Members

Alisyn Amant

Madison, WI

Alisyn is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison majoring in Journalism and English with a minor in Digital Studies. After taking an introductory film studies class her junior year, Alisyn fell in love with the idea of using her writing abilities to cover film and literature. She hopes to one day write for the arts or entertainment section of a publication or become a professor. Some of her favorite movies include A Man Escaped, Spirited Away, First Reformed, and Grave of the Fireflies.  

Andrew Armstrong

Saint Joseph, MI

At the age of four, I asked my parents to help me learn to read the newspaper after I noticed Roger Ebert’s review of the first film I had seen. From the age of six onwards, my father raised me on war films and the documentaries of Ken Burns and the History Channel. At the age of 13, I began to secretly stay up late to watch the foreign films and silent cinema that did not air on television during the day. And at the age of 19, I managed to get onto a film set for the first time in my life. Now, at the age of 21, I have participated in creating over 20 short films, seen over 1,300 movies, and written nearly 300 film reviews. I am currently a student at the University of Michigan, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Film and a Bachelor of Business Administration.

Majorca Bateman-Coe

New York, NY

My name is Majorca Bateman-Coe and I am currently a Film and Media Studies major at Columbia University, and I hope to graduate in 2022 with… a degree. I recently transferred from Stanford University’s undergraduate Film and Media Studies department, and between this transition I am considering pursuing a concentration in screenwriting. 

I love making art and have lately gotten into animation and exploring animated films more, which is something I would like to pursue in the future. I have an interest in studying world religions in my free time, as well as practicing my own to the best of my ability. I also love reading, binging media criticism videos as a relatable form of procrastination, and trying to start my own YouTube film/media/academia/religion/whatever channel. Oh, and I’m obsessed with 8-bit video games such as Earthbound™ and Pokémon on GameBoy™. I also collect Tamagotchis™.

Benjamin Cooper

Madison, WI

Study film, work in videography and broadcasting, live the best life possible. 

Vance Cunningham

Lake Forest Park, WA

Vance is a Junior at Shorecrest High School in Shoreline, Washington, and has been writing movie reviews since he was 12. He has received the Editors Choice award for his work in TeenInk Magazine and writes for his school newspaper, “The Highland Piper.” He has also met and worked with “Seattle Times” critic Moira Macdonald and runs the “Just Dumb Movies Podcast” with several friends. His interest in film was sparked simultaneously by Forrest Gump and a biography of George Lucas by Brian Jay Jones, and since then he’s fallen in love with films such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Ocean’s Eleven. In order to deal with Covid-19, over the summer he watched over 120 films, discovering directors like Akira Kurosawa and Jean-Luc Goddard, as well as rewatching The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Harry Potter series back to back.

Kayla Falco

Hanover Park, IL

I grew up in Hanover Park, Illinois, a town about forty minutes outside of Chicago. After graduating from high school I attended the College of DuPage for two years where I earned my Associate’s Degree in the Arts. I transferred to University of Wisconsin-Madison where I have been attending the past two years as a Communication Arts major. I am planning to graduate this Spring semester in May.

Cammie Lee

Portland, OR

Cammie is a junior at Princeton University, majoring in English and pursuing minors in Asian American Studies and East Asian Studies. She grew up playing the violin and piano, and as such, has always had a deep appreciation for the arts, but harbors a special appreciation for film due to its interdisciplinary and multimedia approach to storytelling. On campus, she writes and edits criticism for the arts and culture section of the school newspaper and a literary journal. Some of her favorite films include In the Mood for Love, Tampopo, Call Me By Your Name, and anything by Hayao Miyazaki.

Mark Lu

Washington, D.C.

Mang, who goes by Mark, is an undergraduate student in the American University Class of 2021 and studies economics and political science. He is from the Bay Area in California and is an admin for an online film community on Facebook. He is an amateur screenwriter and co-produced his first feature-length production last year, which wrapped principal photography at the end of 2018 and is set for a May 2019 release. His favorite movie is The Lion King.

Liam McDermott

Clarksburg, MD

Liam McDermott is an English teacher from Clarksburg, Maryland whose literary work has appeared in the online Loose Tooth anthology. He is also a musician with published projects on all major music platforms. He loves using language to realize novel stories and ideas and is invested in exploration of writing that transcends genre and medium.

Will Newman

Houston, TX

William, who goes by Will, is a Junior in high school who is studying classical and jazz piano at Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. He lives in Houston and has a passion for film and film criticism shared with his brother. He currently writes for his school paper and has a film review column on a local newspaper’s website. Some of Will’s favorite films include Do the Right Thing, Seven Samurai, The Godfather and Punch, Drunk, Love.

