JURY MEMBERS

Matisse Bustos | Communications Strategist for Changemakers

Matisse Bustos is a strategic communications professional and founder of Otro Lado Communications with 20 years in the non-profit and social change sectors. She spent over a decade at WITNESS, the global organization founded by musician and activist Peter Gabriel that makes it possible for anyone to harness the power of video and technology, safely and effectively for human rights. She has amplified human rights campaigns with partners from Burma to Brazil, Congo to Cambodia, and beyond. Employing a holistic approach to communications, Matisse is experienced in organization-wide strategic planning, earned media, social media, event management, and team development. She has placed stories in outlets from Al Jazeera, The Guardian, PBS NewsHour, The New York Times, Vice, and Wired. Matisse is committed to building strategic partnerships and empowering diverse teams whose purpose is making the world a more just and equitable place to live.

Vivian Schröder | Impact Producer | Co-founder Doxumentale

Vivian Schröder is the co-founder of The Good Media Network and herself an Impact Producer and field builder. In the past she has worked on the impact campaigns for the film TOTAL TRUST, directed by Jialing Zhang as well as NOT JUST CELSIUS, a campaign amplifying the voices and stand of the World Youth 4 Climate Justice and Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change. She has organised and co-hosted a Climate Story Lab in Berlin in 2020 as well as a Climate Justice Story Lab in May 2024 in The Hague. She now heads the Good Media Lab & Pitch program together with Anna Ramskogler-Witt, Germany’s first film and impact program. Under the umbrella of their joint company Anna and Vivian also organise the Doxumentale, International Documentary and Media Festival Berlin. Vivian is a member of GIPA.

Emilien Schenker  | IMPACT FUND MANAGER

Emilien leads the impact fund at StoryBoard Collective, a Geneva-based initiative supporting independent filmmakers whose documentaries drive human rights, social justice, and environmental change, particularly in the Global South. He works at the intersection of philanthropy, storytelling, and social impact, helping projects reach audiences that can make a difference. With experience supporting startups, government agencies, and leading academic institutions, Emilien brings guidance, resources, and connections to filmmakers so their projects can thrive—building bridges between creative ideas, funding, and communities.

Growing up in the 90s between Switzerland and the US in a multicultural, working-class family, Emilien was shaped by the internet and street cultures. Curious, adaptable, and quick to see the bigger picture, he challenges conventional thinking while keeping projects rooted in accessibility and diversity. Fluent in French, English, and Brazilian Portuguese, he learned early how to navigate different worlds and connect with diverse communities—insights that continue to guide his work today.

JonATHAN Gordon | Producer & Studio Executive

Jonathan Gordon is a two-time academy award-winning producer and former studio executive with over three decades in the entertainment industry. Gordon served as producer on David O. Russell’s films Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, and Joy, which combined were nominated for 19 Academy Awards, including Best Picture nominations for both Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle. Other films as producer include Kevin Smith’s Red State, which Smith and Gordon financed independently and self-distributed; Smith’s upcoming Moose Jaws; and the Dreamwork’s family film Hotel for Dogs. Prior to producing, Gordon spent over 15 years as a film executive, serving as President of Production at three studios — Miramax Films, Universal Pictures, and Annapurna Pictures — overseeing all development and production. At Miramax, Gordon worked with such filmmakers as Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Steven Soderbergh, Gus Van Sant, Billy Bob Thornton, James Mangold, and James Gray, and was Executive Producer on over a dozen films, including Good Will Hunting; David O. Russell’s Flirting With Disaster; George Clooney’s directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind; Terry Gilliam’s The Brother’s Grimm; as well as four films by Kevin Smith. Gordon is a graduate of Northwestern University and is a founder of the Kenny Gordon Foundation, a charity which raises money for the prevention of sudden cardiac arrhythmias and supports full scholarships for economically and educationally disadvantaged young men and women to attend Skidmore College.

