That Shelf

Will Perkins

Publisher / Founder

Will Perkins is a film and game journalist and marketing professional based in Toronto, Ontario. He co-founded ThatShelf.com with Jeff Brown and Lucas Rizoli in 2009. He has contributed to such outlets as Yahoo Movies, Design Bureau, Kill Screen, Maxim and Steel Bananas – work that has afforded him the opportunity to interview some of the world’s most acclaimed filmmakers, actors, and game designers. Will is also Editor at Large and co-owner of Art of the Title. He lectures internationally on the subject of film and TV title design.

Email - [email protected]

Jason Gorber

Editor-in-Chief / Chief Critic

Jason Gorber is a film journalist and member of the Toronto Film Critics Association, OFCS and the Critics Choice Association. He is CBC Radio Metro Morning's Film Correspondent, and regularly contributes to POV Magazine, RogerEbert.com and CBC Radio's q programme. His writing has appeared in Esquire, The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Screen Anarchy (aka TwitchFilm), SlashFilm, HighDefDigest, Birth.Movies.Death, IndieWire and more. He has appeared on CTV NewsChannel, CP24, 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, Festival Regard and Fantasia's New Flesh Award. Jason has been a Tomatometer-approved critic for over 20 years.

Emma Badame

Managing Editor / Social Media Director / Film Critic

Emma is a Grade-A pop culture nerd. Aside from garnering her a one-time win on Jeopardy!, she's parlayed that passion into a career⁠—interviewing everyone from Emma Thompson to Yorgos Lanthimos. She has produced extensive coverage of TIFF, Comic-Con, and D23, and has been featured on/in eTalk, The Mary Sue, Cineplex Magazine, Smart Entertainment, MuchMusic, CTV's PopLife, CityTV's Breakfast Television, and more. Emma is a film programmer with the Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival, a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic and a member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ). If she's not watching movies or TV, she's probably planning another trip to London or watching another British panel show.

Victor Stiff

Associate Editor / News Editor / Senior Critic

Victor Stiff is a Toronto-based entertainment journalist and member of the Toronto Film Critics Association. He is the News Editor and Senior Critic at ThatShelf.com and host of Dope Black Movies on YouTube. Victor has contributed to the Canadian Academy, POV Magazine, Global News, The Playlist, Screen Rant, We Got This Covered, In the Seats, and Sordid Cinema. Victor received the TFCA’s 2019 Emerging Critic award and served as a jury member at the 49th Festival du nouveau cinéma. He’s currently a programmer for the Rendezvous With Madness Festival.

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 publisher and co-editor 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 a Toronto Film Critics Association and the Online Film Critics Society. He lives in Toronto with his cat, Fellini.

Deirdre Crimmins

Senior 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

Senior Critic / Strategy Guru

Rachel West is a former senior producer for ET Canada and Cineplex 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, CinemaCon, the SAG Awards and the Golden Globes. Her film writing and interviews have appeared in publications and outlets including Global News, Shaw Connect, The National Post, Toronto Film Scene, Cineplex Magazine, CAA Magazine, Mondo Magazine, Discover Toronto 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) and is on the jury for the 2021 Rising Sun International Film Festival.

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 the Toronto Film Critics Association, the Online Film Critics Society and the African American Film Critics Association.

Rachel Ho

Featured Critic

Rachel Ho is the Film Editor for Exclaim!, a regular contributor for POV Magazine and That Shelf, and can be heard on Contra Zoom Pod. She is also a member of the Toronto Film Critics Association and received their 2021 Emerging Critic Award. In 2022, Rachel served as a jury member for the Lavazza IncluCity Festival and Festival du nouveau cinéma.

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.

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, 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.

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.

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.