Jan 26, 2024
Current Committee Members
John Cooper – Director Emeritus, Sundance Film Festival
A-lan Holt – Artist & Arts leader; Director at the Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford University
Kate MacKay – Associate Film Curator at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
Janis Plotkin – Senior Film Programmer Emerita, Mill Valley Film Festival, Executive Director Emerita, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
Rodrigo Reyes – Filmmaker; BAVC MediaMaker Fellowship Co-Director
Jonas Rivera – Producer, Pixar
Marcus Hu – Co-Founder/Co-President of Strand Releasing
Janis Plotkin – Senior Film Programmer Emerita, Mill Valley Film Festival, Executive Director Emerita, San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
Jessie Fairbanks, Director of Programming, and Rod Armstrong, Associate Director of Programming, on behalf of SFFILM (ex officio)
Prior Committee Members
Helena R. Foster
Maurice Kanbar
Philip Kaufman
Tom Luddy
Gary Meyer
Anita Monga
Rachel Rosen (ex officio)
Peter Scarlet
Past Awardees
Previous recipients of the Mel Novikoff Award are Roxie Theater (2025), Gary Meyer (2024), Firelight Media (2023), BBC Portrait Television Series Arena (2019), Annette Insdorf (2018), Tom Luddy (2017), Janus Films and the Criterion Collection (2016), Lenny Borger (2015), David Thomson (2014), Peter von Bagh (2013), Pierre Rissient (2012), Serge Bromberg (2011), Roger Ebert (2010), Bruce Goldstein (2009), Jim Hoberman (2008), Kevin Brownlow (2007), Anita Monga (2005), Paolo Cherchi Usai (2004), Manny Farber (2003), David Francis (2002), Cahiers du Cinéma (2001), San Francisco Cinematheque (2001), Donald Krim (2000), David Shepard (2000), Enno Patalas (1999), Adrienne Mancia (1998), Judy Stone (1997), Film Arts Foundation (1997), David Robinson (1996), Institut Lumière (1995), Naum Kleiman (1994), Andrew Sarris (1993), Jonas Mekas (1992), Pauline Kael (1991), Donald Richie (1990), USSR Filmmakers Association (1989), and Dan Talbot (1988).