Amit Dey | PRODUCER

Milena Jankovic | SVP Finance & Strategy FilmNation Entertainment

Susana Fernandez | international festival programmer

Born in Spain, Susana is an industry programmer for international film festivals and markets. She lived in Montreal, Canada, for 15 years, where she worked for multiple organisations and film festivals, including the Head of the FNC Forum at the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma de Montréal, where she contributed to launch the Nouveau Marché of Co-Production, and the direction of the Forum RIDM (Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal), one of the most important documentary markets in North America, and the only mainly French-speaking.

Over the years, Susana has contributed to launching various initiatives in the film industry and has collaborated with festivals and organisations such as Durban FilmMart, EURODOC, Documentary Campus, DOK.fest München, CNC and Cannes Docs, she regularly participates as a jury member and industry expert, advising film projects in various stages of development and as a consultant on festival and market strategy.

Nini Shvelidze | film researcher, programmer, and curator

Nini Shvelidze is a Georgian film researcher, programmer, and curator; an invited lecturer and PhD candidate in Film Studies at Ilia State University. She has been a member of FIPRESCI since 2023, co-founder and vice president of FIPRESCI Georgia, and joined the European Film Academy in 2025. Over the years, she has served on juries and pre-juries at numerous international film festivals, including Warsaw, Lago, Ljubljana, Dresden, and Oberhausen. Since 2019, she has been a programmer and author for the online platform CinExpress, as well as a co-organizer and programmer of screenings at Georgian Cinema House. In 2025, she became the coordinator of the Nordic-Baltic Film Festival in Tbilisi. Currently, she is leading the “Tbilisi Interactive Cinema Map” project as its initiator and lead.

David Craig  |  Media Professor, Producer

Professor. Craig is the Director of the Global Media and Communications MA program at USC’s Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism in partnership with the London School of Economics. Prior to his academic career, Craig was a Hollywood producer and television executive responsible for over 30 films, TV programs, web series, documentaries, and stage productions that garnered over 70 Emmy, Golden Globe, and Peabody awards and nominations. His production company, Media Nation, produced Directors Guild of America Nominee, Girl Fight, and has sold, developed and/or produced scripted and non-scripted series for HBO, ABC, CBS, and History, graphic novels to Hill & Wang Publishers, and web pilots to Sony Digital/Crackle.com. He is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the British Academy of Film and Television and was recently appointed as a visiting scholar at Harvard for 2023-2024.

Enat Sidi | Editor

Enat Sidi is one of the leading editors in the documentary film world. Amongst editing “The Wolfpack”, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, she is a frequent collaborator with directors Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, having edited most of their nonfiction feature films including “The Boys of Baraka” (2005 Emmy nominee), “Jesus Camp: (2006 Academy Award nominee), HBO’s 12th & Delaware (Peabody winner) and DETROPIA for which Enat won the editing award at the Sundance Film Festival. In addition, Enat has worked on many prestigious films for a myriad of diverse filmmakers including Ellen Kuras (“The Betrayal”) and Jennifer Vendiiti (“Billy the Kid”) and was the consulting editor on “Bully”. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Caroline Heldman PH.D. | Professor, Author, Activist

Dr. Caroline Heldman is a Political Scientist and Chair of the Gender, Women, & Sexuality Studies program at Occidental College in Los Angeles. She is also President & CEO of Stand With Survivors and a political commentator for Spectrum News and CNN. Dr. Heldman earned her Ph.D. from Rutgers University and a certificate in executive leadership from the Harvard Business School. She has published eight books, including Gender, Power, & Politics: The Fight for Gender Equality in the United States (Oxford University Press). Her work has been featured in numerous documentaries, including Miss Representation and The Mask You Live In. She co-founded the New Orleans Women’s Shelter, the Lower Ninth Ward Living Museum, End Rape on Campus (EROC), Faculty Against Rape (FAR), and led the campaign that overturned the time limit on prosecuting rape in California. She is the Board President of the TEP Center, the first Civil Rights museum in New Orleans, and the Chair of the Board of Alturas Institute, a non-profit fighting for stronger democracy.

