2023 Governors Awards profile: Sundance’s Michelle Satter to receive Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award

Matthew Stewart
·3 min read
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Two decades after winning the 1981 Best Director Oscar for “Ordinary People,” Robert Redford was given an honorary Academy Award for being an “inspiration to independent and innovative filmmakers everywhere.” He was partly chosen for this tribute because of his work as the founder and president of the Sundance Institute, which has fostered the growth of emerging creatives for over 40 years. Now, one of his original Sundance colleagues, founding senior director Michelle Satter, has been named the next recipient of the academy’s prestigious Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

Along with Angela Bassett, Mel Brooks, and Carol Littleton, Satter is set to be recognized at the upcoming 14th annual Governors Awards. In a press statement, academy president Janet Yang referred to Satter as “a pillar of the independent film community” and said she “has played a vital role in the careers of countless filmmakers around the world.” She is the 10th woman to achieve the Hersholt honor, directly following actress and gender representation advocate Geena Davis (2019).

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After building her career foundation as a Boston-based event and public relations director, Satter joined the Sundance staff in the summer of 1981. She soon became the founding director of the non-profit institute’s feature film program and created its filmmakers labs, which continue to provide promising writers and directors with valuable in-person opportunities and resources to help shape their passion projects. Even when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States, Satter kept the labs running by founding the digital platform Sundance Collab.

Among those who have attended the filmmakers labs and received direct support from Satter early in their careers are Oscar winners Quentin Tarantino (“Pulp Fiction”), Damien Chazelle (“La La Land”), Taika Waititi (“Jojo Rabbit”), Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”), and Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”). Specific films she has helped workshop include Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” (1992), Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Hard Eight” (1996), Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “Love & Basketball” (2000), and Ryan Coogler’s “Fruitvale Station” (2013).

Over the years, Satter has lifted the voices of storytellers around the world by leading several of Sundance’s international initiatives, including those in Latin America and the Middle East. Her ever-growing list of accolades includes special awards from the Women in Film Organization, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award is given to honor “an individual in the motion picture arts and sciences whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.” Its namesake served as president of the academy for four years and of the Motion Picture & Television Fund for 18. It has been bestowed 43 times since 1957, with the last recipient having been Michael J. Fox in 2022. With the exception of the 93rd Oscars in 2021, the award has been presented since 2009 at a separate ceremony that takes place several months before the same year’s main event. Satter and the honorary awardees will collect their trophies on November 18, 2023.

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