Judges

Carlos Aguilar

New York, NY

Originally from Mexico City, Carlos Aguilar was chosen as one of 6 young film critics to partake in the first Roger Ebert Fellowship organized by RogerEbert.com, the Sundance Institute and Indiewire in 2014. Aguilar’s work has appeared in prestigious publications such as The Wrap, Indiewire, Vulture, RogerEbert.com, MovieMaker Magazine, Remezcla Filmmaker Magazine, Variety Latino, Slate, Bustle, Americas Quarterly, among others.

Besides his work in journalism, Aguilar regularly works as a screener for the Sundance Film Festival and a screenplay reader for Sundance’s Screenwriters Lab. Carlos Aguilar has also been on the jury at renowned festivals such the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Gasparilla International Film Festival, the Louisiana International Film Festival, and the Los Angeles Indian Film Festival.

Aguilar currently co-hosts One Week Only, a weekly podcast highlighting independent and international cinema. He also regularly participates in panel discussions about the importance of people of color in film criticism and his experience as a DACA recipient working in the film industry.

Evan Crean

Somerville, MA

Evan Crean is a Muppet of a man, so it should come as no surprise that he’s never met a pun or a portmanteau he didn’t like. You can find him each week practicing what he likes to call “elevated dad humor” as co-host of the film podcast Spoilerpiece Theatre, which has been running since 2014. When he’s not working on his podcast, Evan represents his fellow critics as co-chair of the Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA). His obsession with 80s films, in particular, inspired him to co-write the lighthearted self-help book Your ’80s Movie Guide to Better Living, which shares life lessons you can learn from ’80s movies. Over the past 12 years, Evan has also contributed hundreds of movie reviews and celebrity interviews to The Independent, NewEnglandFilm.com, and the now-defunct Starpulse.com. You can follow him on his site Reel Recon or find him on Twitter as @reelrecon.

Hannah Giorgis

Brooklyn, NY

Hannah Giorgis is a staff writer at The Atlantic. Her essays, criticism, and reporting have appeared in publications including the New York Times magazine, Bon Appétit, and Pitchfork. Most recently she co-wrote Ida B. The Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells with Wells’ great-granddaughter, Michelle Duster, and edited the inaugural collection of essays for Shea Serrano’s Halfway Books project—about rap albums including Lil’ Kim’s Hard Core, Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, and The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death. She graduated from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in English modified with African & African American Studies.

Roxana Hadadi

Columbia, MD

Roxana Hadadi is a film, television, and pop culture critic. She is the film editor of Pajiba.com and a regular contributor to RogerEbert.com, Crooked Marquee, The A.V. Club, Polygon, Vulture, and various other publications. She is a member of the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, and the Online Film Critics Society, and is a Tomatometer-approved Top Critic on Rotten Tomatoes.

Joyce Kulhawik

Boston, MA

Joyce Kulhawik, best known as the Emmy Award-winning arts and entertainment critic for CBS Boston (WBZ-TV 1981-2008), is currently lending her expertise as an arts critic/advocate, motivational speaker, and cancer crusader. Kulhawik is President of the Boston Theater Critics Association, a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and Boston Online Film Critics Association. Kulhawik has covered local and national events from Boston to Broadway to Hollywood, reporting live from the Oscars, the Emmys, and the Grammys. Nationally, Kulhawik has co-hosted syndicated movie-review programs with Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin. Look for her arts a entertainment reviews online at JoycesChoices.com.

Moira Macdonald

Seattle, WA

Moira Macdonald has been the movie critic for The Seattle Times since 2001; in recent years, her beat has expanded to include books, dance, fashion, and other things that delight her. Before The Times, she was a staffer at Seattle Weekly and at Microsoft. An M.A. graduate of the University of Washington, she has taught arts criticism at Seattle University, and her work was recently included in Alicia Malone’s anthology “The Female Gaze: Essential Movies Made by Women.”

Tom Meek

Cambridge, MA

Tom Meek is the President of the Boston Society of Film Critics. He is a longtime contributor at The Boston Phoenix, Cambridge Day, the WBUR ARTery, and the Charleston City Paper. He has also appeared regularly on New England Cable News. His byline can also be found at E!-Online, Cineaste, Film Threat, and Web Del-Sol. Tom likes a harmonious universe and rides his bike everywhere. You can follow him on Twitter @TBMeek3.

Rubén Peralta Rigaud

Miami, FL

Rubén Peralta Rigaud was born in Santo Domingo in 1980. Doctor in Medicine by profession, and writer of cinematographic reviews, he was the host of a daily radio show named “Cineasta Radio” for three years, as well as a collaborator of Cineasta print magazine since 2010 and editor/writer of the portal Cocalecas for fifteen years. He gave talks on cinematographic appreciation and speaks openly about how important are films for our education. He has been a jury at Miami Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and the Global Film Festival.

Currently, apart from the two mentioned media, he also collaborates for the Mexican websites Cultura Colectiva and SensaCine, for the digital newspaper Nota Clave and for the film section of the printed newspaper Listin Diario, both in the Dominican Republic. Ruben is a member of FIPRESCI, BFCA (Broadcast Film Critics Awards), FFCC (Florida Film Critics Circle), ICS (International Cinephile Society) and several other organizations related to promote and preserve films.

Gisela Savdie

Miami, FL

Gisela Savdie is a Colombian artist/writer living in Miami. She graduated as a Dentist from Javeriana University in Bogotá, Colombia, and later as an artist from the Miami International University of Art and Design. She has a Master of Arts from Barry University. She published a book in dentistry recognized as an Official Textbook by the World Health Organization. She was recognized as an Alien of Extraordinary Abilities and became a US Citizen in 2007. She published a photography and poetry book called Labradores de Sueños based on the Carnival in Colombia, which won First Place for Design in Art Books in Colombia. Film has always been her passion, and she’s been writing film reviews for the past 12 years in El Heraldo, a daily newspaper in Barranquilla, Colombia, and Letra Urbana, an online magazine in Miami. She covers The Cannes Film Festival and The Miami Film Festival annually and has covered the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals on multiple occasions. In the past two years she was a Jury for the Critics Award at the Miami International Film Festival. She is a board member of the Miami Beach Film Society, and a member of the Florida Film Critics Circle.

Jazz Tangcay

Los Angeles, CA

Jazz Tangcay is the Senior Artisans Editor at Variety and covers all crafts below-the-line. She is also on the Awards team analyzing the Emmys and Oscar races. Prior to joining Variety, Jazz worked at Awards Daily, where she covered film and TV, and wrote reviews and analysis on the Emmys and Oscar races. She is also a member of the Gold Derby experts.