I’m really excited to begin introducing our jury members this year. It’s such a joy to be able to connect with other film professionals to share and reward the great work of our filmmakers. I’m proud to introduce you to the fine group of people who will be judging our narrative short films this year:
Kate Chamuris
Kate Chamuris is an LA based producer and director.
Her producing experience includes Blocks (dir. Bridget Moloney), Sundance 2020, Miller & Son (dir. Asher Jelinsky), Oscar Shortlist Live Action Short 2020, Gold Student Academy Award, student BAFTA Live Action Short Award, Balloon (dir. Jeremy Merrifield), Grand Prix HollyShorts 2019, Television Academy’s College TV awards Best Drama Series. Currently playing festivals is Nuevo Rico (dir. Kristian Mercado Figueroa), Best Animated Short SXSW and LALIFF 2021.
Her directing work includes the comedy short A Sari for Pallavi, winner First Prize Best Comedy Short at Rhode Island International 2019.
While developing her independent projects, Kate is a VFX coordinator for Lucasfilm streaming properties.
Jason Anderson
Jason Anderson is a film programmer, writer and lecturer based in Toronto. He is the programmer for Short Cuts, the Toronto International Film Festival’s annual showcase of shortform cinema, and the programming director for Aspen Shortsfest, an Oscar-qualifying film festival recognized as one of the premier short film festivals in North America. A longtime film critic and arts journalist, he contributes to such publications as Uncut magazine, Cinema Scope and Sight & Sound. He teaches a course on film criticism at the University of Toronto.
Peyton Kennedy
Peyton Kennedy is an award-winning actress whose film credits The Captive, American Fable and XX premiered at numerous festivals, including Cannes, South by Southwest and Sundance. Her most recent short film Selfie also premiered at SXSW. On television, she had a two-season arc on the longest running medical drama Grey’s Anatomy and received glowing reviews for her portrayal of Kate Messner in the Netflix Original Everything Sucks! Other television credits include Canadian series Odd Squad, Murdoch Mysteries, Killjoys and Taken.