Lina Srivastava | Impact Strategist, Producer

Lina Srivastava is a strategist, advocate, and producer who catalyzes and amplifies social impact, social movements, and systems change by combining technology, culture, and art. She creates narrative-based social change initiatives with NGOs, global institutions, and independent media creators, combining field experience and direct service with skills in media and audience engagement, expertise in human-centered and community-centered design, and a focus on community leadership. She is the founder of the Center for Transformational Change, a global impact platform to cultivate community power to build just futures. She previously founded CIEL | Creative Impact and Experience Lab, an innovation studio working at the intersection of human rights, international development, and narrative strategies. A former attorney and former non-profit executive director, Lina has worked with organizations such as the ICRC, UNICEF, UNESCO, the IRC, The New Humanitarian, FilmAid, and the GenderAvenger Futures Project, and on social engagement campaigns for several award-winning documentaries and immersive media projects. Lina is a Fulbright Specialist, on the US State Department’s American Film Showcase roster, faculty-at-large in the Masters of Design for Social Innovation Program and faculty in the Masters of Products of Design Program at SVA. She has been a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Fellow, a recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation leadership grant, a Rockwood Institute/JustFilms Fellow, a Boehm Media Fellow, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Lina is a graduate of New York University School of Law.

Jen Nedbalsky-Neal | Change Catalyst

Jen Nedbalsky-Neal is a change catalyst who has produced high-visibility global events, digital campaigns and social impact programs for two decades at the intersection of human rights, environmental justice, media justice, digital rights, the arts and social justice. A positive, energetic and forward thinking leader with an entrepreneurial and deeply collaborative spirit, she fuses her skillset as a strategist, fundraiser, creative producer and communicator into events and cohesive visual products that propel artists, storytellers, activists, and global organizations towards impact, increased funding and public support. She is driven by curiosity, always pursuing new opportunities to listen, learn, collaborate and improve. With a background in movement building and community organizing, Jen sees challenges as opportunities for connection and believes deeply in the power of collaboration and fostering true and meaningful partnerships to shift cultural narratives. Jen is known for her experience and creativity, for her deep connections within the social change and film impact landscapes and for the passion and joy she brings to this work. She and her projects have received coverage in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, BBC World, NPR, WNYC Radio, San Diego Union-Tribune and beyond.

Karen Cirillo | Curator, Writer and Producer

Karen Cirillo is a cultural worker, curator, writer and producer with a focus on non-fiction film and XR/immersive art. She holds a Masters in Visual and Media Anthropology and is interested in how audience reception and storytelling, aesthetics and forms of representation differ between cultures and identities. Her creative work and writing reflects areas of film, communities and food. She’s worked in the orbit of non-fiction film and social impact for over 25 years, and her global experience with documentary film, immersive arts and international development communities brings together a unique perspective and network. Based in Istanbul/Brooklyn, she curates documentary film and XR exhibitions, particularly for UN agencies that highlight social issues through creatives forms. She founded Doxita, a traveling program of short non-fiction cinema, was Shorts Programmer for the True/False Film Festival, and Associate Director – Film/Programming at Full Frame Documentary Festival. She has programmed and sat on juries for various festivals, museums and organizations. She writes about documentary film ecosystems, non-fiction cinema and XR for Documentary Magazine and Modern Times, and is a contributing writer to XR Must, the platform for all things XR. Since 2002, she has worked in strategic communications for UNDP and UNICEF. She produces multi-media content and manages visual projects and events (i.e. Real Life film series with the Columbia Global Center | Istanbul) for UNDP’s Regional Hub for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. She worked for UNICEF as video archivist, production manager and programme director of an international children’s broadcasting initiative and the global OneMinutesJr. project, collaborating with video artists to produce video workshops for kids around the world. She graduated with a degree in American Social and Cultural Studies and a minor in Film Studies from Duke University.

