2024 Jury Members
DeWanda Wise
DeWanda Wise is a critically acclaimed actor and filmmaker. Up next, DeWanda stars in the highly anticipated adaptation of Lisa Taddeo’s non-fiction exploration into female desire “Three Women” out on Starz September 13th. Earlier In 2024, she led & Executive Produced Blumhouse horror film “Imaginary,” and played Femme Fatale June Del Rey in Chris Pine’s directorial debut “Poolman” alongside Pine, Danny Devito, and Annette Benning. Previous credits include “Jurassic World Dominion,” “The Harder They Fall,” breakout role Nola Darling in the Netflix adaption of "She's Gotta Have It,” hit comedy “Someone Great” by Jenn Kaytin Robinson, and playing Swan opposite Kevin Hart in the Sony/Netflix film “Fatherhood” among others. Select stage credits include Atlantic Theater Company's "Fireflies," originating the roles of 'Nina' in Dominique Morisseau's "Sunset Baby,” and ‘Mercy’ in “Flight,” directed by Liesl Tommy, David Mamet’s “Race,” and "In the Continuum.” An Ambassador for NAMI, DeWanda is committed to reducing mental health stigma, and systemic change towards accessible care for all.
Stephen Winter
Stephen Winter is an award-winning filmmaker, producer and writer. His acclaimed 1996 debut feature film Chocolate Babies has been restored by UCLA/Outfest and twice featured on the Criterion Channel. Playwright Jeremy O. Harris has called Stephen “The father of modern Black Queer cinema.” In 2023 Stephen directed the #1 fiction podcast for Audible: The Space Within, starring and produced by Jessica Chastain, also starring Michael Shannon and Ellen Burstyn, produced by Topic Studios. Stephen’s 2015 feature film Jason and Shirley will be re-released in 2024 as an expanded edition. Richard Brody of The New Yorker called it “One of the year’s best films.” Stephen produced Jonathan Caouette’s landmark 2004 documentary Tarnation, which premiered at Sundance, Cannes and NYFF. Other film collaborators include Lee Daniels Precious, Paperboy, The Butler), John Cameron Mitchell (Shortbus), Allan Hughes (New York: I Love You), Gus Van Sant (Tarnation), Patrik Ian Polk (Punks), Zoe Cassavetes (Kiss of the Damned) and Bridey Elliott (Clara’s Ghost). Stephen was story editor on the acclaimed documentaries The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2015) and How To Survive A Plague (2013), which earned an Oscar nomination for Outstanding Documentary. Stephen co-created and directed the 2018-19 Afro-futuristic political satire podcast: Adventures in New America, which the New York Times compared to Boots Riley and Jordan Peele saying, “The Best New Social Thriller is a Podcast.”
Murtada Elfadl
Murtada Elfadl is a culture writer, critic, and film curator. Originally from Khartoum, Sudan he’s currently based in New York. His writing has been published at Variety, The A.V. Club, and Backstage Magazine, among other publications. He’s currently a programmer at NewFest, New York’s LGBTQ Film Festival and at the premier documentary festival, DOC NYC.
Morgan Green
Morgan Green is a director of plays, films, radio, and dinnertime. She is currently a Co-Artistic Director at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia where she recently premiered the Pulitzer Prize winning Fat Ham by James Ijames, Eternal Life Part 1 by Nathan Alan Davis, and School Pictures by Milo Cramer which went on to Playwrights Horizons in New York where it was lauded as best production of the year in NY Magazine 2023. Her short film One More Time With Feeling premiered at the Raindance Film Festival in London October 2023. MorganClaireGreen.com
Tij D'oyen
Tij D'oyen is a NYC based filmmaker. On the heels of his award winning short film, Lollygag (Champs-Élysées Grand Prix du Jury, Slamdance AGBO Award), he was selected for Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film. He was a Film at Lincoln Center Artists Academy fellow and was most recently awarded an artist residency by the Provincetown Film Society. His sophomore short, Nepotism, Baby! premiered at Tribeca Film Festival this summer. With support from the Sundance Institute, Tij is currently in development on his debut feature with 2AM.
Kim Steele
Kim Steele is an actor and filmmaker based in Atlanta. She cut her teeth at UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film and Television and has since enjoyed a career on Broadway and in film. In 2024, she founded Solastalgia Films, an impact media studio that produces narrative climate films of all genres with only one requirement - not another “save the planet” documentary. Climate rom-com coming in hot.
Angalis Field
Angalis Field (b. 1994, Portland, Oregon) is a screenwriter, director, and photographer based in New York City. His graduate thesis film “BUST” (co-written with Eliza Barry Callahan) premiered at Sundance in 2024. His debut short, “The Dalles,” premiered at Sundance in 2023. His photography and writing has been shown in various galleries and published in Artforum, Cultured Magazine, Purple Magazine, GQ, Teen Vogue, California Sunday, OUT, The New York Times. He holds a B.A in English and Creative Writing from Columbia University (2012-2016) and an MFA in Filmmaking from NYU Tisch (2019-2024).
