Kim Yutani Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Alex Ritman Rwandan actress Eliane Umuhire (“Augure by Baloji,” “My New Friends”), French producer Sylvie Pialat (“Timbuktu,” “Staying Vertical”), Belgian cinematographer Virginie Surdej (“The Blue Caftan,” “Our Mothers,” “Casablanca Beats”) and Canadian film critic, journalist and frequent Variety contributor Ben Croll have been named on the jury for the Critics’ Week section of the Cannes Film Festival. The four will now join Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen, who last week was named Critics’ Week jury president, with the group set to choose the sidebar competition’s award winners, including the Grand Prize for best feature film, the French Touch Prize of the Jury, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star award for best actor or actress and the Leitz Ciné Discovery Prize for best short film.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Eugene Hernandez has reached the top of the mountain. The journalist turned nonprofit executive has spent decades rising through the ranks of the American independent film scene. This January he assumes his seat at its apex: as the director of the Sundance Film Festival.

Sundance Institute announced the addition of the documentary The Greatest Night in Pop to the 2024 Sundance Film Festival film program and the lineup for the Festival’s Beyond Film programming. 

The 2024 Sundance Film Festival has set 16 alums from past editions to serve on its Competition Jury, also announcing the set of five set as jurors for the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize.

EXCLUSIVE: Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards, announced the 2023 Film Independent Forum, the preeminent conference for independent filmmakers and content creators. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Sundance Film Festival Asia, an offshoot of the Sundance Institute, is to set up camp in Taipei, Taiwan this summer. The three-day mini festival will run Aug. 18-20 and be put together in association with local organizer G2Go Entertainment. The event will showcase a handful of films curated by the Sundance Institute and host a short film competition that is open only to Taiwanese productions. Panel discussions will accompany the festival to foster artistic exchange, providing opportunities for the Taiwan film industry to connect with Sundance’s executive team, and elevating Taiwan’s image and presence in the global independent film industry. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rolling off a successful edition that premiered Charlotte Wells’ celebrated film “Aftersun” with Paul Mescal, Cannes’ Critics Week is back with an international lineup spanning South Korea and Malaysia to France and Jordan, among others. The Critics Week sidebar runs parallel to the Cannes Film Festival, and focuses on first and second films. Under the leadership of artistic director Ava Cahen since last year, the lineup will boast 11 feature films chosen from 1,000 submitted movies. Out of these 11 movies, seven are feature debuts and six are directed by women. Among them is “Ama Gloria,” directed by French helmer Marie Amachoukeli, who previously won Cannes’ Golden Camera for “Party Girl” which she co-directed with Claire Burger and Samuel Theis.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Audrey Diwan, director of the 2021 Venice Golden Lion winner “Happening,” has been named jury president of the 62nd annual Cannes’ Critics Week. Other jury members include Portuguese director of photography Rui Poças; German actor, choreographer and dancer Franz Rogowski; Indian journalist, curator and Berlinale programming advisor Meenakshi Shedde; and Sundance programming director Kim Yutani. Diwan, a former journalist, made her debut with “Losing It” in 2019. The filmmaker took home the Venice Film Festival’s top prize for her sophomore feature, the searing abortion drama “Happening.” She became only the second woman (after 2020’s Chloe Zhao) to win the Golden Lion since Agnès Varda, who won in 1985 for “Vagabond.”

French director and writer Audrey Diwan, who won the Venice Golden Lion in 2021 for her second feature Happening, has been announced as jury president for this year’s edition of Cannes Critics’ Week.

At today’s opening day Sundance press, Director of Programming, Kim Yutani announced the addition of Doug Liman’s first documentary, Justice, about Brett Kavanaugh.

— to empower artists who are taking risks, bringing new perspectives to the forefront, and creating work that entertains and provokes conversation,” said Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival Director ofProgramming. “These platforms provide artists with the ability to expand beyond the boundaries oftraditional cinema, while also motivating a unique creativity through an ever expanding format.”Sundance Film Festival is set to take place in-person from Jan.

