About me

I am a film/media scholar, educator, archivist, and publicist. I received a PhD in Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2024. This page offers an overview of my research and professional profile.

My scholarly research broadly focuses on the history of American media companies and on the aesthetics of art cinema and avant-garde media. I am most interested in how independent film distributors distinguish and sustain themselves in a conglomerated market, and in the pragmatic relationships that small companies of this sort form with major studios and each other in the process of releasing alternative cinema. I am currently adapting my doctoral dissertation into a monograph on the proliferation of “boutique” film distributors like Milestone Films, The Criterion Collection, and A24, with particular focus on the business strategies that have kept these companies not just financially afloat but also culturally relevant. You can find my academic C.V. here.

I have worn many hats in both academia and independent film distribution and exhibition. At UW-Madison, I taught hundreds of undergraduate students media production and film history, while at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, I worked as an archivist by processing born-digital collections and digitizing paper material (including almost 1000 Hollywood pressbooks!). I am also a film programmer, having curated the Wisconsin Film Festival’s “Wisconsin’s Own” slate and various screenings at the UW-Cinematheque. I am a seasoned publicist, video editor, and copywriter, having worked for a range of film and scholarly organizations.

You can learn more about me on my “Writing,” “Teaching,” and “Media” pages—and if you want to hang around even longer, check out my “Favorite Films” pages…