Andrew Sarris was born in Brooklyn, New York on October 31, 1928, and grew up in Queens, New York. Sarris graduated from Columbia College in 1951. He married Molly Haskell in 1969. He began writing for Film Culture, then began reviewing films for The Village Voice, where he reviewed for 29 years. Sarris authored the book, "The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968." He also worked as a film professor at Columbia University's School of the Arts and other universities. Sarris died June 20, 2012.

James Vincent D'Arc was born in Los Angeles, California on August 7, 1950. In the early 1970s, D'Arc was accepted into Brigham Young University, where he majored in history. A film appreciation class taught by Dr. Charles M. Metten in 1973 motivated D’Arc to receive a PhD in film history from BYU in 1986. During his time as a student, he was also hired in what was then called the "Archives and Manuscripts Division” at BYU, where he began gathering film-related materials for the Archives. During 1990 D'Arc was also employed as a professor of film in BYU's Theatre and Media Arts College in addition to his position as a curator. James D'Arc retired from BYU in August 2017.