AAFF Announces Jurors for the 61st Festival

The Ann Arbor Film Festival (AAFF) is excited to announce the jurors for our 61st festival! The panel consists of accomplished artists Amir George and Christine Panushka and Koyo Yamashita, a film programmer and festival director. The three jurors will attend the six-day festival, viewing all 108 films in competition and awarding approximately $23,000 in cash and in-kind awards. In addition, each juror will present a specially curated program of work during the festival.

Jurors for the 61st Ann Arbor Film Festival: Amir George, Christine Panushka, and Koyo Yamashita

Juror Amir George is an award-winning filmmaker based in Chicago and the artistic director of Kartemquin Films. As an artist, George creates spiritual stories, juxtaposing sound and image into an experience of non-linear perception. George’s films have screened at institutions and film festivals including the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London), Anthology Film Archives (New York), the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, and the BlackStar Film Festival (Philadelphia) among others. A program of George’s work will screen on FRI 3/25 at 1pm.

Juror Christine Panushka is an internationally known artist, filmmaker/animator, and educator. Her films have won numerous awards including the Grand Prize at the Aspen Filmfest. Panushka was jury chair at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival, has curated many animation programs, and has served on the selection committees for numerous animation festivals. She is professor emerita in expanded animation: research + practice at the University of Southern California. A program of Panushka’s work will screen on THU 3/24 at 1pm.

Born in Tokyo, Japan, juror Koyo Yamashita is the director of the Image Forum Festival (Japan) and the programmer of the Theater Image Forum (Tokyo). He has been a guest programmer/curator for many film and media art festivals and events around the world such as Transmediale (Berlin), Bozar (Brussels), and Arkipel International Documentary and Experimental Film Festival (Jakarta). He has served on juries for many international film festivals, including Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, and the Rotterdam International Film Festival. A program of work curated by Yamashita will screen on WED 3/23 at 1pm.

We are so excited to share the 108 films in competition with them (and with all of you!) at the 61st AAFF in person and online March 21-26 (online through March 29). See you in Ann Arbor or at our online Festival!

Visit aafilmfest.org now for in-person and online Festival Passes, and mark your calendar for March 1 when we announce the full list of films in competition and offer the full array of tickets for all Festival programs.