Emanuel Levy

Film Critic, US

Dr. Emanuel Levy belongs to a small group of scholars who have juggled a dual career, as a film professor (M.A. and Ph.D. Columbia University) and as a film critic (senior critic for Variety, chief critic for Screen InternationalFinancial Times).  A three-year president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, he has served on the juries of 68 international Film Festivals, including Cannes, Venice, Locarno, San Francisco, Toronto, Hawaii, and Sundance. Among his nine film books are All About Oscar: The History and Politics of the Academy Awards (now in its 11th edition), Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film, a biography of George Cukor, Master of Elegance, and first biography of Vincente Minnelli, Hollywood’s Dark Dreamer. His latest book, Gay Directors examines the careers and works of Almodóvar, Terence Davies, Todd Haynes, Gus Van Sant, and John Waters. Levy is the only critic in the U.S. who’s a voting member of eight groups, including the HFPA, which he joined in 2000, NYFC, LAFCA, NSFC, Galeca, Cinema for Peace, OFCS (On Line Film Critics Society).  In 2003, he established the highly acclaimed website, Cinema 24/7, which now contains over 28,000 reviews and essays.