Eugene Hernandez Joins Sundance As Pageant Director, Programming Head – Deadline

Eugene Hernandez has been set as the following Director of the Sundance Film Festival, in addition to the Sundance Institute’s Head of Public Programming. The movie and media trade veteran joins the Institute as its fourth official Pageant Director after spending 12 years at Movie at Lincoln Middle, most not too long ago as Senior Vice President of FLC, Government Director of the New York Movie Pageant and writer of Movie Remark.

In his new position, Hernandez will form the Institute’s year-round public programming globally and regionally, each bodily and digitally, championing the social and cultural position and rights of artists, and growing applications to foster dialogue and group with Sundance-supported work on the middle. He will even lead the planning and execution of the Pageant, working with senior leaders throughout the group — together with Director of Programming, Kim Yutani — on each the in-person and on-line components of the marquee occasion.

Hernandez joins Sundance Institute’s core management group this November, reporting to CEO Joana Vicente. He shall be based mostly between the Institute’s New York and Los Angeles places of work, whereas additionally working within the Park Metropolis workplace. Whereas Vicente will lead the upcoming 2023 Pageant, working intently with Yutani and different members of the Institute’s management group, Hernandez’s first Pageant main as Director shall be in 2024, for Sundance’s fortieth version.

“It’s a full circle second as Eugene has been inextricably related to Sundance for greater than 25 years, ever since he got here to the Pageant within the mid-Nineties to construct Indiewire, an internet group for indie movie. He’s been on the forefront of supporting impartial artists and deeply invested within the careers of storytellers and the sphere as a complete,” stated Vicente. “I’m thrilled that he would be the subsequent Pageant Director and that he’s becoming a member of the Institute’s management group. I stay up for working intently with him as he leads the Pageant and builds out our public programming — shaping important conversations all 12 months spherical, supporting our artist group, and increasing the probabilities for Sundance audiences and artists alike. He joins at a important time within the trade for impartial filmmakers when the Institute has by no means performed a extra vital position for artists, audiences, and the sphere in whole.”

“Supporting impartial artists has all the time been the bedrock of the Institute and the gas behind the Pageant. The truth that we have now been in a position to maintain true to this core function is a testomony to the vitality of the Institute and to the Pageant’s platform as a spot to find new movies, concepts, and artists,” stated Sundance Institute founder, Robert Redford. “For nearly three many years, Eugene has been engaged on a parallel path with lots of the similar values and aims in thoughts. I’m so happy to have him function our new Pageant Director, serving to to assist a brand new era of artists, and taking us into the following decade of Sundance’s story.”

“Sundance’s many years of management, championing inventive discovery and impartial expression, was a landmark catalyst in my life. Almost 30 years in the past, on the lookout for route and curious, I went to the Sundance Movie Pageant for the primary time. I instantly related with its mission, and it modified my life,” added Hernandez. “I’m each energized and humbled to simply accept this chance to hitch Sundance. Supporting artists has been on the middle of my profession’s work, and for the final twelve years, I’ve had the privilege of rising and studying at Movie at Lincoln Middle and the New York Movie Pageant. I’m prepared for this inspiring problem and distinctive alternative to interact artists and audiences at Sundance, work with its best-in-the-business group, and observe within the footsteps of remarkable leaders.”

Hernandez at present leads the New York Movie Pageant as Pageant Director and can depart after this 12 months’s version, happening from September 30–October 16. He assumed the place in 2020 and, for the previous three years, has helped the fest navigate the brand new regular of the Covid pandemic, final 12 months bringing NYFF again to cinemas at Lincoln Middle and round New York.

Hernandez joined Movie at Lincoln Middle in 2010 as Director of Digital Technique, and commenced main technique and particular applications for the group in 2014, when he was promoted to Deputy Director. Earlier than becoming a member of the FLC, Hernandez co-founded and served because the Editor-in-Chief of Deadline’s sister web site, IndieWire. He’s a Member-at-Giant of the Academy of Movement Image Arts and Sciences and serves on the board of advisors for SXSW, SeriesFest and Artwork Home Convergence, which Sundance has supported. Moreover, he has labored extensively as a advisor for a number of nonprofits, written for main print and on-line publications, and yearly participates within the worldwide movie pageant circuit as a panelist and a juror.

Discovered by Redford in 1981, the Sundance Institute is the champion and curator of impartial tales behind the Sundance Movie Pageant, which takes place every January in Park Metropolis, UT. Its signature Labs, granting and mentorship applications, devoted to growing new work, happen all year long within the U.S. and internationally. The 2023 version of the Sundance Movie Pageant will happen from January 19-29.