This current roster of the distinguished members of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists is presented in alphabetical order, with convenient links to each member’s AWFJ archive.
To connect to an individual member’s AWFJ archive click on her name in red. You may also access her index of articles by typing her name in Search.
MAE ABDULBAKI
Mae Abdulbaki is a film critic and podcast co-host. She founded Movies with Mae back in 2013 and has been passionately typing away at her computer ever since. She currently serves as TV Editor and film writer for The Young Folks and has also written for Examiner, Punch Drunk Critics, and Heroic Hollywood.
ERICA ABEEL
Erica Abeel writes film features and reviews for indieWIRE.com, Filmmaker Magazine, IFC.com, and Film Journal. She is the author of five books, including the novel, Women Like Us, which was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. Her newest novel, Conscience Point, was published in fall 2008.
BETH ACCOMANDO
Beth Accomando is host of KPBS Cinema Junkie Podcast and author of the blog Cinema Junkie. She also programs film series and events as part of Film Geeks SD at venues such as Museum of Photographic Arts and Digital Gym Cinema. She loves horror, zombies, kaiju and film noir.
THELMA ADAMS
Thelma Adams
is a NY-based writer and film critic, formerly at Us Weekly (2000 – 2011) and NY Post (1993 – 2000). Twice Chair of the NY Film Critics Circle where she was a member for 19 years. She covered the Oscars for Yahoo! Movies, interviewing Julianne Moore, Oprah Winfrey and others. Her second novel, The Other Mrs. Earp was published by Amazon’s Lake Union imprint. The NY Times favorably reviewed her debut novel, Playdate (St. Martin’s Press).
ULKAR ALAKBAROVA
Ulkar Alakbarova has been writing about movies since childhood. She loves black-and-white cinema. She worked as an independent film journalist in Azerbaijan. Starting in 2013, she has worked as a Toronto-based film critic/interviewer. She is a founder of www.moviemovesme.com and regularly covers major film festivals, such as TIFF, Fantasia Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Hot Docs and Sundance.
PEG ALOI
Peg Aloi is a currently a freelance film and TV critic based in Boston. She was a freelance film critic for the Boston Phoenix from 1997-2013. She’s taught film and media studies at Emerson College and SUNY New Paltz. She’s organized conferences, edited scholarly anthologies, and been a script consultant on feature films.
JOAN AMENN
Joan Amenn
is a journalist from the Pacific Northwest. She’s Co-Editor of InTheirOwnLeague.com and contributor to FIlmotomy.com, and a member of GALECA and SIFF. She’s the mother of four and a master of sarcasm.
SANDIE ANGULO CHEN
Sandie Angulo Chen
is a feature writer, film critic, and book reviewer. She’s written about movies and pop culture since high school, contributing to outlets like Common Sense Media, The Washington Post, EW, Moviefone, and Variety. She lives outside Washington D.C. with her husband and their three young cinephiles.
MARINA ANTUNES
Marina Antunes
has been writing and discussing film for over 15 years. In 2008 she joined the writing staff at Quiet Earth, becoming Editor-In-Chief in 2014. She’s produced and hosted podcasts including Before the Dawn, a long-running podcast on the Twilight franchise, Girls on Pop, a podcast on film and popular entertainment from women’s perspective and After the Credits, bi-monthly film podcast with nearly 300 episodes. She’s a member of Online Film Critics Society.
EMMA BADAME
Emma Badame Aside from garnering for herself a one-time Jeopardy win, Toronto-based Emma Badame has parlayed her passion for film into a life-long career. Her work has been featured on Billboard.com, eTalk, The Mary Sue, Cineplex, CTV’s PopLife, The Canadian Press and more. She is also a programmer with the Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival.
MARTHA K. BAKER
Martha K. Baker
first taught film at Lakeland College in Wisconsin in 1969 and became a professional film reviewer in 1976 in St. Louis, Mo. Through the years, She’S reviewed films for the St. Louis Business Journal, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Episcopal Life, and KWMU (NPR), among other outlets. She’s reviewed at KDHX radio for nearly 20 years.
MARGARET BARTON-FUMO
Margaret Barton-Fumo
has contributed to Film Comment since 2006. Her monthly online column, “Deep Cuts,” focused on the intersection of film and music. She has interviewed such directors, actors, and musicians as Brian De Palma, James Gray, Harry Dean Stanton, and Paul Williams, and has additionally contributed to Senses of Cinema and Stop Smiling. She is the editor of Paul Verhoeven: Interviews, published by the University Press of Mississippi.
NIKKI BAUGHAN
Nikki Baughan is a London-based freelance film critic and features writer. Formerly editor of both Film Review and movieScope magazines, Nikki currently contributes to various print and online publications, including Screen International, BFI, The List and Film Divider.
