Carrie Lozano (’05) named director of documentary film at Sundance

September 9, 2020

Dear Berkeley Journalism Community,

Today, the Sundance Institute announced that it is naming Carrie Lozano to the position of director of its documentary film program. Please join me in congratulating Carrie on her appointment to one of the most important and prestigious positions in documentary film in the world.

Award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist Carrie Lozano.

As many of you know, Carrie (‘05) has been a pillar in Berkeley Journalism’s documentary film program in recent years, teaching the history of documentary film and co-teaching in the documentary thesis track. She had been serving as managing editor of documentaries at the Investigative Reporting Program. And she is a key member of the Advisory Board of our school.

Carrie will continue to serve on our Advisory Board, but will be stepping down from her other roles at Berkeley Journalism to assume her huge new job at Sundance. While we will miss her energy, talent, passion and compassion more than we can fully express, we are thrilled that she will continue to support our school on the Advisory Board and so proud that our alumna will have a leading role at Sundance.

Geeta Anand
Interim Dean
Professor of Journalism

Below is a note from Carrie to our community:

Dear J-School colleagues and students,

I’m writing to let you know that this morning Sundance will announce that I am taking on a new role as Director of its Documentary Film Program. I share this news with you excited for this next chapter, but also feeling deep sadness about leaving the International Documentary Association and the J-School. I was not looking to move on when Sundance first reached out, and initially, I was not sure whether I would pursue the role. But following several conversations with the Sundance leadership, BIPOC leaders in the field, filmmakers and funders, I was inspired to accept this opportunity at a critical moment for the field and for press freedoms at large. I’m very grateful for the enthusiastic support I received from David Barstow, Geeta Anand and Janice Hui as I contemplated this move.

As many of you know, I joined the J-School as a lecturer several years ago to support Orlando Bagwell’s transition, and it has been a wonderful experience to work with such talented colleagues and students. It was also my great honor to work with David Barstow as he took the helm of the IRP and to contribute to the NYT-COVID reporting project. I strongly believe that journalists are an essential service, and I’m so proud that the school and students stepped forward to enhance and deepen pandemic reporting. I will miss the IRP, the doc program, the students and the school, but am thrilled to remain on the advisory board. With David leading the IRP, Jennifer Redfearn leading the doc program and Geeta as interim dean, I’m so excited for the future of the school.

Thank you all for your camaraderie along the way, wishing you the best during this unprecedented academic year.

With warm regards,

Carrie Lozano
Class of 2005

Note: Carrie Lozano is a two-time graduate of UC Berkeley. She received her BA in 1996 from the College of Letters & Science majoring in film, and her MJ from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. She was also a post-graduate fellow at Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program from 2008–2009. In 2019, she was named to The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.