Sundance Film Festival 2012: Meet the Jurors

Everyone who's everyone in the film industry has descended on Park City, Utah, where the 2012 Sundance Film Festival kicked off Thursday.

While the festival is a playground for potential buyers looking to snap up the next big hit, the films competing for the prestige of a Grand Jury Prize are the real draw for everyone else.

Top Sundance honors -- which can boost ticket sales and an artist's visibility -- are selected by a panel of five jurors. (The Audience Award is chosen by popular vote.)

The majority of this year's juror pool has had a film at Sundance in the past, and two - director Lynn Shelton ("Humpday") and composer Cliff Martinez -- also have films screening at this year's festival, in the out-of-competition category.

Although the judges page on the official Sundance website is a bit of out date, Indiewire took notes when the jury announcement was made earlier this month.

Below are the jurors for the domestic films at this year's festival. Stay tuned for introductions to the World jurors.

U.S. DRAMATIC JURY

Justin Lin - The Taiwan-born UCLA alum's directorial debut "Better Luck Next Time" was nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 2002. Lin has gone on to direct four films in the Fast and Furious franchise, along with multiple episodes of the TV comedy series Community.

Anthony Mackie - The Julliard graduate appeared in "Brother to Brother," which was awarded the Special Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. He starred alongside Jeremy Renner in Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar-winning war drama, The Hurt Locker.

Cliff Martinez - The former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer scored "sex, lies, and videotape" in 1989, and more recently composed the score for Drive and Arbitrage -- which is premiering at this year's festival.

Lynn Shelton - The actress-turned-director took home a Sundance Special Grand Jury Prize in 2009 for "Humpday." Her latest film, "Your Sister's Sister," is screening in the Spotlight (non-competition) section at the 2012 festival.

Amy Vincent - The esteemed cinematographer won the Sundance Film Festival Cinematography Award for "Hustle & Flow" in 2005.

U.S. DOCUMENTARY JURY

Fenton Bailey -- the writer-director-producer made his Sundance Film Festival debut in 1998 with the documentary "Party Monster." More recently, he executive produced the documentary "Becoming Chaz."

Shari Springer Berman -- the writer/director won the 2003 Sundance Grand Jury Prize for "American Splendor," and was recently nominated for an Emmy with co-director Robert Pulcini for their work on "Cinema Verite."

Heather Croall -- The developer of MeetMarket is also the Director for Sheffield Doc/Fest, a prestigious documentary event in the UK.

Charles Ferguson - The Academy Award-winning director and producer of "Inside Job" won a Sundance Special Jury Prize in 2007 for his first documentary, "No End In Sight: The American Occupation of Iraq."

Kim Roberts -- The documentary editor has worked on "Waiting For Superman," and "Food, Inc.," along with "Daughter from Danang" and "Long Night's Journey into Day," which both won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize (in 2000 and 2002, respectively).

SHORT FILM JURY

Mike Judge -- The creator of "Beavis and Butt-Head" and "King of the Hill" has also worked in live-action as a writer and director ("Office Space," "Idiocracy," and "Extract").

Dee Rees - The Sundance Institute Directing Lab Fellow. She's written and directed several films including the award-winning "Pariah," which premiered in the U.S Dramatic competition at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Shane Smith - Smith was a Short Film Programmer for the Sundance Film Festival from 2006-2010 and for six years was the Director of the Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival.