The Annual Sundance Film Festival recently named Yance Ford ’94 a juror for their 112th festival. Starting next week, Ford will serve as a juror in the U.S. documentary category– one of seven juried categories. After his success at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, Ford, alongside other successful members of the film industry, will help decide the victors for this year.
Yance Ford is an Academy Award-nominated, Emmy-winning director based in New York City. A graduate of Hamilton and the Third World Newsreel Production Workshop, Ford is a fellow of both Sundance Institute and MacDowell Colony. The Root 100 has also named Ford among the most influential African Americans of 2017, and he was honored with the IDA Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award.
Ford’s debut film, Strong Island, won the Sundance Film Festival’s U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for storytelling, in addition to a large variety of other awards. At Cinema Eye Honors, Strong Island became the first nominee to ever win best in direction, debut, and feature. Ford also made history as the first transgender director nominated for an Oscar. Hamilton College recently hosted a viewing party for Strong Island, where Ford held a talk and fielded questions about the film.
Related
- Winter 2017 Hamilton magazine article: Justice for Injustice Through Art