BETSY BOZDECH
Betsy Bozdech is the Executive Editor of Common Sense, for which she also reviews films. Her film reviews and commentaries also appear on Reel.com and Hollywood.com.
LAUREN BRADSHAW
Lauren Bradshaw is a film critic in the Washington, DC area. Her reviews are featured on ClotureClub.com and she has also contributed to JoBlo.com and The Tidewater News. Lauren is a pop culture enthusiast and has been known to get way too emotionally invested in movies and television shows.
LIZ BRAUN
Liz Braun is a film critic for the Sun Media newspaper chain in Canada.
JAMIE BROADNAX
Jamie Broadnax holds a Master’s Degree in Film and a BS in Broadcast Journalism. She reports entertainment news, reviews film and TV reviews, and interviews entertainers for her publication Black Girl Nerds. Jamie also writes for Variety, THR, New York Post, Huffington Post, Vox, Vulture, IGN, Essence Magazine, The Lily (Washington Post) and SYFY. She’s executive producer and host of the Black Girl Nerds podcast and is known for her popular Twitter presence @jamieBroadnax. She’s based in Virginia Beach.
KIM BROWN
Kim Brown
writes for Tulsa People Magazine. She coverc film for Tulsa World and tulsaworld.com, and appears on Tulsa’s CBS affiliate, KOTV, to review film. She joined Tulsa World’s features staff in 2006 after covering education and local news for the paper since 1998. Like many journalists, she’s expanded her work to include communications and public relations, but is still a freelance critic and film journalist.
T. J. CALLAHAN
T. J. Callahan
is resident film critic for The Sam Malone Show on AM 1070 in Houston. Since 2009, she’s critiqued films on KRMD (Shreveport), KILT (Houston), WCKT (Sarasota), The Liberty Eagle Radio Network and Radio Brave. She’s a proud member of Critics Choice Association, Houston Film Critics Society and a board member and 2017 inductee of the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.
DIANE CARSON
Diane Carson
, Ph.D., Professor Emerita, has reviewed film for 25 years, covering Cannes, Telluride, Toronto, Palm Springs and Sundance festivals. She writes for KDHX FM, St. Louis. A founder of the St. Louis International Film Festival, she serves on its juries. She taught film studies and production at St. Louis Community College and Webster University. She co-wrote “Appetites and Anxieties: Food, Film, and the Politics of Representation,” (Wayne State U. Press, 2014).
CAROL CLING
Carol Cling served as the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s film critic for more than 30 years, reviewing movies and covering movie and TV production in Las Vegas, from Casino to CSI. An honors graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she also has studied film at the American Film Institute and the BBC
LESLIE COMBEMALE
Leslie Combemale writes as Cinema Siren on CinemaSiren.com, and contributes frequently to MPA’s TheCredits.org, where she interviews filmmakers above and below the line, focusing on women and diverse voices. She is Senior Contributor at AWFJ.org. She is in her 9th year as producer and moderator of the influential “Women Rocking Hollywood” panel at San Diego Comic-Con. She is a renowned cinema art expert and her film art gallery, ArtInsights, located near DC, has celebrated cinema art and artists for 30 years.
LINDA COOK
Linda Cook earned bachelor degrees in English and elementary education from Monmouth (Illinois) College, She’s a reporter and film critic at the Quad-City Times, and reviews films for NBC affiliate KWQC. She earned a master of criminal justice degree at St. Ambrose University, Davenport, and has been an instructor there for many years.
LONITA COOK
Lonita Cook Lonita Cook gets to flex her love of movie-watching as critic for KCTV5 (CBS), KS Women’s Lifestyle Magazine and blackbeebuzz.com In her work as an advocate for filmmakers and artists, she serves the boards of Johnson County Arts & Heritage Museum Foundation as President and Avila School of Visual & Communication Arts (advisory).
GIULIA D’AGNOLO VALLAN
Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan, film journalist and curator, is US Programmer for Venice Film Festival. She writes for “il manifesto”, Ciak, Marie Claire and L’Uomo Vogue, and Cahiers du Cinema and Film Comment. She wrote monographs on Eastwood, Carpenter, Milius, Altman and other directors. Her retrospectives have been in Italian festivals, Film Forum, Museum of Moving Image, American Cinematheque, Cinématheque Française and Brisbane and Melbourne Film Festivals.
MARCY DERMANSKY
Marcy Dermansky is the award-winning author of the novels Bad Marie and Twins. She has written reviews and feature articles about film for About.com, Focus Features, and Flavorpill. Her nonfiction has been published in the best-selling anthology in Goodbye To All: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York.
