That Shelf

Will Perkins

Editor-in-Chief / Co-founder

Will has been writing about film and video games in various capacities for most of his adult life. He co-founded ThatShelf.com with Jeff Brown and Lucas Rizoli over beer & bruschetta in 2009. He is also Contributing Editor and co-owner of Art of the Title. Email - will@thatshelf.com

Jason Gorber

Managing Editor / Chief Film Critic

Jason Gorber is a film journalist and member of the Toronto Film Critics Association. He is a regular contributor POV Magazine, SlashFilm and CBC Radio. His writing has appeared Esquire, The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Screen Anarchy, HighDefDigest, Birth.Movies.Death, IndieWire and more. He has appeared on CTV NewsChannel, CP24, RogerEbert.com and many other broadcasters. He has been a jury member at the Reykjavik International Film Festival, Calgary Underground Film Festival, RiverRun Film Festival, TIFF Canada's Top 10, Reel Asian and Fantasia's New Flesh Award. Jason has been a Tomatometer-approved critic for over 20 years.

Emma Badame

Senior Editor / Social Media Strategist

Emma is a Grade A, Hermione Granger-level pop culture nerd. She's parlayed that passion into a career, interviewing everyone from Emma Thompson and Benedict Cumberbatch to Yorgos Lanthimos and Robert Eggers. Emma has attended and produced extensive coverage of TIFF, Comic-Con, and D23. That's right. She braved the crowds so you didn't have to! Her interviews, articles, and photography have been featured on Billboard, The Mary Sue, Cineplex Magazine, Smart Entertainment, MuchMusic.com, CTV.ca, and more. If she's not watching movies or TV, she's probably planning yet another trip to London or attempting to perfect her GIF game on Twitter.

Victor Stiff

Associate Editor / News Editor / Senior Critic

Victor Stiff is a Toronto-based, Tomatometer-approved film critic and recipient of the TFCA's 2019 Emerging Critic award. Over the years, Victor has covered the Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance, Hot Docs, Toronto After Dark, Fantasia, New York Asian Film Festival, Toronto ComiCon, and Fan Expo Canada. You can find his reviews, interviews, and essays at In The Seats, Film School Rejects, The Playlist, Pop Matters, Screen Rant and Sordid Cinema.

Pat Mullen

Associate Editor / Senior Critic

Pat Mullen received an MA from Carleton University where his studies focused on adaptation and Canadian cinema. He is the online co-editor (etc) at POV Magazine, Canada’s destination for documentary culture, and has contributed to other publications including The Canadian Encyclopedia, Beatroute, Awards Daily, Paste, Documentary, and his independent blog Cinemablographer. Pat is a member of the Toronto Film Critics Association and the Online Film Critics Society. He lives in Toronto with his cat, Fellini.

Deirdre Crimmins

Marketing and Social Media Director / Featured Critic

Deirdre Crimmins is Chicago-based freelance film critic and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. She contributes regularly to Rue Morgue magazine, previously she wrote for both High Def Digest and Birth.Movies.Death. Though a lifelong horror film fan, she also loves a good musical or screwball comedy when the mood strikes.

Rachel West

Strategy Guru / Featured Critic

Rachel West is a producer for ET Canada with a B.A. (Honours) in Film Studies from Carleton University. She has interviewed everyone from Michael Fassbender to Miss Piggy and has reported live from TIFF, SXSW, Comic-Con, D23, the SAG Awards and the Golden Globes. Her film writing and interviews have appeared in publications including Globalnews.ca, Shaw Connect, The National Post, Toronto Film Scene, Cineplex Magazine, CAA Magazine, and more. Rachel’s hobbies include introducing herself to cats she meets on the street, travelling, quoting obscure lines from “The Simpsons” and posting all about it on Twitter. Rachel is a member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ).

Daniel Grant

Podcasts Manager

Daniel is a Toronto-based film and podcast lover. When he’s not going to the movies multiple times a week or listening to any and every comedy/entertainment news podcast, he actually finds time to host two of his own film-based podcasts. Daniel is also the author of the self-published novel Better Than Me.

Courtney Small

Featured Critic

Courtney is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic and co-host of the radio show Frameline. He has written for several publications including POV Magazine, Cinema Axis, Leonard Maltin, In the Seats, Black Girl Nerds, and Comix Asylum. He also discusses diversity in cinema as host of the Changing Reels podcast and is a member of both the Online Film Critics Society and the African American Film Critics Association.

Akash Singh

Featured Critic

Akash J. Saran (He/They) is a featured critic at That Shelf. Akash is several things in training: an attorney, novelist, and an experienced sodomite. They enjoy period pieces starring Dev Patel, films about writers making it in New York City, and the Paddington Cinematic Universe.

Manuel Betancourt

Featured Critic

Manuel Betancourt is a queer Colombian writer who believes everything you need to know about life you can learn from Pedro Almodóvar's 'All About My Mother.' He's a contributing editor to Film Quarterly and a film columnist at Electric Literature. He's a contributor to the award-winning graphic novel 'The Cardboard Kingdom' (2018) and its sequel, 'The Cardboard Kingdom: Roar of the Beast' (2021) as well as the author of the 33 1/3 book on 'Judy at Carnegie Hall' (2020). His work has appeared in The New York Times, Film Comment, Vulture, The Atlantic, and BuzzFeed Reader among others.

Shane Slater

Featured Critic

Shane Slater is a passionate cinephile whose love for film led him to creating his blog Film Actually in 2009. Since then, he has also written for AwardsCircuit.com, Awards Radar and The Spool, in addition to appearances on podcasts, radio and TV. Based in Kingston, Jamaica, he relishes the film festival experience, having covered DOC NYC, NewFest, NYFF, NewFest, PAFF-LA and TIFF among others. He is a proud member of the African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA).

Mel Valentin

Featured Critic

Mel Valentin has been writing about his first and possibly his last love, film, for more than a decade. Born somewhere on the East Coast in the last century, Mel moved to the San Francisco Bay Area two decades ago. Mel spends his days looking forward to when we can all return to movie theaters and film festivals in person.

Bobby Pashalidis

Games Editor

Bobby has been gaming since he was old enough to walk. Since then, the interest has only grown stronger, and here we are today. He is also Managing Editor at Console Creatures.