About Us

BIOS

Adam Kempenaar is the co-founder and co-host of Filmspotting, as well as a Professor at the University of Iowa, where he teaches courses in Journalism and Mass Communication and Sport and Recreation Management. Previously, Adam was VP of Marketing and Content for the Chicago Blackhawks. For the Blackhawks, he served as producer on two Stanley Cup championship movies, "17 Seconds” and “Hat Trick”, and Editor of three championship books. A member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, he is also a Marketing Consultant for the Chicago International Film Festival. He holds an M.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication and a B.A. in Communication Studies/Film from Iowa, and a B.A. in English from Grinnell College.

Josh Larsen officially joined Filmspotting as co-host in January 2012 following guest appearances on episodes #371 and #376. Prior to that, he spent 11 years as a film critic for Chicago-based Sun-Times Media. A member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Josh writes about movies at LarsenOnFilm and is the author of Movies Are Prayers and Fear Not! A Christian Appreciation of Horror Movies. Since 2017, he has led “Ebert Interruptus,” a tradition established by Roger Ebert, which analyzes a single film scene by scene over several days at the University of Colorado’s Conference on World Affairs.

Sam Van Hallgren co-founded Filmspotting and has served as producer since Fall 2010. He was the original co-host before leaving in August 2007 (ep. #176)… "Golden" Joe DeCeault is also a Filmspotting producer and was instrumental in bringing the show to WBEZ/Chicago Public Radio (91.5 FM) in 2006… Michael Phillips, the Chicago Tribune's film critic, is a regular contributor and guest host.