Ellen Kuo | Head of XR Market, NewImages Festival

Ellen Kuo is a decisive leader and passionate advocate for immersive technologies, with over a decade of experience in bridging global XR ecosystems and nurturing innovative content from concept to market. Currently serving as the Head of XR Market for the prestigious NewImages Festival in Paris, she is at the forefront of shaping the future of immersive storytelling. In her role, Ellen curates an annual showcase of more than 50 cutting-edge XR projects, facilitating vital connections that have resulted in nearly €10 million in production funding. Her comprehensive expertise encompasses pre-development, production, and marketing of XR content. With a keen eye for emerging market trends and international co-production opportunities, Ellen is committed to driving the XR industry forward and fostering collaborations that push the boundaries of what’s possible in immersive experiences. Before joining the XR ecosystem, Ellen worked within the United Nations system in Geneva. She holds a strong conviction to bridge For Impact immersive content with international development work, leveraging her unique background to create meaningful connections between technology and global development initiatives.

John Heffernan | Producer

John Heffernan has over thirty years of experience in leadership roles in international development, human rights, rule of law, democracy and governance, humanitarian relief and post-conflict reconstruction projects in the United States, Africa, South America, Asia and Europe. He has served as  executive director of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights’ Speak Truth To Power; Director of the Genocide Prevention Initiative at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; senior Investigator with Physicians for Human Rights; chief of party for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Guyana, South America; founder and executive director of the Coalition for International Justice; and country representative for the former Yugoslavia and Sudan for the International Rescue Committee.  He was trained as a community organizer by Fred Ross. He is a graduate of the University of California/Santa Barbara and Columbia University’s School of  International and Public Affairs. He is also a former Coro Fellow. He serves as the board chair for Disability Rights International and the Educator’s Institute for Human Rights and is on the board of Social Documentary Network.  John lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife, Margie Palm, and is the father of Olivia, Sofia and Isabella.

Ezequiel Casares | Cinematographer

Born in Patagonia, Argentina, Ezequiel graduated with an MFA in Cinematography from AFI. He shot Words Into Characters with Brazilian artist Jum Nakao, winning a Gold Clio Award. He was a cinematographer on Minimum Wage, a web series executive produced by Issa Rae and Project Greenlight, and also shot the first season of Macro series Re-Date. He was also a cinematographer for Climbing with Pride, a documentary exploring the largest convention of queer rock climbers in the world and its inception. He is currently working on Adonai— a documentary capturing the wisdom of the now disappearing way of life of Argentine gauchos. Ezequiel believes that genuinely depicting memorable characters, in both documentary and fiction, has the power to transcend language as well as culture, tapping directly into the heart of audiences. He is also working on diverse projects with clients such as Vice, MarvelTV, the Oscars and Great Big Story.

Claudia Flores | Learning and Engagement Consultant

Claudia Flores is a Mexican-born philanthropist working at the intersection of Education, Art, and Community Service. She is the founder of the Human Sustainability Project, which is dedicated to research, education, and social engagement through the facilitation of tools supporting awareness, responsibility, and willingness. Claudia is dedicated to producing and promoting learning and engagement opportunities that contribute to individual and collective well-being around the world.

Sanjeev Chatterjee | Professor, Documentarian, Founder

Sanjeev Chatterjee is an award-winning mediamaker with a focus on global documentary work. In 2013 Sanjeev founded mediaforchange.org in an effort to connect media change makers everywhere. Sanjeev was the founding Executive Director of the Knight Center for International Media at the University of Miami from 2007-2011. He also served as the Vice Dean of the School of Communication, University of Miami during the same period. In 2011, Sanjeev spent 6 months in India as a Fulbright-Nehru scholar. In 2018, Sanjeev received his second Fulbright-Nehru scholarship for a project in Kolkata, India to build bridges between disparate communities through visual storytelling. His interests include interdisciplinary collaborations that will incubate global multimedia documentary projects aimed at making a difference. Sanjeev’s documentary work has appeared on channels internationally including National Geographic, Discovery, History, ARTÉ (France-Germany), Doordarshan (India) among others.