Jordan Henderson
Jordan Henderson is an award winning and sought after Producer, Director, and Editor. He owns and co-founded the Los Angeles based Planet Froth Productions. This multi-national production company strives to take on thought-provoking media projects that inspire communities to engage in activism. Jordan trains the spotlight on a variety of social issues through his work, and his films often take him around the globe to follow the action.
2024 Nominating Committee
Apa Agbayani
Apa Agbayani is a Filipino writer and director working through his feelings with magic. His work began in music videos then continued in commercials and film. Currently, he’s finishing a Film MFA at Columbia University in New York.
His latest short “Abutan man tayo ng house lights (When the house lights come on)” (2023) was the recipient of the QCShorts production grant and premiered at the QCinema International Film Festival in the Philippines. Apa’s previous shorts are “Somewhere all the boys are birds” (2023), which premiered at NewFest 35, and “We kept warm” (2021).
Archie Anderson
Archie Anderson is a photographer and multi-hyphenate storyteller based in Los Angeles. She utilizes digital and 35mm film mediums to shine light on unique stories and convey expressions of self-love. Her visual work is deeply inspired by nature, urban landscape, exploration of humanity, and how we exist/coexist within these spaces. She made the bridge to filmmaking with her directorial debut short film Portal, which is set for release later this year.
Kyle Glasow
Kyle Glasow, a New York City-based actor and filmmaker, channels his passion into crafting compelling narratives that dissect the status quo and elevate marginalized perspectives. He holds a BA in cinema production. His latest short film, "The Boy and the Balloon," captured attention at various LGBTQ Film Festivals in 2019, including notable screenings at The East Village Queer FF and Full Bloom FF. Beyond writing, producing, and directing, Kyle actively engages with the local NYC film and stage scene, lending his skills as a story consultant, script supervisor, video editor, and graphic designer, contributing to numerous productions, including the stage play “The Ideal Obituary” by Rodrigo Noguiera, and most recently, the short film “Something Honest” (2024).
Jeremy Jacob
Jeremy Jacob is a critically acclaimed and award-winning visual artist and filmmaker based in New York City. Jacob’s work has been presented internationally by such institutions as La Biennale di Venezia - Palazzo Grassi, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Zuckerman Museum of Art, New York Live Arts, The New York Public Library, Wexner Center for the Arts, Fisher Center at Bard College and Princeton University among others. Jacob’s work also includes on-going collaborations with performance-makers including Jack Ferver, Pam Tanowitz Dance, Netta Yerushalmy, Abby Z and The New Utility, and Trisha Brown Dance Company among others. They are the founding director of A Doll's House Pictures.
Cody Mason
Cody Mason is a NYC-based screenwriter with roots in the Midwest. Beyond his science fiction and horror writing, he is a cohost on 31 for 31, a Halloween horror film podcast on the Podglomerate podcast network. Cody was raised in Cleveland and holds a degree in Film Production for the University of Notre Dame—where he won the top award for narrative filmmaking. Outside of film writing and production, he also works in video advertising for Hulu and Disney.
Wi-Moto Nyoka
WI-MOTO NYOKA is a horror and sci-fi writer. She is the founder of Dusky Projects, creating and producing genre projects for young adult and adult audiences. Awards and honors include: Stowe Story Labs selected project, Independent Public Media Foundation grant recipient, Nightmares Film Festival Best Short Screenplay Award Winner, 13 Horror Screenplay Award Winner, Oregon Short Film Festival Best Horror Teleplay Award Winner and more. Published works can be found in Midnight & Indigo’s Speculative Fiction collection, Terror Unleashed: Volume 2, The Seelie Crow, The Last Girls Club magazine, and Dread Central. Follow her on IG @duskyprojects
Chelsey Staples
Chelsey Staples is a Brooklyn based actor and writer. She studied at Atlantic Acting School, and has a B.A. in Theater & Drama, and Musical Theater. As a storyteller Chelsey’s work focuses on character-driven narratives, using genre specific work to showcase issues in our society and world today. She has written for both the stage and screen. Most recently she wrote and starred in the short film “Something Honest” set to premier later this year.
Eric Ways
Eric Scott Ways has been involved in theater, film, and television since he was a child. Born in Fishers, IN, Eric went to college at the University of Notre Dame where he majored in Film, Television and Theater. In 2016, Eric starred in Catrachos y Kings, the first indie feature film to be shot in Honduras. After graduating in 2018, Eric moved to NYC to pursue acting where he can be seen in The Best Man: The Final Chapters, City on a Hill, A Holiday in Harlem, FBI, and RESPECT. Eric was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Limited Series and has won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Limited Series playing LJ in The Best Man: The Final Chapters. Eric is currently represented by The Jim Flynn Agency and Vault Entertainment.