Daniel Kaluuya, Celine Song, and Elijah Wood among 2025 Sundance jury members

Sundance Film Festival announced the juries for the 2025 competitions on Tuesday. There are six separate juries (plus an additional group for the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize), all tasked with choosing a winner for each separate competition category at the festival. Among the “diverse and influential perspectives” selected as this year’s jurors include Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker Daniel Kaluuya, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Celine Song (Past Lives), and SAG Award-winning actor Elijah Wood.

Wood is the sole juror for the NEXT section, which features U.S. films described as “Pure, bold works distinguished by an innovative, forward-thinking approach to story-telling.” Song is a juror for the U.S. Dramatic Competition alongside King Richard director Reinaldo Marcus Green and Succession star Arian Moayed. Kaluuya will serve on the World Cinema Dramatic Competition jury alongside Ava Cahen (co-founder and co-chief editor of French media outlet frenchmania.fr) and filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu (Rafiki). 

The U.S. Documentary Competition jury includes Oscar- and Emmy-winning documentarian Steven Bognar (American Factory), Emmy- and Peabody Award–winning producer Vinnie Malhotra (currently head of the film and TV division of the Obamas’ production company Higher Ground), and filmmaker Marcia Smith (executive producer of 2024’s Slumlord Millionaire). The World Cinema Documentary jury includes Daniela Alatorre (currently general director of the Mexican Film Institute), Laura Kim (former executive vice president of marketing at Participant Media), and filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (The Mauritanian). Actor and filmmaker Kaniehtiio Horn (Reservation Dogs), Vidiots Foundation’s executive director Maggie Mackay, and filmmaker Kibwe Tavares (Robots Of Brixton) will serve as the jury for the Short Film Program Competition.

The Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize was selected ahead of the festival by a jury that includes filmmaker Michael Almereyda (Tesla), artist and academic Dr. Nia Imara (author of the upcoming Painting The Cosmos), entrepreneur and AI scholar Dr. Monica Lopez, filmmaker Nicholas Ma (Mabel), and filmmakers Sam and Andy Zuchero (Love Me). The prize, which is “presented to an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer, or mathematician as a major character,” was awarded to Cristina Costantini’s documentary SALLY.  

This year’s Sundance Film Festival kicks off in Utah on January 23; certain tickets are available to screen selections at home on the festival’s website. You can check out the full lineup here.