Maite Alberdi is leading the way in filmmaking… And, now she’s being recognized for it.

The 40-year-old Chilean film producer, director, documentarian, screenwriter and film critic will be honored by the Sundance Institute.

Alberdi will receive the Vanguard Award during the institute’s opening-night gala that will kick off the Sundance Film Festival’s 40th edition on January 18.

The Vanguard Awards honor artists whose work highlights the art of storytelling and creative independence in both nonfiction and fiction.

The Vanguard Award for Nonfiction will go to Alberdi, who directed The Eternal Memory. The film follows the relationship of Chilean journalist Augusto Góngora and Chilean actress Paulina Urrutia. It premiered last year at Sundance and received the World Cinema Documentary Jury Prize.

She was the first Chilean woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for The Mole Agent, which premiered at Sundance 2020.

Alberdi has a long history with the festival: She received a Sundance Documentary Film Grant in 2013 and 2016 and served on the jury for the 2019 World Documentary Competition.

Other honorees include Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan, who will be honored with the first Sundance Institute Trailblazer Award, and Celine Song will also receive the Vanguard Award for Fiction.

The annual opening-night gala raises money for the nonprofit’s labs, grants and public programming. The Sundance Film Festival runs January 18-28 in Park City and Salt Lake City and online from January 25-28.