Slamdance jury members

Slamdance jury members for 2008 have been selected and are as follows:

Since 1983, Skizz Cyzyk has made more than 50 short films and videos, many having won awards and screened at festivals all over the world. He is the Founder/

Festival Director for MicroCineFest, the Programming Manager for the Maryland Film Festival, an advisory board member/juror for Alabama's Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, served ten years as technical supervisor/projectionist for the Atlanta Film Festival, and on juries at many other festivals. This is Skizz's 12th year as a Slamdance projectionist, fifth year on the Slamdance advisory board, and fourth non-consecutive year on the Slamdance jury. He also writes for music and film magazines, is on the Board of Directors for Maryland Lawyers for the Arts, plays drums in popular indie-rock band, The Jennifers, and has a solo ukulele act.

Amy Dotson is the Producer and Managing Director of Programming for IFP, a 30-year old not-for-profit membership and advocacy organization that supports and serves the independent film community by connecting creative talent and the film industry. Prior to IFP, Amy worked with producer Fred Berner, as well as at Curious Pictures and Miramax Films, where her responsibilities included a wide variety of production, development, administrative and business affairs duties, as well as extensive script and book coverage.  Amy is currently producing her first feature documentary with director Brad Beesley on the women of the Oklahoma State Prison Rodeo. 

A graduate of Florida State University's Film School, Erik Jambor was inspired by a Slamdance screening of Hard Core Logo in 1997 to create a film festival in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. He co-founded the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival there in 1999 and served as its Director through 2006, developing a festival that rapidly became a filmmaker favorite and helped to grow the region's independent film scene. Most recently, Erik was Executive Director of the 2007 BendFilm Festival in Bend, Oregon, creating a program that included what Shawn Levy of The Oregonian called "the best crop of fictional features yet to screen at BendFilm." Erik has served on film festival juries including Atlanta, Nashville and SXSW. This is his first year as a juror at Slamdance.

Laurie Koh is a San Francisco-based writer, editor, and filmmaker. She is Associate Editor of Film Arts, the magazine of San Francisco's Film Arts Foundation, and has also worked as Copy Chief of Girlfriends magazine and Calendar Listings Assistant for leading alt weekly the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Her short documentary Sisterz of the Underground: Extra Credit (2003) has screened around the Bay Area and her short narrative Between the Lines (2005) has screened at film festivals including the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, Boston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and Inside/Out Toronto Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Currently she is a member of the shorts screening committee for the 2008 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.

Leah Meyerhoff is a Student Academy Award-nominated filmmaker currently pursuing an MFA at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her short film Twitch (Slamdance 2005 honorable mention) has screened in over 200 film festivals, won a dozen international awards, and was picked up for distribution by IFC. Leah has since completed several music videos, including Team Queen, a Planet Out finalist currently airing on LOGO, and Eternal Flame, which was recently picked up by MTV Europe. Leah holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art-Semiotics from Brown University. Leah is currently in development on her first feature film Unicorns, a finalist for the Sundance Screenwriting Labs.

Sara Pollack is the Manager of Film and Animation at YouTube. Sara is working to ensure that YouTube remains an integral part of the changing landscape of independent film distribution by helping filmmakers reach and engage with their audiences directly. Prior to joining YouTube, Sara was a Production Executive at Big Beach, an independent film production and finance company, where she worked on both feature and documentary films. Before Big Beach, Sara worked at Miramax Films. Sara received her B.A. in English Literature from Brown University.

Todd Rohal wrote and directed The Guatemalan Handshake, which premiered at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival where it won the festival’s Special Jury Prize. The film went on to screen at over 30 international film festivals, winning awards for Best Feature at the Arizona International Film Festival and awards for Best Direction, Screenplay and a Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Ensemble Cast Performances at the 2006 Torino International Film Festival. Todd was an accomplished short filmmaker before making The Guatemalan Handshake and also worked as a designer and producer for DVDs. Todd was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s “25 New Faces of Independent Film” in 2006.

Most recently, Michael Skolnik directed Without the King, a documentary film about the last ruling monarch in Africa, King Mswati III of Swaziland. The film premiered at the 2007 Full Frame Film Festival and was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the 2007 HotDocs Film Festival. In 2006, Michael co-directed Lockdown USA, and in 2004, made his feature film directorial debut with the award winning On the Outs. Currently, Michael is in post production for a film he is co-directing about Grammy Award winning artist, Wyclef Jean’s quest to bring peace to his homeland, Haiti.

David Wilson is a documentary filmmaker and the co-founder of the True/False Film Fest, programming and overseeing the Midwestern event now entering its fifth year and considered the snot-nosed punk – with impeccable taste – of the international docfest demimonde, highlighting innovative work with a cinematic scope, creative takes on contemporary currents, and most of all work that provokes dialogue about its subject and discussion of the documentary form itself. 

Celebrating its 14th year, Slamdance continues to be the pre-eminent film festival whose sole mission is to nurture, support and showcase truly independent works, having established a unique reputation for premiering new films by first-time writers and directors working within the creative confines of limited budgets.

Slamdance 2008 is presented by KODAK. Additional sponsors include the Maryland Film Office, Langley Productions, OurStage, Current TV, Dos Equis, Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, Doc Martens, B-Side, XMission, Jagermeister, FIJI, Zodiac Vodka, Wimbledon Wines and Southwest Airlines.