CHAZ EBERT
Chaz Ebert is CEO of several Ebert enterprises, including the President of The Ebert Company Ltd, and of Ebert Digital LLC, Publisher of RogerEbert.com, President of Ebert Productions and Chair of the Board of The Roger and Chaz Ebert Foundation, and Co-Founder and Producer
LAURA EMERICK
Laura Emerick is the digital content editor for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Formerly she was the arts editor of the Chicago Sun-Times, where she served as the primary editor of film critic Roger Ebert. She is a graduate of Indiana University with a B.A. in journalism and environmental Science. Among her passions are opera and Latin music, which she covers as a freelance writer. Her all-time favorite movie is “Vertigo” (1958), with “The Leopard” (1963) and “The Sweet Smell of Success” (1957) following close behind.
NIKKI FOWLER
Nikki Fowler is an international print + digital publisher spanning decades. She is a writer, critic and host, as well as the founder of Glitter Magazine. She is also the President of Hollywood Critics Association and she is accredited by the Motion Pictures Association.
CYNTHIA FUCHS
Cynthia Fuchs is Film and TV reviews editor at PopMatters.com and director of Film & Media Studies and Associate Professor of English, Film & Video Studies, African and African American Studies, Sport & American Culture, and Women and Gender Studies at George Mason University.
KAREN GORDON
Karen Gordon is a film critic, arts journalist, radio producer, as well as a story editor and narration writer for documentary TV and film. Her recent project the IMAX film “Volcanoes: Fires of Creation” premiered in fall 2018, and will roll out internationally through 2019. She hosts, and does live Q&A’s at film events. She has ghost written three best selling cookbooks, with celebrity chef David Rocco.
BARBARA GOSLAWSKI
Barbara Goslawski is co-host/co-producer of Frameline. As a freelance writer and film critic for the past 30 years, she has contributed to numerous dailies and magazines including The Globe and Mail, The Canadian Film Encyclopedia, Box Office Magazine, as well as to several books. A veteran of the Canadian film industry, Barbara has worked in many key areas including distribution and programming, and has also served on various festival juries
PAM GRADY
Pam Grady is a freelance journalist and film critic whose work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, Box Office, FilmStew, SF State Magazine and other publications. Her career began at Reel.com where she was an editor and staff critic. She is currently President of the San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle.
SUSAN GRANGER
Susan Granger
was a child actress in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien and Lassie. She studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from University of Pennsylvania, Phi Beta Kappa, with highest honors in journalism. Her reviews and celebrity interviews appear in REDBOOK, PLAYBOY, FAMILY CIRCLE, COSMOPOLITAN, WORKING WOMAN, NY TIMES and worldwide through SSG Syndicate.
JENNIFER GREEN
Jennifer Green is a regular contributor to Common Sense Media, The Hollywood Reporter, The Seattle Times and The San Francisco Chronicle. She was Screen International’s correspondent in Spain for ten years. She launched the newspaper column and website Films from Afar to curate international films available for home streaming. She has served on film festival juries across Spain and North Africa and teaches journalism and film to university students.
ROXANA HADADI
Roxana Hadadi is a pop culture writer. She is a staff contributor for Pajiiba, Chesapeake Family, and Punch Drunk Critics, and has contributed to Bright Wall/Dark Room and The Washington Post Express. She is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved critic and a member of the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association.
JENNY HALPER
Jenny Halper
has written for Boston Phoenix, Boston Now, NewEnglandFilm.com, amNewYork, Beliefnet, Cinema Confidential, Park Slope Reader, and Knit Simple Magazine, among others, and has served as film critic/entertainment reporter for Track Entertainment and ClickFlicks.net. Her fiction i spublished Smokelong Quarterly and New England Fiction Meeting House, and has been a finalist for prizes from Glimmer Train and Sonora Review.
BETH HANNA
Beth Hanna is a cinephile and film writer living in Los Angeles, with a master’s degree in cinema and media studies from UCLA, and a bachelor’s degree in film studies from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She’s been an associate programmer for AFI FESTs, and oversaw thescreen education program, She programmed the American Cinematheque’s Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Luis Buñuel retrospectives in 2012.
MICHELLE HANNETT
Michelle Hannett
(formerly McCue) contributes to and edits WeAreMovieGeeks.com.
ALEXANDRA HELLER-NICHOLAS
Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
is a multi-award-winning film critic and author who has published nine books on cult, horror and exploitation cinema with an emphasis on gender politics, including the 2020 book ‘1000 Women in Horror, 1898-2018’ which was included on Esquire Magazine’s list of the best 125 books written about Hollywood. Alexandra is a contributing editor at Film International, a columnist at Fangoria, an Adjunct Professor at Deakin University, and a member of the advisory board of the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies (LA, NYC, London).
LEBA HERTZ
Leba Hertz reviews and writes features for the San Francisco Chronicle, and is editor of the publication’s movies section, and is arts and entertainment editor for Ovations and Sunday and Daily Datebook.
