Dana Harris-Bridson
Editor in Chief
Dana Harris-Bridson is a veteran journalist who has covered the entertainment industry for more than 25 years. She joined IndieWire as its editor in chief in 2012, and has overseen its growth from an indie film site to one that covers film and TV in all forms, and platforms, with a strong focus on issues relating to diversity and inclusion. You can follow her @TheKnife.
James Israel
Publisher
James Israel is the Publisher of IndieWire. He is responsible for all IndieWire revenue, overseeing advertising and sponsorship in addition to leading sales development and business strategies. Under his leadership, IndieWire has seen record revenue growth in the entertainment, consumer, awards, and event space. He began his career at IndieWire in 2001 as Managing Editor for IndieWire’s daily coverage of the Sundance Film Festival. Originally from South Carolina, James is based in Los Angeles.
Anne Thompson
Editor-at-Large
Born and raised in New York, IndieWire Editor-at-Large Anne Thompson has been a contributor to the New York Times, Washington Post, the Observer, and Wired. She has served as film columnist at Variety and deputy editor of Variety.com, where her daily blog, Thompson on Hollywood, launched in March 2007. Anne was the Deputy Film Editor at the Hollywood Reporter, the West Coast Editor of Premiere, a Senior Writer at Entertainment Weekly, and West Coast Editor for Film Comment. She wrote the film-industry column “Risky Business” for L.A. Weekly and the Los Angeles Times syndicate. A graduate of the Department of Cinema Studies at New York University, she has taught film criticism at USC and hosts the fall semester of “Sneak Previews” for UCLA Extension. In 2014, HarperCollins published her book, “The $11 Billion Year: From Sundance to the Oscars, an Inside Look at the Changing Hollywood System.” Follow her @akstanwyck.
Eric Kohn
Executive Editor & Chief Critic
Eric Kohn is the New York–based Executive Editor & Chief Critic at IndieWire, where he has worked since 2007. In addition to overseeing operations for IndieWire’s New York film team, he reviews films throughout the year, oversees festival strategy, and reports on the industry. Kohn travels to film festivals around the globe and interviews a wide range of film and TV talent. He also launched the Critics Academy initiative, a series of educational workshops for aspiring entertainment journalists, and teaches film criticism at NYU. Prior to joining IndieWire, Eric contributed to the New York Times and other outlets. He is the editor of “Harmony Korine: Interviews,” published by the University of Mississippi Press in 2014. He served as the 2018-19 chairman of the New York Film Critics Circle and as a member of the jury for Critics Week at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival. Follow him @erickohn.
Ann Donahue
Executive Editor, TV
Ann Donahue is the Los Angeles-based Executive Editor, TV at IndieWire. She’s worked in entertainment journalism for more than 20 years, including at Entertainment Tonight, Billboard and Variety, and despite many misdirected gift baskets over time, she is still not the showrunner for “CSI.” A California native, she has a bachelor’s and a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. She currently resides in Altadena with her husband, her son and whatever wild animal has wandered into her yard from the Angeles National Forest overnight. Follow her at @anndonahue.
Christian Blauvelt
Managing Editor
Christian Blauvelt is the Managing Editor of IndieWire. In addition to overseeing operations for IndieWire’s New York and Los Angeles-based news team, he’s responsible for editorial standards, strategy, traffic growth, and broader organizational goals. He also oversaw the launch of IndieWire’s ecommerce business and Shop vertical. Blauvelt is a frequent presence on TV and is the author of “Star Wars” books for DK and Lucasfilm Publishing, plus “Cinematic Cities: The Big Apple on the Big Screen” about New York City’s history in movies for Hachette’s Running Press imprint and TCM. Before joining IndieWire, he was Deputy Editor at BBC Culture for five years, during which time the site won two Webby Awards and he was named to Cablefax Magazine’s Overachievers Under 30 list. He’s given talks and led panels at South by Southwest and San Diego Comic-Con and is a regular moderator of post-screening Q&As for BAFTA New York. Before BBC Culture, he worked at EW. Follow him at @Ctblauvelt.
Kate Erbland
Deputy Editor, Film
Kate Erbland is the New York–based Deputy Editor, Film of IndieWire, where she writes and edits daily for the site, with a special emphasis on female filmmakers, in-depth interviews, and awards season coverage (including five turns backstage at the Oscars). She has worked at IndieWire since 2015. Some of her previous work can be found at Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, The Dissolve, Vulture, New York Daily News, MSN Movies, and Boxoffice Magazine. She has served on juries and nominating committees for the Gothams, the Critics Choice Awards, the Cinema Eye Honors, DOC NYC, the Sarasota Film Festival, the Nantucket Film Festival, Palm Springs ShortFest, among others. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Art History from Loyola Marymount University. She is a member of the NYFCC and the BFCA. Follow her @katerbland.