Addie Johnson Talbott | Researcher, Film Producer, Writer 

Addie is an applied social scientist with a focus on media impact evaluation and project storytelling. Her research work is informed by a 20-year career in film and theater production, nonprofit leadership, and book publishing, where she has been an executive producer, a development director, and an editor and ghostwriter to neuroscientists and shamans alike. Recent film projects include feature Midday Black Midnight Blue (feat. Merritt Wever), and short Birdwatching (feat. Amanda Seyfried and Sharon Washington).

Darius Fisher | Producer, Filmmaker

Darius Fisher is the producer, founder and president of Digital Neural Axis (DNA) a production and post boutique based in Los Angeles. Darius’ work has been Oscar short-listed and featured at Tribeca, Sundance and the Cannes Film Festival. He produced and co-produced 6 award winning documentary features including, Bhutto (Emmy nominee, Peabody winner), Fuel (Sundance winner), The Big Fix (Cannes official selection), and numerous trailers, including the funding trailer that led to the financing of James Cameron’s Avatar.

Anne Poiret | Journalist, Documentary Filmmaker

Anne Poiret is an award-winning journalist and documentary filmmaker who has garnered significant recognition for her work. She is a specialist in war and post-war topics. Throughout her career, Poiret has contributed to various editorial offices and news magazines, including “C dans l’air” on France 5, “Envoyé Spécial” on France 2, and “Arte reportage” on Arte. Her documentaries primarily focus on the aftermath of armed conflicts, exploring the human and political consequences of wars, and examining the actions of the United Nations and other international NGOs. Her debut film, Muttur: Crime against Humanitarians, delves into the unresolved murder of 17 humanitarian workers in Sri Lanka, a work that earned her the prestigious Albert Londres Prize. Poiret’s subsequent films often focus on countries undergoing postwar reconstruction, including Iraq and the Republic of South Sudan. She has also investigated the genocide of the Herero and Namas in Namibia, and the situations in regions such as Donbass, Kashmir, and Syria. A recurring theme in Poiret’s work is her critical examination of the actions of public authorities and international companies, as seen in documentaries like Epidemics: the Invisible Threat, Welcome to Refugeestan, and My Country Makes Weapons. Her documentaries are typically premiered on French public television and are later broadcast on various European, Canadian, Australian, Japanese, and Middle Eastern TV channels. Anne’s numerous recognitions include winning the 2007 Albert Londres Prize. One of her most recent works, Iraq’s Lost Generation, won the 2022 International Emmy Award for Best Documentary.

Andrew McGregor Journalist, Filmmaker, Founder

Andrew McGregor is a filmmaker, comic book publisher, film festival founder, chess boxing champion, photojournalist, TEDx speaker, and founder of The Tiziano Project, an NGO that teaches citizen journalism to people living in conflict zones and neglected parts of the world. By providing equipment, training and affiliations necessary, The Tiziano Project allows community members to report their stories and improve their lives. Training programs have been held in areas all over the world including Rwanda, Somalia, DR Congo, Iraq, slums of Kenya, South Central LA, and beyond.