Generation,” “Radical,” “Shayda,” and “Run Rabbit Run,” as well as a Shorts program, to be announced at a later date. “Blueback,” an Australian film featured in the Kids program, is set to screen at the Opening Night Gala, where Sundance alum Ryan Coogler, Nikyatu Jusu, W. Kamau Bell and others will be honored.

Before the full slate is announced for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, the Park City, Utah event has already teed up two movies: the 25th Anniversary and digital restoration screening of Marc Levin’s Slam and the uncensored director’s cut and restoration of Gregg Araki’s The Doom Generation.

Eugene Hernandez has been set as the next Director of the Sundance Film Festival, as well as the Sundance Institute’s Head of Public Programming. The film and media industry veteran joins the Institute as its fourth official Festival Director after spending 12 years at Film at Lincoln Center, most recently as Senior Vice President of FLC, Executive Director of the New York Film Festival and publisher of Film Comment.

Tabitha Jackson, the director of the Sundance Film Festival and Public Programming, will exit from her role at the Sundance Institute, the non-profit’s CEO Joana Vicente announced Tuesday, while also elevating Kim Yutani to a senior leadership role. Jackson was named director of the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 and has been with the Institute since 2013, and she will depart shortly after the upcoming Sundance Film Festival: London, which takes place later this week.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterTabitha Jackson is resigning her post as director of the Sundance Film Festival.Jackson has been a veteran of the premiere American festival since 2013, and departs after only two years in the top job. She replaced longtime leader John Cooper in the role in 2020, weeks before the coronavirus pandemic upended the event and the rest of Hollywood.Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente announced Tuesday that Jackson will leave her post shortly after the imminent London edition of the fest.

first time in the festival’s history this year, a movie that first premiered at Sundance won the Best Picture Oscar more than a full year later when “CODA” took home the top prize after it first swept Sundance 2021 with four different prizes. Questlove’s “Summer of Soul” also made its premiere at Sundance in 2021 and likewise went on to win the 2022 Oscar for Best Documentary.

“Let’s keep moving forward,” said Sundance Film Festival Director Tabitha Jackson in the middle of the opening day’s virtual press conference for the near 40-year old event.

Addie Morfoot ContributorRacism and women’s rights are two timely, urgent issues that numerous directors with films at Sundance tackle via fictional or documentary films.Mariama Diallo’s “Master” and Carey Williams’ “Emergency” are two examples of narrative features heading to the fest that address the issue of race and racism in America. While Diallo’s “Master” portrays racism in an academic setting, Williams’ “Emergency” follows a group of Black and Latino college students who weigh the pros and cons of calling the police when faced with an emergency situation.“As always, our program is a reflection of artists’ response to the times we live in,” says Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival’s director of programming.

Abigail E. Disney and Kathleen Hughes’ The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales and Amy Berg’s Phoenix Rising have been added to the Special Screenings section of the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, taking place virtually from January 20-30. The news from the Sundance Institute was accompanied by an announcement that single film ticket sales will open on January 13 at 10 a.m. MT.

Also Read: Juno Films Nabs Bjorn Andresen Doc 'The Most Beautiful Boy in the World' Ahead of Sundance“Our jurors have reached a high level of achievement in their individual fields and can bring their unique perspective to the process of analyzing and evaluating films,” Kim Yutani, Sundance’s director of programming, said in a statement.

You won’t need your boots, puffy coats and wooly hats for next year’s Sundance Film Festival, but the Robert Redford created cinema shindig is still aiming to capture movie fans and Hollywood’s attention, in a semi-virtual fashion.

Angelique Jackson The Sundance Institute announced today that Gina Duncan will join the Sundance Film Festival team as producing director. In the newly-created role, she will report to festival director Tabitha Jackson and work closely with programming director Kim Yutani.Duncan most recently served as V.P.

Anthony D'Alessandro Editorial Director/Box Office EditorSundance Institute has hired former Brooklyn Academy of Music executive Gina Duncan for the newly created Producing Director position at the Sundance Film Festival.Duncan will start Sept.