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Sundance 2025: Editor Interviews

A marquee of a movie theater illuminated at night.Photo by Maya Dehlin

Each year, Filmmaker sends all Sundance feature film or series editors a questionnaire to complete ahead of their film’s festival screening. We also send out a single question for feature directors to answer as well as questionnaires for cinematographers and first-time Sundance feature producers.

Below, find links to individual editor responses, which will be updated daily during the festival.

“Paring the Story Down to Its Bare Essentials”: Editor Joshua L. Pearson on Sly Lives

“What Paul Was Saying Was Very Reflective of Who He Was”: Editor Damian Rodriguez on Pee-wee as Himself

“It Was an Ambitious Project From the Get-go”: Editor Bryan Mason on Jimpa

“The Language of the Film Slowly Emerges in the Editing Room”: Editor Michal Reich on DJ Ahmet

“Amanda’s Approach is About Eclecticism”: Editor Benjamin Shearn on By Design

“Knowing How to Take Feedback Is an Art”: Editor Lev Lewis on Dead Lover

“The Power of Sounds, Spells, and the Sublime Unknown”: Editor Brett W. Bachman on Rabbit Trap

“I Am Always Mining for Gold in the Rushes”: Editor Fiona DeSouza on Brides

“Working With the Storyboard Was Crucial”: Editor Giorgia Villa on GEN_

“We Could Really Be Quite Merciless in the‬ Edit”: Editor Jennifer Vecchiarello on East of Wall

“Being Able to Do Even Crude Ideas Yourself as an Editor Is Really Valuable”: Editor Austin Reedy on The Librarians

“He Wanted To Share with People How To Embrace Death”: Editor Parker Laramie on André is an Idiot

“I Even Found Myself Taking Lines into My Personal Life”: Editor Berenice Chavez on Come See Me in the Good Light

“Present the Various Perspectives in Their Fullest Possible Sense”: Editor Graham Taylor on The Stringer

“The Film and My Understanding of It Really Changed”: Editor Nicolas Chaudeurge on Sukkwan Island

“An Entertaining Film About a Very Pressing and Complicated Topic”: Editor Nicolaj Monberg on Mr. Nobody Against Putin

“You Have to Give It the Love It Needs”: Editor Matthieu Bouchard on Two Women

“Each Set of Rushes Presents a Unique Puzzle”: Editor George Cragg on The Thing with Feathers

“This Experience Really Drives Home the Idea of What a Passion Project Really Is”: Editor Sydney Cowper on Endless Cookie

“Our Job Was To Create Two Movies”: Editor Brian Kates on Kiss of the Spider Woman

“The Best Collaborations Always Leave Me with Something New”: Editor Victoria Chalk on Third Act

“Narration is a Double-Edged Sword”: Editor Parker Laramie on Train Dreams

“Feedback Screenings Are Essential to the Process”: Editor Kayla Emter on Oh, Hi!

“A Process of Small but Important Adjustments”: Editor Anadi Athaley on Sabar Bonda (Cactus Pears)

“I Wanted to Make Sure the Energy of the Place Was Preserved”: Editor Chelsi Johnston on Sunfish

“The Intense, Emotional Journey of Navigating One’s Queerness”: Editor Erik Vogt-Nilsen on Plainclothes

“Our Work is More Akin to Writing”: Editor Jeremy Stulberg on Move Ya Body: The Birth of House

“Connect Images in the Edit Based on an Analysis of Characters”: Editor Cooper Raiff on Hal & Harper

“What It Means to be a Human Straddling These Two Worlds”: Editor Nick Rondeau on Serious People

“I’d Waited My Whole Career for a Director To Ask Me To Do That”: Editor Shawn Paper, Love, Brooklyn

“The Story was Unfolding in Real Time”: Editor Emelie Mahdavian on Heightened Scrutiny

“We Were the First Audience for Our Editing Work”: Editors Sara Khaki & Mohammadreza Eyni on Cutting Through Rocks

“Bringing Light to Darkness Does Motivate My Choice”: Editor Don Bernier, Life After

“It’s Wonderful to Aim for the Poetic”: Editor Julian Hart on Never Get Busted

“I’d Have Done This One on iMovie if They’d Asked Me To”: Editor Christopher Passig on Middletown

“Look at This Not as Reportage of an Event, But as a Metaphor”: Editor Yousef Jubeh on Khartoum

“Keep Working with the Psychology of the Characters”: Editor Linda Man on Sauna

“I Often Think of Doc Editing as Being Similar to Poetry”: Editors Kate Hackett & Andy McAllister on Sally

“Enter into Disagreements with More Compassion”: Editors Hannah Gabriel, Rubin Daniels Jr., Leslie Simmer and Elise Ahrens on Bucks County, USA

“Any Type of Work Has Things to Teach”: Editor Geoffrey Boothby on Didn’t Die

“Loads of the Story Was Abstracted”: Editor Irfan Van Tuijl on Mad Bills to Pay

“The Final Film Often Grows From a Process of Letting Go of Preconceived Ideas…” Editor Stephania Dulowski on Bunnylvr

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