Colleen McEdwards Ph.D. | Journalism Professor; CNNI Anchor/Correspondent

Colleen McEdwards is an online instructor with the University of Florida’s renowned distance-learning graduate program in communication and media studies (CJC Online). She designs and delivers online courses in video storytelling. After a 30-year career in international media at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and CNN International, Dr. McEdwards transitioned to academia, helping new generations of communicators discover what’s next for digital media. McEdwards has taught at the Sam Nunn School of International affairs (Georgia Tech), Georgia State University, and Kennesaw State University. She served as founding coordinator and online graduate instructor in a new Social Impact Media Specialization at Saybrook University. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees at Saybrook. McEdwards directed multiple study abroad programs in media entrepreneurship in Hong Kong. She served as director of GSU’s journalism writing center where she more than doubled student participation in her leadership tenure. She piloted measurement and evaluation systems to quantify mastery and learning transfer. A 30-year international media veteran, McEdwards holds a Ph.D. in Education (instructional design and technology management). Named as a Fulbright Specialist in 2018, she is passionate about forging ties with international organizations seeking to better align the media ecosystem with social justice initiatives. Prior to her transition to academia, McEdwards spent almost 20 years as an anchor and correspondent for CNN International. She reported on major stories in news, documentary and digital formats all over the world, particularly in Russia, Europe and Asia. As a political correspondent, she covered multiple election campaigns in Canada and the U.S. From the anchor desk, she played a role in coverage of most of the major international news events of the last two decades. She joined CNN International from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation where she covered Canada’s constitutional crisis, the collapse of Communism, the final pullout of Soviet troops from the former Czechoslovakia, as well as unrest in Haiti. McEdwards has won several awards for her political reporting, including the New York Festival Award, a Worldfest Houston Award and multiple Peabody awards for team coverage of major global events. Passionate about lifelong learning and andragogy, she earned a Ph.D. in Education while working at CNN International, partnering with CNN’s international affiliates throughout the process. McEdwards studied Russian in St. Petersburg and honed her French conversational skills while living in Canada and Europe. Dr. McEdwards is a United States/Canadian citizen, a former competitive athlete and an avid sports fan.

Cynde Strand | Media Executive, Journalism Professor, Storyteller

Cynde Strand started her career in journalism in 1981 as an entry level “video journalist” at CNN in Atlanta.  Today she is an award-winning journalist with 40 years of experience in international newsgathering, investigative and documentary work. For more than 20 years Strand traveled the world as a CNN cameraperson assigned to bureaus in Beirut, Beijing, Nicosia, London and Johannesburg. Strand covered major stories including the Tiananmen Square protests and crackdown, the first Gulf War based in Baghdad, the first free and democratic election in South Africa, the siege of Sarajevo, the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda and famine in Somalia. In 2004 Strand returned to Atlanta to join the team running international news coverage for CNN. Strand served as CNN’s executive director of coverage for international news. In this role, she oversaw the news gathering efforts of more than 20 international bureaus and editorial operations worldwide. She directed coverage during breaking news and managed some of CNN’s biggest and most challenging stories including the rise and fall of ISIS. She also had a lead role in managing stories with legal complexities and sensitive content. She oversaw security for assignments in hostile environments and as CNN recognized the impact of PTSD on employees both in the field and on news desk, Strand took a lead role in organizing help and support for employees worldwide. Strand retired from CNN in 2019 but returned temporarily as part of the team directing CNN’s coverage of the war in Ukraine and later the Israel Hamas conflict. Strand has won many industry awards including 7 Emmys, most recently winning an Emmy as part of the CNN team responsible for its breaking news coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Strand also teaches journalism at university level and developed a course on the history of women in journalism. The documentary film “No Ordinary Life” by Heather O’Neill tells the story of the five pioneering CNN camerawomen: Cynde Strand, Maria Fleet, Jane Evans, Mary Rodgers and Margaret Moth.

María Elena de las Carreras Phd

María Elena de las Carreras, is a Fulbright scholar and film critic from Argentina. She is a regular collaborator of the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, the Latin American Cinemateca of Los Angeles and the CSUNCinematheque. Since 2007, she is a screener of international documentaries for the Sundance Film Festival and the Social Impact Media Awards (SIMA Awards). She has been an accredited journalist at the Berlin Film Festival since 1986. She has published many journalistic articles, scholarly essays and encyclopedia entries, in English and Spanish.

