The Sundance Institute has tapped award-winning documentary filmmaker Carrie Lozano to helm the organization’s Documentary Film Program.

Lozano (pictured) will succeed interim director Kristin Feeley, who replaced former director Tabitha Jackson, when she joins Sundance Institute on Oct. 1 as director of its Documentary Film Program.

In the role, she will be responsible for supporting non-fiction filmmakers worldwide throughout the creation and distribution process on their new works.

Reporting into Sundance Institute executive director Keri Putnam, Lozano will also be tasked with advancing the indie documentary field by ensuring that “diverse forms, viewpoints and participants” continue to be central to all Institute programs, including Sundance Labs, global and national partnerships and film funds.

Sundance Labs director Feeley and film fund director Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs will report to Lozano.

Lozano joins the Institute from the International Documentary Association, where she co-founded the IDA’s Enterprise Documentary Fund. As the fund’s director, Lozano helped support several non-fiction filmmakers over the last four years, with an emphasis on journalistic rigor, diversity and inclusion.

Prior to boarding the IDA, she led the Bay Area Video Coalition’s National MediaMaker Fellowship and was an executive and senior producer at Al Jazeera America. She additionally serves on the boards of non-profit prodcos Kartemquin Films, Swell Cinema and The Free History Project.

Lozano has directed and executive produced a number of feature-length films, including her 2016 film The Ballad of Fred Hersch, The Interpreters, The Weather Underground and Fault Lines.

“As a filmmaker and field leader, she is a fierce advocate for independent voices, a thoughtful contributor to solving the most urgent challenges facing non-fiction artists, and deeply committed to the values of justice and equity,” said Putnam in a statement. “Carrie’s experience and perspective will be invaluable to the Documentary Film Program and the Institute’s leadership team.”

“On the precipice of a new, undetermined era, it feels fitting and exciting to join the Sundance Institute right now,” added Lozano. “Despite the pain and loss so many are feeling, this is a transformative moment, and I’m eager to harness its energy toward a more just and equitable field to support and develop artists who truly reflect the world around us. As such, it’s urgent to elevate and safeguard global independent voices who are at the core of Sundance’s mission and so essential to the highest democratic ideals.”

Photo credit Don Loeb