Tabitha Jackson

Tabitha Jackson was named director of Film Forum, the four-screen nonprofit arthouse cinema in Manhattan, effective February 23, 2026. An industry veteran with over 30 years of experience in independent and non-profit media, Jackson joins Film Forum after two years of research fellowships with MIT Open Documentary Lab, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, along with a Rockefeller Foundation residency.

Jackson is the first woman, person of colour and person born outside the US to become Sundance Film Festival's Director. She was named director of the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 and steered the event through the global pandemic, overseeing two fully digital festivals that took advantage of the format's expanded reach, tripling the festival audience, establishing partnerships with independent arthouse cinemas, and increasing access for historically underrepresented communities. She first joined the Sundance Institute in 2013 as head of its Documentary Film Program.

Career history

• Director, Sundance Film Festival (2020-2022); served as executive producer on Film4 projects including Bart Layton's The Imposter, Mark Cousins' The Story of Film, and Clio Barnard's The Arbor
• Commissioning Editor, Arts at Channel 4 and Editor of More4 (2008-2012); worked at BBC Television as director and assistant producer (1994-2000)
• Director of Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program (2013-2020)
• Head of Documentary Film Program at Sundance Institute (joined 2013)

Jackson received a Bachelor degree from UCL. She is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and served three terms on the Documentary Branch Executive Committee.

What Tabitha Jackson could bring to Film Forum: Drawing from her track record of championing documentary storytelling and expanding audience access at Sundance, Jackson is well-positioned to strengthen Film Forum's reputation for bold curation and repertory programming. Her experience leading major institutions through digital transformation and her commitment to supporting diverse makers and alternative voices suggest she will deepen Film Forum's role as a vital space for independent cinema and community engagement in New York.