Jennifer Tuft | Senior Media Executive & Entrepreneur

Jennifer Tuft is an entrepreneur and strategist who focuses on the intersection of contemporary media, content creation, and social good. Jennifer is the founder and CEO of 6 West.  Founded in 2017, 6 West is an independent consultancy and incubator based in Los Angeles, CA. Focused on media and entertainment companies, 6 West works to apply and execute original content-driven strategies that build brand equity and increase the underlying value of a client’s business. Prior to founding 6 West, Jennifer was a narrative and documentary film producer, the founder of Foss Fund, a media investment fund, and an Executive in the Foundation and Global Client Strategy departments at Creative Artists Agency. Born and raised in NYC, Jennifer completed her undergraduate degree in Film at Wesleyan University and her MBA from Columbia Business School.

Kimberley Hassett | Editor, Producer

Kimberley was born and raised in southern Alabama. She was trained in video art at the School of Visual Arts in New York and was active in NYC’s performance art scene, often collaborating with renowned conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner. She has cut six feature films in both fiction and nonfiction, and her work has screened at SUNDANCE, IDFA, DOCNYC and the Berlin International Film Festival. Kimberley edited Sandi Tan’s Shirkers (Sundance 2018) for Netflix and produced Jason Kohn’s Love Means Zero (TIFF 2017) for Showtime. She was an Executive Producer on several A24 documentary series for Netflix, including The Confession Tapes (2019) and Exhibit A (2019), an editor on Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator for Netflix (TIFF 2019), as well co producer of Nothing Lasts Forever (2022), and executive producer of The Hunt for Veerappan (2023) and Open Wide (2024). She lives in Los Angeles, California.

Shawn Humphrey | Innovator, Educator

Shawn is the founder of the Two Dollar Challenge, La Ceiba Microfinance, the Month of Microfinance and the Poverty Action Conference. He is also on the Board of Directors of “Students Helping Honduras,” a former mentor at the Clinton Global Initiative University, Opportunity Collaboration alum, and IMAGINE Social Good’s 1st Social Good Fellow. He is currently an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Mary Washington where he practices his personal pedagogy of Tribal Teaching.

Jean Luc Dushime | Photojournalist & Visual Storyteller

Jean Luc Dushime is a seasoned visual storyteller with over a decade of experience in the humanitarian sector, specializing in capturing the resilience and challenges of refugees, gender dynamics, and social justice issues. His work has taken him to conflict zones and areas in crisis, including serving as a humanitarian journalist trainer in emergency situations. His collaboration with National Geographic in South Sudan further highlights his expertise in documenting life under extraordinary circumstances. Jean Luc’s commitment to empowering communities is exemplified through his decade-long engagement with refugee youth in New England, where he uses media-making as a tool for self-expression and advocacy. Notably, he played a pivotal role in helping Diversity Rocks, a multicultural youth group in Burlington, VT, create the award-winning storytelling video “I Am the World,” which earned first place in the media outreach category and third place for audience choice by Maryland-based Excellence in Community Communications and Outreach (ECCO). When not working on global assignments, Jean Luc cherishes time with his family—his wife, daughter, and two dogs—often exploring the outdoors together.

Beth Karlin, Ph.D. | Research Director, Founder

Beth Karlin, PhD, is the founder and CEO of See Change Institute, which blends social science with innovative design to address global issues through human solutions. She also founded the Transformational Media Lab at the University of California, Irvine and is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southern California’s Norman Lear Center, which studies the impact of entertainment on society. Beth’s projects investigate a wide range of topics, including science communication, food security, climate change, and virtual reality. Her team is working on a behavior change “playbook” to walk through the building blocks of behavior change – Audience, Behavior, Content, Delivery, and Evaluation – and social science strategies to optimize each one. Before receiving her Ph.D. in Social Ecology, Beth spent nearly a decade working in K-12 education, holding positions as a teacher, counselor, and school administrator. She believes that the role of a researcher is not only to better understand the world but also to improve it and hopes that her work is able to serve both purposes.

