Top row L-R: Andrew Jarecki, Rémi Grellety, Tomoko Okutsu, Alexandre Marionneau, Anna Berthollet
Middle row L-R: Geeta Gandbhir, Afsaneh Salari, Kim A. Snyder, Yulan Chang, Horia El Hadad
Bottom row L-R: Jenny Horwell, Kethiwe Ngcobo, Joseph Cutts, Lisa Brook, Judi Alston
We are excited to announce our Jury Members for this years’ International Competition, International First Feature Competition, International Short Film Competition, the Tim Hetherington Award, the International Alternate Realities Competition, alongside our previously announced members of the Youth Jury. Winners will be revealed during the Festival’s Awards Ceremony at Crucible Playhouse on 22 June. Join us at our 32nd edition of the festival in Sheffield, 18-23 June 2025.
International Competition Jury
The Jury members for the International Competition are: award-winning director Andrew Jarecki, award-winning producer Rémi Grellety, and Tomoko Okutsu (International Co-Production and Acquisitions Producer, NHK).
The eight films in the International Competition are up for the Grand Jury Award which honours films that display strong artistic vision and courageous storytelling. This Award is Academy Award® accredited. More information about the films can be found here.
Andrew Jarecki's films have won Emmy, Peabody, Sundance Grand Jury, and NY Film Critics Circle awards, and been nominated for the Academy Award. His 12-part HBO series The Jinx (that followed his feature All Good Things starring Ryan Gosling) led to Robert Durst’s arrest and murder conviction. His film Capturing the Friedmans, led to the conviction review of a notorious criminal case. He produced the feature documentary Catfish and related MTV series, and other films.
Rémi Grellety is a two-time Oscar-nominated film producer. For 15 years he produced Raoul Peck’s films at Velvet Film (Paris, New York), including I Am Not Your Negro and the HBO miniseries, Exterminate All The Brutes. Grellety also produced many debut documentary films. He has then founded Warboys Films (Paris). His last production, Soundtrack To A Coup D’Etat by Johan Grimonprez, won a Special Jury Award for Cinematic Innovation at Sundance.
Tomoko Okutsu started working for NHK as a TV director. She has directed live factual shows and current-affairs documentaries. Since 2008, she was commissioning editor of NHK’s international co-production and acquisition slot “World Documentary” and aired documentaries mainly on current affairs and social issues. After producing international news programmes for NHK WORLD JAPAN for several years, since 2022 she has been taking care of international co-production and acquisition for documentaries on NHK’s Terrestrial and Satellite channels.
International First Feature Competition Jury
The International First Feature Competition jury members are: Alexandre Marionneau (Commissioning Editor, Head of International Co-Production, ARTE France), Anna Berthollet (CEO, Lightbox), award-winning filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir.
The International First Feature Competition honours the future of non-fiction film, celebrates promising talent and is supported by Netflix. More information about the films can be found here.
Alexandre Marionneau is head of international coproductions for the Society and Culture Department of ARTE France, having been a teacher abroad, working in France 2 as a commissioning editor (for the society strand and 25 shades of doc), running an NGO and working in philanthropy. He has notably put together the collection Generation Ukraine for the ARTE group and is deeply attached to organizing meaningful collaborations with public services, creative partners and institutions.
Anna Berthollet oversees all activities at Lightdox, with special care for Theatrical, TV and Festivals sales, and Impact Distribution. After obtaining her Master’s degree in Media and Marketing Sciences from the University of Geneva, Anna worked for several years in the banking sector, mainly as a project leader. In 2013 she undertook a career shift willing to invest her skills and knowledge into documentary producing. She graduated successfully from Ecole Documentaire de Lussas in France and attended several European workshops for producers and filmmakers, until 2015 when documentary sales and distribution snapped her up.
Geeta Gandbhir is an award-winning filmmaker who began her career in narrative film under the mentorship of Spike Lee and Sam Pollard. After over a decade in scripted film, collaborating with industry greats like the Coen Brothers and Robert Altman, she transitioned to documentary filmmaking. She is currently directing a Netflix series with Spike Lee and Samantha Knowles on post-Katrina New Orleans. Her recent directing credits include The Perfect Neighbor (Sundance 2025), The Devil is Busy (HBO), How We Get Free (Oscar Shortlisted, HBO), Born in Synanon (Paramount), and Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power (Emmy Winner, 2023).
International Short Film Competition Jury
The International Short Film Competition jury members are: director, editor and producer Afsaneh Salari (Co-founder of Docmaniacs Collective Tehran), award-winning filmmaker Kim A. Snyder and Yulan Chang (Director, CNEX Chinese Doc Forum) .
The nine films in the International Short Film Competition are up for the Grand Jury Award which honours the best creative approach to documentary under 40 minutes. This section is Academy Award®, BAFTA and BIFA accredited.
Afsaneh Salari is a documentary director, editor, and producer navigating these intersections from her dual base in Paris and Tehran. She founded Docmaniacs in Paris and co-founded the Women's Film Collective Docmaniacs in Tehran, producing films from Iran and Afghanistan. Her directing works include The Silhouettes (Visions du Réel 2020) and Great Are the Eyes of a Dead Father (CPH:DOX, Sheffield, DMZ 2023) in collaboration with Wim Wenders Foundation. As producer, her latest film A Sisters' Tale premiered at Locarno 2024 and continued at TIFF, IDFA, CPH:DOX, Shanghai IFF, and etc. She also co-wrote and edited Writing Hawa (FIPRESCI Award, IDFA 2024).
