Tabitha Jackson

Tabitha Jackson has spent the last 30 years supporting the independent voice, championing the social and cultural power of artful nonfiction, and furthering the mission of uplifting a more expansive set of makers, audiences, and forms. Most recently as the first woman and person of color to be appointed Director of Sundance Film Festival she re-imagined and led two technologically innovative and radically accessible pandemic editions that expanded the possibilities of what a film festival can be, and who it can be for. Between 2013 and 2020 she headed the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program rethinking traditional project support in favor of more artist-centered models and advocating for institutional support of formal innovation in nonfiction cinema. Tabitha’s research will focus on the formal, ethical and democratic implications of Independent Documentary, especially as it pertains to institutional support.