Jury

Alissa Simon

Senior programmer for the Palm Springs International Film Festival and a programmer for the Chicago International Film Festival, Alissa has been a film curator for more than 25 years, and was named 1999’s ‘Chicagoan of the Year’ for her innovative work as Associate Director/Programming at the Film Center of the School of the Art Institute. After earning a B.A. in British Studies from Yale, an M.A. in Film History and Criticism from the University of Iowa, and a M.A. in Arts Administration from the School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she began her programming career at the Film Department of Walker Art Center, moving on to the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House. Alissa has served on numerous international film festival juries and writes about films, filmmakers and film festivals for the trade paper Variety.