Writing Experience

I am an award-winning journalist, critic, and commentator. My writing spans various formats, including capsule and full-length reviews, essays, reported features, and scripts.

I primarily write about movies and the film industry, but my work broadly spans arts and culture. For example, in 2025 I reported on federal funding cuts to the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities. The 4,000+ word piece (“Lowering the Curtain”) was a finalist for a 2026 Peter Lisagor Award and won the 2026 AAN Award for Best Long Form Arts Feature. I was awarded the 2025 Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA)/Rotten Tomatoes Emerging Critics Grant and was accepted as a member of the CFCA in 2026.

My writing has been featured in various online and print publications, including the Chicago Reader, Indiewire, In Review Online, RogerEbert.com, Autostraddle, Slate, and The Boston Globe.

As seen in…

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Spotlight

Chicago Reader: Lowering the curtain

Trump’s brutal cuts to federal arts funding demonstrate the vulnerability of a culture sector tied to state ideology. How will Chicago artists and presenters rebuild? July 16, 2025

Award Recognition:

2026 Peter Lisagor Award Finalist - Best Arts and Entertainment Reporting (small or medium print/online)

2026 AAN Award Finalist - Arts Feature (Long Form)

“The idea of a ‘nonprofit industrial complex’ may sound like a metaphor, but the Trump administration seems hell-bent on making it bluntly literal. The Revolution Will Not Be Funded warned of the danger of getting in bed with the feds precisely because they can do what they’re trying to do right now. The slashing of federal budgets is explicitly intended to force nonprofits to conform to the administration’s ideology if they don’t want to risk losing the funds they need to survive.”

Reported Features

Palacios Para La Gente | Chicago Reader | Cover Story

Most of Chicago’s dedicated Spanish-language movie theaters have disappeared, but the histories and cultures that they encompassed are worth remembering. (June 20, 2024)

“While former movie palaces have often been the center of architectural preservation efforts in Chicago, initiatives to preserve the memories that occupy each theater are scarcer.”

Read “Palacios para la gente” at the Chicago Reader.


Zoe Saldaña’s ‘Emilia Pérez’ Defense at the Oscars Raises Key Questions About Mexican Cinema: Hear from Those Fighting to Save It | Indiewire

IndieWire speaks to Latin American programmers, curators, and filmmakers about the restoration efforts redefining Mexico's past cinema — and paving its future for films like "Sujo," rejected at the Oscars. (March 5, 2024)

Read the Indiewire piece on Mexican cinema.


Coming soon—to a theater near you? | Chicago Reader

Both chain and indie theaters are limited by accessibility and distribution, but the local scene is ready to adapt. (December 1, 2023)

“It is sometimes said that every map of Chicago is the same map. The reverberations of redlining and segregation in the city inevitably display themselves in most reported metrics, including income levels, pollution, access to public transportation, housing, and even voting patterns. Movie theaters may not be an issue as detrimental as the inequalities that divide Chicago’s communities, but the waning of their presence mirrors larger issues of economic opportunity in the city, community investment, and access to recreation and culture throughout Chicago.”

Read “Coming Soon—To a Theater Near You?” at the Chicago Reader.


Explore a century of follies and film at the Elmhurst History Museum | Chicago Reader | Cover Story

A new exhibit on movie theater history and local industry runs through January 5. (October 2, 2024)

“Travel west of Chicago, though, and there are a few places that have withstood time: movie theaters. In fact, Oak Park’s Lake Theatre, Downers Grove’s Tivoli Theatre, and Elmhurst’s York Theatre are three of the oldest operating cinemas in the Chicagoland region, and they have a total of 284 years in operation between them. The York—the oldest of these three—celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.”

Read the Elmhurst History Museum piece at the Chicago Reader.


Celebrate one hundred years of Black History Month with local film programming | Chicago Reader

Through February, the Music Box Theatre, Facets, and other institutions will host special screenings that feature Black filmmakers and culture. (February 9, 2026)

“This Black History Month, Chicago-based film programmer and curator Tyler Michael Balentine is ensuring that Chicago’s rich but underappreciated community of Black filmmakers receives the spotlight.”

Read about Black History Month film programming at the Chicago Reader.


Celebrate community with Cariño Festival de Cine | Chicago Reader

The third annual film festival will continue to honor the legacy of its namesake by supporting local emerging filmmakers. (November 12, 2024)

“This year’s program features ten short films that exhibit an impressive range of talent and imagination through a mix of narrative and experimental approaches.”

Read about the Cariño Festival de Cine at the Chicago Reader.

Essays

Who Will Remember You?: “The Secret Agent” and the Humanities as Resistance | RogerEbert.com

“‘The Secret Agent,’ more pointedly, is a movie about authoritarianism’s methodic persecution of the humanities as a field that documents, preserves, and deciphers collective memory.” (March 6, 2026)

Read my essay on The Secret Agent.


Wool Over Our Eyes: The Enduring Relevance of Michael Mann’s The Insider | In Review Online

“If there is anything The Insider could foresee, it wasn’t the age-old story of Titans of Industry wielding power against whistleblowers, but the troubling limitations of journalism — and quite possibly all American systems allegedly designed to do good — to do no more than run by Industry’s playbook in order to sell information as a product.” (September 30, 2025)

Read my essay on The Insider.


