EXCLUSIVE: New York International Children’s Film Festival has announced its 2025 jury, including Lake Bell, Seth Meyers, Bob Odenkirk, Matthew Modine and Guillermo Martinez, Director and Head of Story at Sony Pictures Animation. Scroll down for the full jury.
The Festival, closing its 29th edition this weekend, is an Oscar-qualifying festival for short films. NYICFF’s 2024 jury award-winning film Magic Candies qualified through last year’s event and was nominated for a 2025 Academy Award. In addition to Magic Candies, NYICFF screened Oscar nominee Yuck as part of its 2024 slate.
NYICFF also presented a preview screening of Best Animated Feature winner Flow, followed by a Q&A with co-writer and producer Matīss Kaža, last November, as well as Oscar nominees Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (with Q&A with director Merlin Crossingham) and The Wild Robot (with Q&A with director Chris Sanders and lead Lupita Nyong’o) as part of its year-round preview screening series in 2024.
NYICFF 2025 runs through March 16 with awards to be announced on March 19 on the festival’s social media platforms.
NYICFF 2025 Jury [provided by the festival]
Lake Bell
Actor, writer, director, and author of All About Brains: A Book About People
Guillermo Martinez
Director and Head of Story at Sony Pictures Animation
Seth Meyers
Emmy winning comedian and host of Late Night with Seth Meyers; author of I’m Not Scared, You’re Scared
Matthew Modine
Emmy nominated actor (Zero Day, Oppenheimer) and producer
Chris Nee
Emmy-winning writer, producer, and creator, Doc McStuffins
Bob Odenkirk
Emmy-winning writer, actor (Better Call Saul, Nobody), and author of best-selling children’s book Zilot and Other Important Rhymes!
Erin Odenkirk
Illustrator of best-selling children’s book Zilot and Other Important Rhymes! and former NYICFF intern
Ellen Su
Animation Director and Artistic Recruiter
Kay Wilson Stallings
Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Development and Production Officer for Sesame Workshop
