SXSW announces documentary juries: 'Film Comment,' Vimeo talents represented

Jurors will choose from a wide selection of nonfiction features and shorts

With SXSW fast approaching the film festival has set its lineup of jurors.

On the documentary side, the three-person Documentary Feature Competition jury will consist of Eugene Hernandez, co-publisher of Film Comment magazine and deputy director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center; Film Comment contributor Eric Hynes, who also serves as associate curator of film at the Museum of the Moving Image, and Ann Hornaday, the Washington Post's chief film critic.

In addition to her reviews of fiction/narrative films, Hornaday has written recent pieces on the documentaries I Am Jane Doe, I Am Not Your Negro, and The Eagle Huntress. 

​Hynes' work includes an elegant essay on Robert Greene's documentary Kate Plays Christine, which appeared in the summer 2016 edition of Film Comment. The author read from his essay at a memorable panel in January at the Sundance Film Festival.

Writings from Hernandez have focused on last fall's Telluride Film Festival -- an article which delved into the documentary Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds -- and a piece on the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, which among other films explored the documentary The Cinema Travellers.

The three-person Documentary Shorts Program features Opal H. Bennett, a documentary programmer for the Tribeca Film Festival, DOCNYC and the Nantucket Film Festival; Sam Morrill, director of curation at Vimeo, and filmmaker Meg Smaker.

Jurors will be on a tight schedule. Jury awards are presented at the halfway point of the nine-day film festival -- on May 14. As SXSW notes on its website, audience awards are revealed later in the week.

From SXSW.com