Clement Tyler Obropta

Hillsborough, NJ

Clement Tyler Obropta is a film critic for Film Inquiry, a culture editor for MAYDAY Magazine, and the photo editor for Wanderlust Journal. He has essays and photography published elsewhere. He graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in cinema and production in 2019, he’d love to own a cat, and he spends most of his time drinking coffee, wearing scarves, and rewatching Paddington 2.

Ivan Pelley

Orlando, FL

Ivan is a Junior who is attending Interlochen Arts Academy for Creative Writing. He loves to write horror, and most other types of fiction, and he loves movies nearly as much as he loves writing, though he ironically cannot watch most horror films. His favorite movie of all time is Aliens, and without watching it countless times in a row, he would never have become as good at picking up extra details in movies as he is today.

Anthony Reyes

New York, NY

Anthony Reyes is a recent college graduate from CUNY Hunter College and lives in New York as a freelance Production Associate. Currently he is working for Rumur Inc., a Brooklyn-based production studio behind many award-winning documentaries such as Battle for Brooklyn and Who Took Johnny?, the latter of which can be found on Netflix. With one short film under his belt and many ideas for future projects, Anthony hopes to create more content and write for television in the future. Film criticism allows him to explore how a specific film makes him feel a certain way, and how he can use it to develop his own craft as a storyteller. Some of his favorite films include Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy, Robert De Niro’s A Bronx Tale, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love, and Spike Jonze’s Her.

Lydia Rodgers

Clinton, MD

Hi! My name is Lydia Rodgers and I am currently attending Interlochen Arts Academy, located in Interlochen, MI. I am currently in the 11th grade, and I am from Clinton, Maryland. I grew up with so many people at home, up to the point where we had a full house. I’ve had so many people in my life that guided me every step of the way of life, up until now. I am the youngest of 5 kids so that has always been very important to me especially since I can look up to them for advice and they know life a little better than I do. Before film, writing all kinds of stories, poems, you name it has always been a part of my life. For my first two years of high school, I was at Suitland High School back at home, and I had also gone there for film. One of my brothers are actually doing things in the film industry, and he also went to Suitland for film. Film and writing will forever be apart of my life, and I can’t wait until I get older to do my work in the real world.

Alexandria Taylor

Atlanta, GA

Alexandria is a senior finishing her Film and Media degree at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. She has a passion for literature, writing, and film, and hopes to pursue a career in screenwriting in the future.

Raven G. Valdivia

San Francisco, CA

I attend San Francisco State University and am currently a Junior. This would be my first semester at SFSU as a transfer student. I have a newfound interest in Cinema, although I have always enjoyed musicals and plays of all sorts! The first movie I fell head over heels for was The Nutcracker Prince 1990 film and Peter Pan all versions and adaptations. I have a dream to be a screenplay writer, writer, social media content writer and or a movie critic. I have a powerful love for literature and writing! It will forever give me butterflies!

Veronica Wang

San Francisco, CA

Veronica is a graduate from San Francisco State University, where she majored in Cinema and minored in Animation. Her interests lie primarily in animation and representation, and as such volunteers with Asian American media organizations. One of her favorite films growing up was Shanghai Animation Film Studio’s Nezha Conquers the Dragon King.

Anna Grace Xie

New York, NY

Anna is a Film & Television student at New York University interested in 2D animation, illustration, and experimental film and video. She grew up in Shanghai, China, and her experiences as a child there informed her passion for exploring multiculturalism in her art and working towards more inclusive representation in media. Outside of class and work, Anna can usually be found knitting, playing Dungeons & Dragons, or clothes shopping in Animal Crossing.

Hamza Zahurullah

Rockford, IL

My name is Hamza Zahurullah. I graduated from Stanford University in June of 2020 with Honors and a B.A in Film and Media Studies.  In my senior year, I was the co-president of the Stanford Film Society and served as the Film and Media Studies peer advisor for the Department of Art and Art History.  I am currently taking my first of two gap years before applying to medical school.  Some of my favorite films include Whisper of the Heart, Jackie Brown and Do the Right Thing.  

Rita Zhang

New York, NY

Based in New York, Rita received her B.A. in Film & Media Studies from Columbia University. Her 12 years of acting in movies rooted her ceaseless love in arts and cinema. Her wide spectrum of favorite movies ranges from Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann to Steven Soderbergh’s High Flying Bird. She believes that writing reviews enable her to distill many levels of emotions in the film world and, perhaps, help decipher the mysterious meaning of life. Lately, she has been enjoying making random film lists (see below) and watching more documentaries. The NYC-based movies that leave Rita with a warm, fuzzy feeling include: Private Life, Please Give, Mistress America, Metropolitan, The Last Days of Disco, Maggie’s Plan, and The Daytrippers. Her favorite Terence Davies’ movies by seasonal moods are: Sunset Song (for spring), A Quiet Passion (for summer), The Deep Blue Sea (for fall), and The Long Day Closes (for winter).