Ben Travers
Deputy Editor, TV
Ben Travers is the Los Angeles–based Deputy Editor, TV and TV Critic at IndieWire, where he writes reviews, covers the most prominent festivals, and provides extensive awards analysis related to today’s vital television projects. Prior to joining IndieWire, Ben served as an Assistant Editor of PopMatters for nearly five years, worked as a production assistant for Walt Disney Pictures, and copy-edited various publications. A graduate of the University of Iowa, Ben holds degrees in both journalism and cinema. Follow him @BenTTravers.
David Ehrlich
Senior Film Critic
David is the Senior Film Critic of IndieWire. Previously, he worked as a Staff Writer at Rolling Stone, the Associate Film Editor of Time Out New York, the Editor-at-Large of Little White Lies Magazine, and the Senior Editor of Film.com. As a freelancer writer, he has contributed to Slate, Vanity Fair, the Guardian, the Dissolve, the A.V. Club, and other outlets. He co-hosts the Fighting in the War Room podcast, and his annual video countdowns of the year’s best films have been viewed more than 2 million times. He lives in Brooklyn. Follow @davidehrlich.
Chris O’Falt
Deputy Editor, Film & TV Craft
Chris runs IndieWire’s Film & TV Craft department and hosts the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast. Previously, he covered the indie and doc film beat for The Hollywood Reporter. When he’s not writing about the innovation of today’s leading filmmakers, Chris is helping train the next (and hopefully more diverse) generation of filmmakers through a non-profit he co-founded in NYCHA’s Gowanus Houses. Follow @cofalt.
Libby Hill
TV Awards Editor
Libby Hill is the TV Awards Editor for IndieWire, covering all things Emmys and beyond. Libby served as an entertainment reporter for the Los Angeles Times for nearly four years before joining Indiewire, and her previous work can be found at New York Times, NPR, Vulture, A.V. Club, Salon, and RogerEbert.com. A South Dakota native, Libby spends much of her time not talking about the weather and tripping over her cats. Follow her @midwestspitfire.
Leonardo Adrian Garcia
Creative Producer
Leonardo Adrian Garcia is the Los Angeles-based Creative Producer of IndieWire, working with both the TV and Film teams on their video and podcast endeavors. He was previously Creative Director of Onion Inc., where he managed the editorial video slates of The Onion, ClickHole, and The A.V. Club. He also served as Head of Development for The Onion’s long-form arm, Onion Studios. Born and raised in Miami, he now resides in Echo Park with his amazing wife and insufferably cute dog. His inane (and infrequent) thoughts can be found at @leoadriangarcia.
Tyler Hersko
TV Business Reporter
Tyler Hersko is a Los Angeles-based television reporter at IndieWire. He covers the business happenings of the industry and streaming services. A University of Nevada, Reno graduate, Tyler’s priors include reporting gigs at the Ventura County Star, the Los Angeles Times and the Reno Gazette-Journal. Tyler is a diehard metalhead and also spent several years as a freelance music critic for publications such as Metal Injection and Noisey. Outside the office, Tyler can be spotted at the beach or headbanging at music venues.
Chris Lindahl
Film Business Reporter
Chris Lindahl is the Los Angeles-based film business reporter at IndieWire. His previous work included coverage of politics, marijuana policy, higher education, and LGBTQ issues in Southern California and in Massachusetts, where he’s originally from. He is generally impressed by quality fast food, good beer, and even better dogs. Follow him @cmlindahl.
Tambay Obenson
Staff Writer
Tambay Obenson is a Los Angeles-based staff writer for IndieWire, where he focuses on African-American film and television. A veteran writer, filmmaker and entrepreneur, he founded the independent distributor Voyager Film Company in 2005, in response to the lack of distribution for indie films by and about people of African descent. Feature films distributed by the company include “Beautiful Things” (2005), which he wrote, directed, and co-starred in, and “The Man Who Couldn’t” (2006). In 2009, he teamed up with a number of black-cinema bloggers to create a single web portal for the cinema of Africa and its diaspora. That site, Shadow and Act, grew rapidly and as the site’s chief editor and writer in 2010 he co-founded the joint venture Shadow and Act Films, a film financing and production initiative. Tambay is also co-founder and co-curator of the renowned New Voices in Black Cinema Festival, which takes place annually at BAMCinematek in Brooklyn, NY. Follow him @TambayObenson.
Zack Sharf
News Editor
Zack Sharf is the New York–based News Editor at IndieWire, where he is responsible for running the site’s daily news flow, in addition to crafting larger editorial pieces and covering special events. Prior to joining IndieWire, he received his B.A. in Media Studies from Emerson College, where he worked the Boston press circuit for three years as Managing Editor of the school’s film organization, Reel Reactions. Zack has also worked in the web and editorial department of NYC’s leading news station, WABC-TV. He has a sweet spot for “Before Sunset,” black labs, Julianne Moore, and “The Iron Giant.” Follow him @ZSharf.
