
Beth Accomando
Arts & Culture ReporterBeth Accomando covers arts and culture around San Diego for KPBS News. Beth studied film at UCSD and had her student film Writer’s Notebook screened as part of the Museum of Contemporary Art’s "Forty-Two Emerging Artists" showcase in 1981. She has edited the sequels to "The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" and video documentaries on Billy Wilder and roller hockey. Beth is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association and Online Film Critics Society, and is the past President and former Education Chairperson for the San Diego Film Critics Society. She served as the festival director of Film School Confidential: A Showcase of San Diego Student Filmmaking. In the past she has served on the film selection committee for the San Diego State University Student Film Festival, San Diego International Film Festival and San Diego Latino Film Festival. Now she volunteers as part of The Film Geeks at the Digital Gym Cinema to bring independent and envelope-pushing genre filmmaking to the Media Arts Center San Diego's micro cinema. Beth has been a film critic for more than 25 years and began at KPBS in 1987. Since 1997 she has been covering independent and international cinema as well as pop culture for National Public Radio and Public Radio International’s The World. She has received numerous Society of Professional Journalist Awards and San Diego Press Club Awards for her radio and web site work at KPBS. She has also received 11 southwestern area Emmy Awards in the categories of producing, writing, and sound design for promotional spots as well as national Pro Max and Telly Awards while working at Fox. She has a passion for Hong Kong cinema, Japanese monster movies, horror, and film noir. She collects movie posters and toys, and loves putting on a haunted house every year.
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This story originally ran in 2019. We're resurfacing it as a time capsule of standout cosplay and fan creativity (and because Dragpool still lives rent-free in our brains).
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Fast cars? Superheroes? Laugh-out-loud comedies? Here's what to watch at the cinemas this summer.
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First published in 2019, this story features Comic-Con spokesperson David Glanzer recalling his early days attending as a fan — including meeting Matt Groening before "The Simpsons."
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We're revisiting this 2024 feature on San Diego comics creators Chris Ryall and Scott Dunbier as Comic-Con season returns.
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WorldBeat Cultural Center's Juneteenth celebration features the unveiling of a community quilt and honors the artistry, history and deeper meaning behind African American quilting traditions.
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This story was first published in 2019, marking the 50th Comic-Con in San Diego. We're bringing it back in 2025 to celebrate the fans who helped shape the convention into what it is today.
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Filmmaker Alex Rivest talks about 'Canary' and what glaciers can tell us.
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