An ode to the Onscreen Handjob | Chicago Reader

“Much fuss has been made about the state of the sex scene; undoubtedly, sex, eroticism, and sensuality have declined in cinema. What is lost is more than titillation, but crucial information about character, relationship, and theme that can’t—and shouldn’t—always be limited to words.” (August 20, 2025)

Read my essay “An Ode to the Onscreen Handjob.”


‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’ Is a Rebuke to the Miyazaki AI Trend | Autostraddle

“Kiki’s journey is one navigating the relationship between creativity and labor.” (April 17, 2025)

Read my essay on Kiki’s Delivery Service.


The Best Theatre Films of 2024 Weren’t Musicals | Autostraddle

“For all these flashy celebrations of theatre on the screen, the resulting products are often empty sketches that are more interested in capitalizing on Theatre Kid Energy than understanding why the art form has persisted for centuries. These films view theatre as an artifact to improve upon rather than embrace.” (December 27, 2024)

Read my essay on the theatre films of 2024.


Cheese-en-scène | Chicago Reader

“Moonlight (2016) director Barry Jenkins once said in an interview with Bon Appétit, “When you cook for someone, this is a deliberate act of nurturing. This very simple thing is the currency of genuine intimacy.” I’ve been thinking about this lately, not just in regard to the sensitive closing act in Jenkins’s film, but in how I share and express love through the act of personal curation—from baking an improvised summer solstice quiche for me and my husband to carefully putting together movie recommendation lists for my friends.” (July 24, 2024)

Read my food and film pairings.

Film and TV Reviews


INTERVIEWS

The Ether of Not Belonging: An Interview with Colette Ghunim on Traces of Home | In Review Online

I spoke with Colette about the development of the film over time, creating visual identities for Mexico and Palestine, and how the act of documentation can be liberatory — and alienating. (September 18, 2026)

Read my interview with Colette Ghunim.


Activating the Archive: An Interview with Brydie O’Connor on Barbara Forever | In Review Online

As Barbara Forever hits U.S. theaters, I spoke with O’Connor about how Barbara Hammer inspired her to make her own films, the importance of engaging with history, and encouraging producers to take risks on films outside of the mainstream. (September 9, 2026)

Read my interview with Brydie O’Connor.


I Hope Nobody Remembers Barney, But Everybody Will Remember Buddy: Devon Hawkes Ludlow on Buddy | In Review Online Substack

[Hawkes Ludlow’s] sense of humor and curious nature… reflects how Buddy balances visceral horror with genuine ideas about how kids can safely navigate the world. (September 2, 2026)

Read my interview with Devon Hawkes Ludlow. [Subscription Required]


Inheriting a Kind of Burning House: An Interview with Alex Ullom on It Ends | In Review Online

I talked to the filmmaker about evolving alongside the film, the importance of collaboration, and how he made an endless road in the woods capture the apathy and languor of doomscrolling. (August 21, 2026)

Read my interview with Alex Ullom.


This Is a Wild Place and We Are Wild Animals: An Interview with Penny Lane on Wild Inside | In Review Online

Lane and I talked over Zoom about Flaco’s mesmerizing presence, Wild Inside’s deliberately communal approach, and the impossible question of squaring away our love for certain animals against our obligation to the ecosystem. (July 28, 2026)

Read my interview with Penny Lane.


‘I feel like we might be living in a turning point right now’: A Q&A with Happyend (2024) director Neo Sora | Chicago Reader

[Sora and I] talked about Japanese history, juvenile delinquent films, reflecting on broken friendships, and how near Happyend’s “near future” really is. (September 29, 2025)

Read my interview with Neo Sora.

Podcast & Radio

In 2025, I launched Hand Me the Mike, a podcast exploring the work and career of American actor Michael Shannon.

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube Music, Podchaser, and more.

FEATURED: Four Stars - A Chicago Film Podcast
One Last Score: Thief (1981) with writer Daniella Mazzio

“Jeremy and Paco are joined by culture writer and Hand Me The Mike host Daniella Mazzio to discuss Michael Mann’s Thief (1981).”


FEATURED: Hit Factory
To Die For feat. Daniella Mazzio

“Writer, comedian, and Lydia Tár's former publicist Daniella Mazzio joins to discuss Gus Van Sant's sharp, pitch-black satire of media, true crime, and a patently American brand of late 20th Century celebrity, 'To Die For'. The film is based on the Joyce Maynard novel of the same name, itself inspired by the true life trial of Pamela Smart, who seduced a teenage boy and coerced him and a friend to murder Smart's husband. The film features an excellent ensemble cast, including Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Dillon, Illeana Douglas, and a career-best Nicole Kidman.”


Phoenix with Daniella Mazzio

Daniella Mazzio joins us for 2015’s PHOENIX. (Podcast, August 2026)

Exiting Through the 2010s | Listen now

It’s Such a Beautiful Day with Daniella Mazzio

Culture writer Daniella Mazzio joins us to discuss the singular work of Don Hertzfeldt with the legacy of It's Such a Beautiful Day. (Podcast, July 2024)

Exiting Through the 2010s | Listen now

With Cinema Chatham shut down, only two movie theaters remain on the South Side

Even before Cinema Chatham unexpectedly closed last week, it was hard to find a movie theater on the South Side. (Radio, February 2024)

WBEZ Reset | Listen now

Barbenheimer? OppenBarbie? Whatever you call it, the double feature of the season has arrived

Local theaters are selling out, fans are dressing up and the internet is exploding over the movie event of the season. (Radio, July 2023)

WBEZ Reset | Listen now