Ryan Lattanzio
Weekend Editor
Ryan Lattanzio is the Weekend Editor for IndieWire, covering film and television news out of LA. He has written about film for more than a decade, having previously served as the Staff Writer/Editor for the IW blog Thompson on Hollywood, covering festivals including Cannes, Toronto, and Sundance. He also served four years as Editor of Communications at the American Film Institute, supervising AFI’s editorial production and authoring books on such luminaries as Diane Keaton and John Williams. Previously, he wrote for Bay Area newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle and SF Bay Guardian, and was The Daily Californian’s Film Critic. He holds a BA in English Literature. Follow him @ryanlattanzio.
Kristen Lopez
TV Editor
Kristen Lopez has been an entertainment writer, film critic and pop culture essayist for 12 years. Her work has been published on Forbes, MTV, and The Hollywood Reporter, among other places. She holds a Masters in English from California State University, Sacramento. In her free time she podcasts and spends her days binging on Turner Classic Movies.
Jude Dry
Associate Editor
Jude Dry is a New York–based Associate Editor for IndieWire, where they write daily for the site with a focus on LGBTQ film and television. Jude was a fellow of the 2013 New York Film Festival Critics Academy, when they first began writing for IndieWire. Their previous work can be found at Variety, Splitsider, FilmLinc, and Teachers & Writers Magazine. Jude lives life like Gene Kelly in “Singin’ in the Rain.”
Steve Greene
Associate Editor, TV
Steve Greene is the Los Angeles–based Associate Editor at IndieWire. Steve has covered film festivals up and down the West Coast, from Vancouver to Palm Springs. He’s also moderated a number of panels and post-screening discussions around his adopted hometown of Los Angeles. When he’s not consuming unhealthy amounts of pop culture, Steve is an occasional performer, baseball-game attendee, and trivia team member. Follow Steve @stevebruin.
Bill Desowitz
Crafts & Animation Editor
Bill Desowitz, the Crafts & Animation Editor at IndieWire, specializes in below-the-line coverage, with an emphasis on Oscar and Emmy Awards season reporting/analysis. He is also responsible for the former Immersed in Movies blog and author of “James Bond Unmasked,” featuring interviews with all six Bond actors. He previously served as editor of Animation World Network and VFXWorld and managing editor of Animation Magazine. Follow @billdesowitz.
Latifah Muhammad
Ecommerce Editor
A native of the Bay Area, Latifah Muhammad has covered entertainment journalism for more than 15 years. She first fell in love with writing as a child and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in print journalism from Cal State University, Long Beach. She has worked with major media outlets such as ET Online, BET, Billboard, Vibe, The Guardian, Hip-Hop, Wired, and AOL Music. In her free time, she enjoys spoiling her nieces and nephews, studying astrology and binging reality TV. She currently calls Los Angeles home.
Leah Lu
Social Media Coordinator
Leah Lu is the Social Media Coordinator at IndieWire, where she manages the brand’s suite of social media accounts. She recently received her B.A. in Journalism and Integrated Media in Southern California, and has held previous internships at Uproxx, The Brooklyn Paper and The Hollywood Reporter. In her spare time, she is also an illustrator.
Jason Gonzalez
Managing Director, Strategic Partnerships
Jason Gonzalez is the New York–based Managing Director, Strategic Partnerships for IndieWire. He handles ad-sales campaigns and sponsorships ranging from theatrical and DVD releases to awards season and filmmaker-centric initiatives. Prior to joining IndieWire, Jason was at IFC Films, where he served as the Marketing and Publicity Coordinator, working on a diverse slate of theatrical and VOD releases, including Cristian Mungiu’s “4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days,” Gus Van Sant’s “Paranoid Park,” Guy Maddin’s “My Winnipeg,” Madonna’s “Filth and Wisdom,” and Ken Loach’s “The Wind That Shakes the Barley.”
Gillian Garcia
Senior Sales Planner
Gillian Garcia is the New York–based Senior Sales Planner at IndieWire, where she coordinates with clients to arrange all of IndieWire’s ad sales. Gillian recently received her B.A. from Barnard College, where she studied History and Spanish. Gillian has held past internships at the Shark Group, Eleven James, and Latina Magazine. She’s a New Jersey native who loves anything that has to do with Tony Soprano, 20th century Europe, and dogs.
McKenzie Callahan
Sales Coordinator
McKenzie Callahan is the Los Angeles-based Sales Coordinator for IndieWire, where she works alongside the sales team to execute ad-sales campaigns, sponsorships and client relations. She recently graduated from The City College of New York with a B.A. degree in Media Communication and Arts. Prior to joining the IndieWire team, McKenzie worked for Condé Nast, where she was part of the advertising sales team for titles including Vogue, GQ and W Magazine. McKenzie was born and raised in New York, where she discovered her love for music, entertainment, and good food.
*Portraits for Dana Harris-Bridson, James Israel, Jason Gonzalez, Anne Thompson, and Ben Travers were taken by photographer Daniel Bergeron.
