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.
Jump to:
As seen in…
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.”
Featured FEATURES
Zoe Saldaña’s ‘Emilia Pérez’ Defense at the Oscars Raises Key Questions About Mexican Cinema: Hear from Those Fighting to Save It
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
“However Saldaña might feel about Mexico’s relationship to ‘Emilia Pérez,’ it is nonetheless true that the movie’s narrative hangs on the brutal impacts of the country’s cartel violence, invoking the country’s sociopolitical landscape. Meanwhile, ‘Sujo,’ Mexico’s submission for Best International Feature, approached the same subject, holding Mexico in its heart while investigating violence, identity, and how characters navigate a culture of machismo and live up to the promise of their names. Despite making the Oscars shortlist, ‘Sujo’ — distributed in the U.S. by The Forge, a newer outfit — had a very limited release in the States and was added to VOD at the end of February.”
The Best Theatre Films of 2024 Weren’t Musicals
The film releases of recent years telegraph an interest within the industry to return to its theatrical roots — or at least a belief that there’s money to be made by turning to Broadway for inspiration. December 27, 2024
“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. This has led to an influx of musicals afraid to be musicals — and arguably even films afraid to be films.”
Explore a century of follies and film at the Elmhurst History Museum
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.”
Cheese-en-scène
Themed movie menus that pair double or triple features with curated charcuterie. July 24, 2024
“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.”
Palacios Para La Gente
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.”
Coming soon—to a theater near you?
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.”
Film and TV Reviews
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The Condor Daughter | Dir. Álvaro Olmos Torrico | In Review Online
“The familiar familial plot is merely a metaphor for understanding the belief system represented by Pachamama: nature, reciprocity, and cosmic connectivity.” (September 16, 2026) Read The Condor Daughter review here.This is Buzz | Dir. Mark Pellington | In Review Online
“This is Buzz, Pellington’s new documentary covering the rise and fall of the experimental show [Buzz], simultaneously — and perhaps unintentionally — is a totemic text essential to culturally defining Generation X, an epoch inspired by the revolutionary aesthetics of the preceding era but dominated by creators with few material ties to the circumstances that precipitate revolution.” (September 11, 2026) Read the This is Buzz review here.Don’t Say Good Luck | Dir. Julia Hart | In Review Online
“The inclusion of Waitress may just be set dressing (and it’s even more of a stretch to say Hart is directly invoking the original movie), but Don’t Say Good Luck ultimately operates in the same understated, fragile territory as Shelly’s longing film.” (August 17, 2026) Read the Don’t Say Good Luck review here.One Night Only | Dir. Will Gluck | In Review Online
“One Night Only wants to prove to you that it is aware of what’s going on in the world, and that inevitably makes its flimsy observations about the ills of modern dating all the more baffling.” (August 6, 2026) Read the One Night Only review here.Blue Film | Dir. Elliot Tuttle | Chicago Reader
“How does our understanding of BDSM as a controlled means to obtain or relinquish control change when those participating in the exercise are ethically dubious, if not altogether deplorable? How can universal, life-affirming themes such as the desire to be known be applied in the most alienating of circumstances?” (August 6, 2026) Read the Blue Film review here.WTO/99 | Dir. Ian Bell | Chicago Reader
“In toto, WTO/99 is the closest a contemporary audience can get to experiencing those four days as they occurred (and as they were portrayed) in real time.” (August 5, 2026) Read the WTO/99 review here.Hadestown: The Musical | Dir. Brett Sullivan | In Review Online
“Though one hesitates to publicly write too fondly of Hamilton, one of the successes of its pro-shot is how the camera effortlessly fits into the show’s choreography. That is not the case in Hadestown: The Musical, and the effect is almost as disorienting as an MCU fight scene.” (July 24, 2026) Read the Hadestown: The Musical review here.Everybody to Kenmure Street | Dir. Felipe Bustos Sierra | Chicago Reader
“Most remarkable is Bustos Sierra’s choice to begin the film with a six-minute-and-15-second dialogue-free montage that suggests the history of Glasgow is defined by protest. Kenmure Street was not a single, extraordinary action, but a demonstration consistent with every movement since industrialization to fight for the good of the people.” (July 22, 2026) Read the Everybody to Kenmure Street review here.American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez | Dir. David Alvardo | In Review Online
“If American Pachuco is an interrogation of Mexican-American identity and the ever-present issue of assimilation, the documentary’s gradual shift from the collective to the individual, from agitating against the status quo to achieving mainstream acceptance, is an accurate, if somewhat cynical, retelling of the cultural shifts from the 1940s through the 1980s.” (July 17, 2026) Read the American Pachuco review here.Nuestra Tierra (Our Land) | Dir. Lucrecia Martel | Chicago Reader
“Martel’s critical examination extends to the filmmaker’s position as a storyteller. There’s a heavy awareness of her and her camera’s presence throughout the events as fellow strangers mining a product from this land.” (July 8, 2026) Read the Nuestra Tierra review here. -
Hedda | Dir. Nia DaCosta | Chicago Reader
“DaCosta’s decision to swap the gender of the original play’s Løvborg is by far the most inspired feature of her adaptation. In lesser films, this would be the kind of cosmetic, representational update modern audiences have come to expect…. Making her a woman adds complexity to Hedda’s palpable repression while upping the stakes of what Hedda could lose by pursuing her.” (November 17, 2025) Read the Hedda review here.After the Hunt | Dir. Luca Guadagnino | Chicago Reader
“Considering the pressure cooker these characters are in, Guadagnino’s direction hardly suggests sweat. A consequence of the frigid direction is that the screenplay has nowhere to hide.” (October 9, 2025) Read the After the Hunt review here.Suspended Time | Dir. Olivier Assayas | Chicago Reader
“Suspended Time isn’t particularly novel, and it’s a touch too thin to successfully stretch into 105 minutes, but you could do for a worse late August hang than these couples.” (September 2, 2025) Read the Suspended Time review here.Women Wearing Shoulder Pads (TV Series) | Created by Gonzalo Cordova | Chicago Reader
“The season’s arc deftly weaves together themes like matriarchy, queer identity, and colonial greed across episodes both absurdly funny and deliciously melodramatic.” (August 21, 2025) Read the Women Wearing Shoulder Pads review here. -
Los Frikis | Dir. Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz | Chicago Reader
“Los Frikis is at its best when it embodies the punk music of Eskoria and the words of Papo la Bala, repeated by Paco: ‘When you don’t have any more doors to open, death is a door.’” (December 23, 2024) Read the Los Frikis review here.A Different Man | Dir. Aaron Schimberg | Chicago Reader
“A Different Man is an interesting, entertaining film that brings complexity to its character study—if not to complicate regressive attitudes about disability, then to challenge our feelings about the empty pursuit of performing change without looking inward.” (September 26, 2024) Read the A Different Man review here.Mother, Couch | Dir. Niclas Larsson | Chicago Reader
“Mother, Couch turns over many cushions in search of change, but it’s an ultimately unsatisfactory experience, even by the fruitlessness of closure standards.” (July 9, 2024) Read the Mother, Couch review here.
Festival Recaps and Reviews
The 42nd Chicago Latino Film Festival (2026)
Opening Night Dispatch:
It Would Be Night in Caracas/
Aún es de noche en Caracas
Directed by Mariana Rondón and Marité Ugás
INTERVIEWS
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)
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)
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)
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)
‘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)
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.”