Woodstock Film Festival names Jessica Edwards as new executive director

Woodstock Film Festival has handed its top job to Jessica Edwards.

Edwards was named executive director at the 27th edition of the festival, succeeding co-founder Meira Blaustein, as reported by Deadline on 18 October 2026. The announcement closed a festival that also handed out its annual Maverick Awards, the prizes that decide the event's competitive winners.

Blaustein had led the festival since co-founding it in 2000. She was honoured on stage during this year's edition with a special Honorary Maverick Award, according to Deadline.

Edwards takes the full title of Executive and Artistic Director. She is a Peabody Award-winning director, producer and distribution consultant who had served as the festival's documentary programmer, the person who selects non-fiction films for the line-up.

The top narrative prize went to Mouse, directed by Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson. It won the Gigantic Pictures Award for Best Feature Narrative. The top documentary prize, the Leon Gast Award for Best Feature Documentary, went to Rehearsals for a Revolution, directed by Pegah Ahangarani.

Washed Up, directed by Isabel Moncloa Daly, won the Gray Schwartz Ultra Indie Award, given for low-budget independent work. Short-film honours went to Dongmei, directed by Rubing Zhang, for Best Short Narrative, and to They're Here, directed by Laura Poitras and Rachel Lauren Mueller, for Best Short Documentary. Saba, directed by Liron Topaz, won Best Animation.

Local and craft prizes spread widely. Rain Reign, directed by Erika Burke Rossa, took two awards: the Laurent Rejto Made in the Hudson Valley Award and the NYWIFT Award for Excellence in Directing a Narrative Film. Our Dark Horse, directed by Grace Barry, won the companion NYWIFT Award for Excellence in Directing a Documentary Film.

Seized, directed by Sharon Liese, won the World of Ha Changemaker Award. Nuisance Bear, directed by Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden, won the Haskell Wexler Award for Best Cinematography, the prize for camera work.

What makes this stand out is continuity. Edwards steps up from inside the programming team as Blaustein steps back after 26 years. For audiences, the names on the door change, but the autumn slot in Woodstock, New York stays the same.