feels fitting and exciting to join the Sundance Institute right now. Despite the pain and loss so many are feeling, this is a transformative moment, and I'm eager to harness its energy toward a more just and equitable field to support and develop artists who truly reflect the world around us. As such, it's urgent to elevate and safeguard global independent voices who are at the core of Sundance's mission and so essential to the highest democratic ideals."

Lozano's first day will be October 1.

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