THE CRITICS

AMY BIANCOLLI

Amy Biancolli is the film critic for the Houston Chronicle. She's also a musical biographer (Fritz Kreisler: Love's Sorrow, Love's Joy), memoirist (House of Holy Fools: A Family Portrait in Six Cracked Parts), and playwright (Kreisler's Long Sleep). A graduate of Hamilton College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she previously spent nine years as movie critic and arts writer for the Albany Times Union.

ADAM KEMPENAAR

Adam Kempenaar is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. Kempenaar and his co-host, Matty Robinson, broadcast Filmspotting weekly on WBEZ/Chicago Public Radio. Filmspotting can also be found in podcast form; it consistently charts among the top twenty TV/Film podcasts on the iTunes Music Store. In 2008, Kempenaar wrote the forward to Jon J Muth's graphic novel adaptation of Fritz Lang's M. He also teaches two courses at the University of Chicago's Graham School: "The Auteur and the Hack: Hawks vs. Curtiz" and "The New Hollywood." You can track all of the developments in the Filmspotting universe here.

MATTY "BALLGAME" ROBINSON

Matty Robinson broadcasts Filmspotting weekly on WBEZ/Chicago Public Radio alongside Adam Kempenaar. He also teaches two courses with Kempenaar at the University of Chicago's Graham School. According to the Filmspotting website, Robinson "lives in Garbo-esque seclusion in greater Hammond, Indiana."

STEVEN REA

Steven Rea has been a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer since 1982, writing about film and filmmakers, books, pop music and popular culture. He has been a movie critic since 1992. His work has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, Family Fun and other publications. He also writes fiction and poetry. His column, "On Movies," and his reviews appear in the Philadelphia Inquirer. You can read his work online here or on his blog On Movies Online.

STEPHEN WHITTY

Stephen Whitty has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from NYU and has published short fiction, essays, profiles and criticism for 30 years. A former chairman of the New York Film Critics Circle, his work has won numerous prizes and appeared in publications from Entertainment Weekly to Stanford Magazine. For the last dozen years he has been a critic and columnist at The Star-Ledger; his stories appear there and in other Newhouse newspapers, and can also be found online here. 

THE STUDENT PANEL

The Student Panel pored over every film submitted to the festival and determined the final competition films. We must confess that fights frequently broke out as the panel was forced to make some incredibly difficult decisions. Their pain is a testament to the quality of these films. We feel that the selection of films featured in this festival demonstrates the best that our generation’s filmmakers have to offer. The student judges: Gregory Barnes (BYU), Sam Feldman (Amherst), Andy Heriaud (NYU), Kenji McCulley (Dartmouth). In the event of a irreconcilable tie, the Festival Director, Peter Stein, had the tie-breaking vote

If you would like to get in touch with any of the filmmakers, or learn more about the festival, please email the festival director, Peter Stein, at peter.j.stein@dartmouth.edu