Trevor Hall | President, OPEN ROADS

An educator, writer and business consultant, Trevor Hall was the president of Creative Visions Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping individuals use media and the arts to create meaningful change. He holds a Master of Education degree from Harvard University, where he worked as the head teaching fellow for Dr. Robert Coles. He has also served as associate editor of DoubleTake Magazine, director of the Chicago Sister Cities International Program and founding director of Open Roads Creative (a business development consultancy) and Open Roads Academy (a summer program for low-income high-school students that combines outdoor travel with an immersion in the documentary arts).

Keely Badger | Human Rights & Impact Media Executive

Keely Badger is a millennial expert and advocate on international human rights and development issues. She serves as the Executive Director of Neda Nobari Foundation (NNF), a leading philanthropic organization dedicated to championing social and environmental justice through the arts and education. Through a bottom-up, community-driven and largely participatory grantmaking practice, the foundation works with over fifty nonprofit groups and leaders each year, pioneering durable solutions for underrepresented voices, communities and causes in alignment with the foundation’s focus areas: Holistic Education, Innovative Arts, Transparent Media, Earth Advocacy and Social Impact Cinema. Keely is also the Founder and CEO of 360 Media Consulting, a full-circle digital marketing agency for storytellers, change-makers, and brands working on the frontlines of social impact and innovation. Previously, Keely worked at internationally acclaimed nonprofit Human Rights Watch (HRW) as Associate of Development and Global Initiatives, documenting and exposing human rights abuses in over 90 countries around the world. She now serves as the youngest member of HRW’s Los Angeles Film Committee and the HRW Los Angeles Network of Young Professionals. Keely is a Next Generation member of the World Affairs Council and was a civil society Youth Observer for the World Programme of Action for Youth at the United Nations (UN). Keely holds a B.A. from the University of San Diego in Cross-Cultural Anthropology & Political Science, an M.A. from Dartmouth College in Globalization Studies, and an MSt./J.D. in International Human Rights Law from University of Oxford.

Vincent DeLuca | Director, Producer

Vincent DeLuca is an award-winning director and producer who works in narrative and documentary film, branded content, and commercials. Vincent directed the acclaimed documentary, Desert Angel, which won multiple awards, including best feature documentary at the Austin Film Festival and a jury award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. He produced and directed the short documentary Mile 19, which played festivals worldwide and was distributed by National Geographic. Vincent directed the 6-part series Open Roads, distributed by ABC Family Worldwide. Vincent executive produced The Sleeping Negro, (2021), which won the FIPRESCI award at IFF Mannheim Heidelberg. Vincent has a JD and an MA in political science from Duke University and a PhD focused on political cinema from the University of Amsterdam. He is on the board of trustees of myFace, an NYU-affiliate and the first and longest-running nonprofit dedicated to improving the lives of children and adults with facial differences. Vincent is a member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA).

Babita Patel | Humanitarian Photographer

Babita Patel is a humanitarian photographer documenting social issues around the world. She has covered criminal justice reform, education, gender equality, reproductive rights, veterans, disaster relief, and WASH programs. Her work has appeared on Forbes, The Guardian, HBO, NBC and PBS to name a few, and exhibited across the globe, including New York, Los Angeles and Lisbon. Babita is the founder and Executive Director of KIOO Project, an NGO that advances gender equality in economically challenged communities around the world by teaching photography to girls who, in turn, teach photography to boys. She is a PureWow100 Honoree.

Emilio Diez Barroso | Student JUDGE

Emilio Diez Barroso – Student Emilio is currently doing his first year of the International Baccalaureate in Switzerland, while he works and develops as a wellbeing ambassador. Emilio was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up between Mexico and the United States. Since Childhood Emilio has been involved in service, learning and engagement and directly exposed to the wide range of documentaries of the Social Impact Media Awards and this involvement has fueled his passion for social change and transformation through storytelling. Emilio shared, “SIMA’s documentaries have taught me about responsibility, effort, and solidarity. Being part of the SIMA jury makes me very proud and excited! It’s fantastic that they pay attention to young voices.”