JUDGES

Abiram Brizuela is a Venezuelan-born arts executive and a multidisciplinary artist whose work straddles theater, film, music, and themed entertainment. Before joining The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company as its Executive Director, Abiram served as Director of Artist Community at the Sundance Institute, overseeing a community of over 20,000 independent artists emerging from the world-famous Sundance Film Festival as well as the institute’s ongoing programs, grants, and funds.

Since 2007, Abiram has worked as a Director and Composer on more than 30 international productions, including Wartime Stories to Sleep in Peace by Karin Valecillos, winner of the Municipal Theatre Award for Best Original Score in 2008, and an ambitious adaptation of Jules Verne’s Journey To The Center Of The Earth, winner of three Municipal Theatre Awards for Best Director, Best Original Score, and Best Children’s Play in 2010.

Since relocating to the United States in 2010, Abiram has led multiple arts education programs, including Miami Music Project, MusicWorks, and The Harmony Project, has served as an advisor and keynote speaker for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and El Sistema USA and continues his support for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the arts through his work with Peter Golub at the Film Music Lab as well as Antigravity Academy with actor Kelly Marie Tran and Academy Award nominee, Carlos Lopez Estrada.

Alison Foreman is a Features Writer at IndieWire covering and critiquing TV, film, and trends in Hollywood. Foreman describes herself as a journalist with a passion for blood, spectacle, and basic human decency. She's also the mad genius behind the midnight movie column IndieWire After Dark, offering fringe cinema selections for the streaming age late on weekends.

Follow Alison Foreman on X, Instagram, and other platforms @alfaforeman.

Álvar Carretero de la Fuente is a publicist and a film producer. Currently, he holds the position of Director of Awards & Global PR at the Joshua Jason Public Relations (JJPR) agency in Los Angeles. Since 2014, he has worked on the strategy and execution of over 120 promotion campaigns for the Oscars®, Golden Globes®, and various festivals.

Jesse Knight is a Los Angeles-based film festival programmer, writer, copy editor and roller skater. His festival and film society contributions include Palm Springs International ShortFest, AFI Fest, San Francisco International, Sundance Institute, Palm Springs International, Frameline, and many others. His repertory programming includes The Royal Cinema in Toronto, and The Capitol Theater in Olympia, WA. 

His rollerskating contributions include anywhere, so look out.

Julia Aks is an Oscar®-nominated writer/director, actor, and opera singer born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, CA. Her creative work spans plays, musicals, Shakespeare, TV, film, operas, and social media. 

She rose to internet fame when her parody music video of Ariana Grande’s ‘7 Rings’ went viral, even being posted by Ariana herself. Combining her loves of sketch comedy, pop culture, and uncanny Julie Andrews impression, she created a successful YouTube brand all her own. 

In 2023, Julia stepped into narrative filmmaking when she co-wrote/directed and starred in Jane Austen’s Period Drama, a 13-minute narrative satire about menstruation. The film was nominated for an Academy Award® in the Live Action Short category at the 98th Academy Awards.

Rob Munday is a short film programmer & journalist, the managing editor at Short of the Week, and the Co-founder of Directors Notes.

Saagar Shaikh is an actor and writer, known for Deli Boys (2025), Ms. Marvel (2022) and The Marvels (2023).