CERISE HOWARD
Cerise Howard is a New Zealand-born co-curator of the Melbourne Cinémathèque, the co-founding former Artistic Director (2013-18) of the Czech and Slovak Film Festival of Australia, a co-founder of tilde: Melbourne Trans & Gender Diverse Film Festival, a Studio Leader at RMIT University and a widely published film critic.
COURTNEY HOWARD
Courtney Howard was raised in Northern California, and now resides in Southern California. She’s loved films ever since seeing her first in theaters at age 6 (‘E.T.’). She is a Rotten Tomatometer-approved critic, OFCS member, and contributing reporter/ film critic at both FreshFiction.tv and SassyMamaInLA.com. Follow on Twitter: @lulamaybelle
WENDY IDE
Wendy Ide
is a London-based film critic for both the consumer press (The Observer and The Guardian) and the trade press (Screen International). She writes features and interviews and she regularly hosts panels and live events. Wendy is a regular on the film festival circuit and has previously consulted on festival programming for the London Film Festival and Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
ESTHER IVEREM
Esther Iverem
is a writer/author/producer/curator, works in radio, print, digital media and visual art on projects about social justice and human existence—its history, current state, possible futures. She hosts ‘On the Ground: Voices of Resistance From the Nation’s Capital’ (Pacifica Radio). She founded SeeingBlack.com. She had a National Arts Journalism Fellowship at Columbia University. Her latest book is We Gotta Have It: Twenty Years of Seeing Black at the Movies.
MARYANN JOHANSON
MaryAnn Johanson
freelances on film, TV, DVD, and pop culture, originally from NYC, now London-based . Her FlickFilosopher.com, which debuted in 1997, is among the most popular, respected, and longest-running movie-related Internet sites. She reviews films for US alt-weekly newspapers. She’s a member of The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (Webbys), and Online Film Critics Society. She’s been a cultural commentator on BBC Radio, LBC-London, and US radio programs, and juried at the first Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Film Festival at the 2003 I-Con. She is the author of The Totally Geeky Guide to The Princess Bride, and is an award-winning screenwriter.
KIMBERLEY JONES
Kimberley Jones is Editor-in-Chief of the Austin Chronicle, as well as a contributing film critic. She’s a graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas and a member of the Austin Film Critics Association.
VALERIE KALFRIN
Valerie Kalfrin is an award-winning crime journalist turned freelance film writer whose work appears at RogerEbert.com, In Their Own League, Script, The Hollywood Reporter, and other outlets. Also a screenwriter and script consultant, she’s passionate about challenging stereotypes about gender and disability. Let’s tell better stories and tell stories better.
SUSAN KAMYAB
Susan Kamyab is a Dallas-based television and online film critic, producer, reporter, and writer. Since 2010 she’s been reviewing for Irving Television (ICTN) and online at thischixflix.com.
TARA KARAJICA
Tara Karajica is a Belgrade-based film critic, journalist and prgrammer. Her writings appear in Indiewire, Screen International, Variety, Little White Lies, Film New Europe, and others, including European Film Academy’s online magazine, Close-up. In February 2018, she launched Fade to Her, a magazine about successful women working in Film and TV. Tara is a regular at film festivals as a film critic, moderator and/or jury member.
LOREN KING
Loren King‘s features and film reviews appear regularly in the Boston Globe, Boston Spirit magazine and the Provincetown Banner. She writes Scene Here, a localfilm column, in the Boston Sunday Globe. A member of the Boston Society of Film Critics since 2002, she served as its president for five years.
SALLY KLINE
Sally Kline reviews film for the Washington Examiner.
SARAH KNIGHT ADAMSON
Sarah Knight Adamson, based in Chicago, is the film critic for the Internationally syndicated radio show Hollywood 360, broadcast on over 90 stations. She has served on film panels for the Chicago Public Library, been a juror at film festivals, and writes about film for Naperville Magazine. She is founder and publisher of Sarah’s Backstage Pass website, where her written work appears.
ANN LEWINSON
Ann Lewinson is a film critic for the Boston Phoenix, Kansas City Star and Santa Fe Reporter, and was film critic for the Hartford Advocate.. She’s written for The Independent, Sundance Daily Insider, Tribeca Film Festival catalogue and Willamette Week, classical music for Andante and Stagebill, and environmental activism for Biography. Her fiction has appeared in Agni, Hayden’s Ferry Review, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center’s Special Projects Writers’ Series and other publications. She studied filmmaking at Art Institute of Chicago, worked as a sound editor, and recently completed a novel. She is a member of Boston Society of Film Critics.
IN MEMORIAM
Also see the roster of AWFJ MEMBERS M to Z