Kim A. Snyder is an Academy Award® nominated, Peabody Award-winning Director / Producer whose latest feature, The Librarians, premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Her recent short documentary Death By Numbers, was nominated for an Oscar in 2025. Snyder’s acclaimed films include Us Kinds (Sundance 2020),Lessons from a School Shooting (Netflix), and Newtown (Sundance 2016, Peabody, PBS). Earlier work includes Welcome to Shelbyville (PBS) and I Remember Me (Zeitgeist Films).
Yulan Chang directs the CNEX Chinese Doc Forum (CCDF), an international platform and talent incubator for documentaries from the Chinese diaspora. She helped produce the Oscar-nominated short Island in Between (2024) and previously developed original programming for National Geographic Asia. In 2022, she also created Taiwan Pitch, a program connecting emerging global filmmakers with Taiwan through short-form storytelling.
Tim Hetherington Award Jury
Jurors for the Tim Hetherington Award are: Horia El Hadad (Senior Producer - Documentaries, Al Jazeera English), Jenny Horwell (Director and Programmer, Bertha DocHouse) , and award-winning filmmaker Kethiwe Ngcobo .
Six documentaries will be considered for the Tim Hetherington Award which recognises a film and filmmaker that best reflects the legacy of photojournalist and filmmaker Tim Hetherington and is presented in association with Dogwoof.
Horia El Hadad is a narrative and documentary filmmaker and commissioning producer for Al Jazeera English’s Witness strand. She commissions Europe-based observational documentaries and collaborates with filmmakers around the world. Witness documentaries have won major awards and earned top nominations. With over 17 years' experience in the UK and Qatar, Horia has directed and produced numerous films, and is interested in nuanced, impact-driven storytelling that explore global issues through personal, non-judgmental narratives.
Jenny Horwell is the lead programmer of Bertha DocHouse, the documentary-only cinema in London. She joined the organisation as Producer in 2012, having spent the previous few years working at film festivals and events. Jenny took the role of Assistant Programmer of Bertha DocHouse when the dedicated screen opened in 2015, and became Director and Programmer in 2022, over-seeing a year-round cinema programme that aims to celebrate the breadth and depth of documentary filmmaking.
Kethiwe Ngcobo is an award-winning South African producer and director who explores identity and justice through an African lens. Her documentaries 1001 Days (2023) and Mother City (2024) received recognition at international festivals including Sheffield Doc Fest. As Head of Drama at SABC (2004-2010), she transformed South African television. Through her company Fuzebox Entertainment, Ngcobo creates authentic stories that connect across cultures. Her latest documentary And She Didn't Die premieres in June 2025.
International Virtual Reality Competition Jury
Jurors for the Virtual Reality Award which honours the best virtual reality non-fiction work are:artist and curator Joseph Cutts, Lisa Brook (Creative Technology Relationship Manager, British Council) and director Judi Alston (Creative Director and CEO, One to One Development Trust)
Joseph Cutts is an artist, international curator & film programmer. His installations have been exhibited alongside works by Cornelia Parker, Naum Gabo and Bridget Riley, as well as in response to Bahuahus Masters Marianne Brandt and László Moholy-Nagy. His work Trigger Happy Discipline was recently acquired by the Sheffield Museums for their permanent collection. Cutts has previously worked across the UK and Internationally as: Curator, S1 Artspace; Curator, Instytut Adama Mickiewicza, Warsaw and Curator & Head of Sheffield DocFest’s Alternate Realities programme.
Lisa Brook has worked in film and creative technology for 15 years specialising in festivals, live cinema events, XR. Alongside her work at British Council, where she leads on creative XR projects and international collaboration, she is Artistic Director of Live Cinema UK where her portfolio includes cross sector live events involving live scores, XR, immersive and site specific work.
Judi Alston is a documentary film maker, XR producer/director and writer whose work reflects a long-standing commitment to exploring social issues, provoking dialogue and inspiring positive change. Judi is the Founder/CEO of arts organisation One to One Development Trust and Co-Director of digital storytelling studio Dreaming Methods. She has presented widely about XR for social change. Judi’s work has won many accolades, including the 2025 Social Impact Award at the SONA Immersive Storytelling Festival, Pittsburgh.
Youth Jury
This award is presented by five of the UK’s most passionate young documentary lovers to celebrate non-fiction cinema. The Youth Jury was previously announced as Catherine Huckle, Conor Joseph Corey, Daisy Sanderson, Lucy Brown and Rennan Duan who have curated a selection of six films that will be considered for the Youth Jury Award. Previous announcement here.
Audience Award
The Sheffield DocFest audience have the opportunity to cast their vote at cinemas and venues for their favourite films and works - every feature film in the programme is eligible for the Film Audience Award.
Explore the full Sheffield DocFest 2025 programme and make the most of your time at the festival with the ticket and passes we have on offer this year.
Festival Passes are on sale here.
Sheffield DocFest is made possible thanks to the support of our partners, funders and sponsors, including Principal Funders BFI Audience Projects Fund, awarding National Lottery funding, Sheffield City Council and Arts Council England.
