Judges

Ty Burr

Boston, MA

Ty Burr is a film critic and columnist for The Boston Globe and author of the critically acclaimed books Gods Like Us: On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame and The Best Old Movies for Families. He has been at The Globe since 2002; before that, he worked for Entertainment Weekly and at HBO. In addition, he is an adjunct professor in the Film & TV department at Boston University and in the Visual Media Arts department at Emerson College. He is a member of the National Society of Film Critics and the Boston Society of Film Critics. In 2017, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism.

Sandie Angulo Chen

Silver Spring, MD

Sandie Angulo Chen is a film critic, entertainment reporter, and book reviewer. She’s written professionally about movies, books, and pop culture for more than 20 years, contributing to outlets such as Common Sense Media, where she’s the senior reviewer, The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, Entertainment Weekly, Moviefone, and Variety. She’s a member of the Washington Area Film Critics Association, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, and the nonprofit advocacy group We Need Diverse Books. Sandie lives in Silver Spring, Md. with her husband and three children.

Evan Crean

Somerville, MA

Evan Crean is the co-author of the lighthearted self-help book Your ’80s Movie Guide to Better Living and co-host of the weekly film podcast Spoilerpiece Theatre. Additionally, Evan is the co-chair and treasurer of the Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA). He has 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.

Jessica Kiang

Berlin, Germany

Jessica Kiang is an International Film Critic for Variety, which has taken her to film festivals and events on almost every continent (her fingers remain crossed for Antarctica). Features Editor at The Playlist for five years, she still contributes regularly there, as well as writing for Sight & Sound, BBC Culture and the BFI, among other outlets, most recently The New York Times. She was a mentor on the 2018 Melbourne Film Festival Critics Campus and has served on festival juries across the world, including adjudicating the Platform competition at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.

Kristen Yoonsoo Kim

New York, NY

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.

Lynnette Nicholas

New York, NY

Lynnette Nicholas is a graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in English Literature and an emphasis on Theater Studies and Africana Studies. Lynnette has been an avid reader and lover of the performing arts for as long as she can remember, and she has several years of experience as an educator. She currently works as a TV reporter, and entertainment and parenting writer based in New York City, where she interviews industry professionals and actors for TV junkets, print interviews, and more. Her work has appeared in HuffPost Black Voices, HuffPost Parents, Reader’s Digest, Common Sense Media, Moms.com, and other publications.

Lynnette is a certified Rotten Tomatoes film critic, and she enjoys examining films from both an academic and cultural lens. Lynnette has always had a passion for literature and cinema, as well as an innate curiosity about their influence on culture and social norms. She loves films and TV shows that highlight strong women and matriarchs; some of her favorites include Roots (and all the works of Cecily Tyson), The Cosby Show (for its portrayal of Claire Huxtable), A Different World, The Color Purple, and Beloved. Lynnette is the proud mom of a very creative tween daughter. Follow Lynnette on Twitter.

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.

Mike Sargent

New York, NY

Mike Sargent is the Co-Founder and Co-President of the Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC), chief film critic for WBAI Radio and Host of both Reelworld its weekly film review program, and popular late night radio magazine Niteshift.  Mike is the producer and co-host of two podcasts; 2fast2films with Jackson Murphy and Brown & Black with Jack Rico. Mike was also the host & creator of Arise On Screen, Arise Network’s weekly global movie review & interview show and was the first African-American hosted film review television show ever. Additionally, Mike writes for Scriptmag.com and is a frequent guest critic appearing on PBS Newshour, Fox Business News, Al Jazeera, Yahoo finance, Pix11 and others.

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.