New York Film Festival Director Eugene Hernandez Exiting To Join Sundance Institute As Festival Director And Head Of Public Programming

deadline.com:

Eugene Hernandez has been set as the next Director of the Sundance Film Festival, as well as the Sundance Institute’s Head of Public Programming.

The film and media industry veteran joins the Institute as its fourth official Festival Director after spending 12 years at Film at Lincoln Center, most recently as Senior Vice President of FLC, Executive Director of the New York Film Festival and publisher of Film Comment.In his new role, Hernandez will shape the Institute’s year-round public programming globally and locally, both physically and digitally, championing the social and cultural role and rights of artists, and developing programs to foster dialogue and community with Sundance-supported work at the center.

He will also lead the planning and execution of the Festival, working with senior leaders across the organization — including Director of Programming, Kim Yutani — on both the in-person and online elements of the marquee event.Hernandez joins Sundance Institute’s core leadership team this November, reporting to CEO Joana Vicente.

He will be based between the Institute’s New York and Los Angeles offices, while also working in the Park City office. While Vicente will lead the upcoming 2023 Festival, working closely with Yutani and other members of the Institute’s leadership team, Hernandez’s first Festival leading as Director will be in 2024, for Sundance’s 40th edition.“It’s a full circle moment as Eugene has been inextricably connected to Sundance for more than 25 years, ever since he came to the Festival in the mid-1990s to build Indiewire, an online community for indie film.