2026 Ready, Set, Pitch!

Hajnal Molnar-Szakacs is the Director of Artist Accelerator at the Sundance Institute where she heads up development of a comprehensive funding strategy across the Institute’s Artist Programs and oversees nearly $4M in yearly granting and fellowships. She oversees multidisciplinary initiatives focused on creating opportunities for artists to address equity, sustainability and access issues. Hajnal is committed to tackling the power imbalance between funders and filmmakers, and has passionately led initiatives to increase transparency and accountability in grantmaking and artist support. Hajnal is an active member of the independent film community and serves as an advisor for international film festivals, pitch forums and funds and is an active panelist and lecturer. She holds a MSc in Public Management and a Bachelor of International Business and German. Originally from Romania with Hungarian roots, Hajnal is currently based in Venice, California. 

Masashi Niwano has been the Director of Artist Development at SFFILM since 2021. He focuses his time on supporting global filmmakers through a slate of grants, artist support and fellowships. He is also the current Festival Director of the River and Redwoods Film Festival, located in Monte Rio. For over a decade, Masashi Niwano was the Festival & Exhibitions Director at the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), one of the premier media arts organizations that amplifies Asian and Asian American storytelling. Prior to his time with CAAM, he was the Executive Director of the Austin Asian American Film Festival (AAAFF). Masashi’s life mission is to support the diverse mediamaking community, especially filmmakers from historically underserved communities.

In addition to being the Executive Director of FilmNorth, the leading filmmaker support organization in the Upper Midwest, Andrew serves as Director of Programming for the Provincetown International Film Festival, a position he’s held since 2006. From 2008-2012 Andrew served as Vice President of Production for Werc Werk Works, an independent film production and finance company, where he co-produced the feature films Howl (Sundance Opening Night 2010), Life During Wartime (Venice, Toronto, New York 2009), Thin Ice (Sundance 2011), and Darling Companion (Sony Pictures Classics, 2011). His other producing credits include World and Time Enough, Older Than America and the segment “This Car Up” for Boys Life 4: Four Play. Andrew holds an MFA from New York University Graduate Film School, where he was named Best Director and Best Screenwriter, and has taught filmmaking at Macalester and Middlebury Colleges. He regularly consults independent films and film festivals.

Jun Stinson Yamagishi is a Supervising Producer at ITVS where she oversees a slate of documentaries and docuseries for public media. Some of the ITVS-funded projects she’s worked on include the documentaries TheyDream and Jaripeo that premiered at Sundance 2026, and the YouTube series Ritual Season 2, co-produced with Louisiana Public Broadcasting for Independent Lens and PBS Digital Studios. She has a track record producing high-impact documentaries and series for streaming, broadcast and social media. Her past work can be seen on Showtime, Netflix and The New Yorker. Jun was an early hire at AJ+, where she produced the award-winning YouTube series Untold America and Direct From. She also directed the documentary Futbolistas 4 Life. Projects she’s worked on have garnered a Sundance NEXT Special Jury Award for Creative Expression, Edward R. Murrow and Sports Emmy.