Jury

Rebecca Choi is a NY-based producer and the Head of Production & Development at Archer Gray with over 11 years at the company. A devoted cinephile with a passion for supporting singular storytellers, she manages a slate of projects from development through post-production, working in close collaboration with filmmakers and producing partners. She has contributed to films such as Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Searchlight), 20th Century Women (A24), Lost Girls (Netflix), and The Young Wife (Paramount/Republic Pictures), among others. Rebecca is also a 2026 Rotterdam Lab Fellow and an active member of the independent film community, regularly participating as a speaker/mentor for labs, workshops, and other filmmaker programs. Before joining the team at Archer Gray, she worked at Sony Pictures Television where she first discovered her love for development. Rebecca received her BA from Wesleyan University.

Rachel Cohen is an independent film producer who, since 2007, has been head of production at Ideal Partners. Recent projects include The Librarians, a feature documentary about the destructive book banning sweeping the USA, directed by Kim Snyder, which premiered at Sundance in 2025 and continues to screen nation-wide while  airing on ITVS/Independent Lens. Past films include the feature documentary Beyond Utopia about North Korean human rights abuses and defectors, whose numerous awards include the 2023 Sundance Audience Award for best documentary, the DuPont Journalism Award and was short-listed for the Oscars and received nominations for DGA, PGA, BAFTA and Emmy Awards; Idina Menzel: Which Way to the Stage? for Disney+; Katherine Dieckmann’s, Strange Weather; and The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete, directed by George Tillman, Jr. Currently in development is a biopic about iconic choreographer Alvin Ailey to be directed by Barry Jenkins and distributed by Searchlight; and Madeleine Gavin’s next feature documentary film. Ideal's films have been nominated for BAFTA, PGA, DGA, and Oscar Shortlist and won Independent Spirit and Humanitas Award among others. Prior to Ideal, Rachel was SVP of Development and Production at Tribeca Productions, and before that she spent seven years at Artisan Entertainment as SVP Development and Acquisitions where notable acquisitions included The Blair Witch Project She is a member of The Television Academy and The Producers Guild of America.

Brandon Harrison is the Executive Director of the Brooklyn Film Festival. He has worked as a Development Executive at Words + Pictures, curated features, shorts, and series at Nashville and Tribeca, and served on various documentary juries and committees. He is also currently a Senior Programmer at DOCNYC.

Hossein Keshavarz’s recent film, The Friend’s House is Here, won the Special Jury Award at Sundance this year. The Hollywood Reporter called it a “stirring drama” and Variety wrote it was a "sophisticated and heroic celebration,” calling Keshavarz a “modern day heir to virtuosos Panahi and Kiarostami.” His Independent Spirit Award nominated debut feature, Dog Sweat, was released to critical acclaim. NPR called it "astonishingly gutsy" and The New York Times said the film was "engaging, exalted by the particulars of its birth." It won Jury Awards at numerous festivals including Rome and Austin. He also associate produced the Sundance Audience Award winner, Circumstance. Keshavarz graduated with a MFA in Filmmaking from Columbia University and a BA in History from Northwestern University.

Gregory Zuk oversees all Physical Production and Post-Production at New York Based production company Likely Story, where he also develops and produces genre-driven projects. Some of his credits include Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things, William Oldroyd’s Eileen, and Tribeca Film Festival winner Alice Wu’s The Half of It. Next up will be Chloe Okuno’s gothic horror film Brides, which wrapped principal photography at the end of last year in Budapest. Prior to Likely Story, Gregory produced the cult genre hits Bone TomahawkK and Brawl in Cell Block 99.