Editors
Interviews - Editors
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“More Eyes, More Money and More Pressure”: Editor Casey Brooks on Landline
Gillian Robespierre assembled a familiar team for her second film. Like her 2014 breakthrough Obvious Child, Landline features the work of DP Chris Teague, co-writer/producer Elisabeth Holm, star Jenny Slate and editor Casey Brooks. In the below interview, conducted before the film’s world premiere at Sundance 2017, Brooks discusses the film’s balance of comedy and drama, his entry into editing and dealing with heightened expectations in the wake of Obvious Child. Landline costars John Turturro, Edie Falco, Abby Quinn and Jay Duplass. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to […]
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“Letting Moments Breathe and Have the Space to Flourish”: Editor Joi McMillon on Lemon
Joi McMillon received an Eddie Award nomination earlier this year for her work on Moonlight. An editor on a number of shorts and TV series, including an episode of Girls, McMillon’s newest feature is Lemon from writer/director Janicza Bravo. Filmmaker, which hailed Bravo as one of its 25 New Faces in 2014, spoke with McMillon before the 2017 Sundance Film Festival about the genre-defying new film. McMillon discussed the film’s unique blend of comedy and drama, the importance of an unspoken glance and her cinematic influences. Lemon stars Brett Gelman, Judy Greer and Michael Cera. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of […]
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“Getting the Right Balance Between Clarity and Intrigue”: Editor Anna Price on Tokyo Idols
Kyoko Miyake explores issues of gender and power dynamics in Japanese pop culture with her new documentary Tokyo Idols. Her film focuses on Ri Ri, an aspiring pop singer, and the adult male super-fans who surround her. Miyake hired doc editor Anna Price to help shape her hours of footage into a coherent statement on a unique (and, to many, unsavory) cultural phenomenon. Price spoke with Filmmaker about the project prior to its premiere in the doc competition at Sundance 2017. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired […]
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“I Tend to View Myself as the First Audience”: Editor Michael Taylor on Deidra & Laney Rob a Train
Michael Taylor has cut more than 40 films since he entered the world of independent film editing in 2003. Taylor’s work has included Sundance premieres Entertainment and Love Is Strange along with other recent indies such as Elvis & Nixon and The Loneliest Planet. One of two features he edited to screen at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, Deidra & Laney Rob a Train is the Netflix-financed second feature from Sydney Freeland (Drunktown’s Finest). Taylor spoke with Filmmaker ahead of the film’s premiere about his editing process, editing VFX shots and why he views himself as “an intermediary between the director and the audience.” Filmmaker: […]
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“My Heart Continues to Break”: Editor Aaron I. Butler on Cries from Syria
Documentary director Evgeny Afineevsky earned an Oscar nomination for his 2015 film Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom. He returns two years later with Cries from Syria, which premiered this week at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The film’s editor, Aaron I. Butler, spoke with Filmmaker before the festival about how he and Afineevsky sought to tell this difficult story. Among many issues, Butler discusses the fine line between crafting an honest portrayal of Syria and showing images too brutal for audiences to handle. Butler’s previous editing credits include The Sixties, I Am Michael and In Dubious Battle. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
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“Cutting Has Been a Constant Learning Experience”: Editor Jack Hutchings on Berlin Syndrome
Over the last 14 years, Jack Hutchings has edited four short films that have screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival: Yardbird (2012), Jerrycan (2008), Nature’s Way (2006) and Cracker Bag (2003). His latest feature, Berlin Syndrome, is a German-set thriller that premiered at this year’s Sundance. The film concerns an Australian tourist in Berlin who has an erotic fling with a schoolteacher that turns into a tale of captor and prisoner. The film marks the return of director Cate Shortland, whose last film Lore screened at festivals across the world. Below, Hutchings discusses his working dynamic with Shortland, the importance of test screenings and shaping the […]
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“Not Just Talking Heads”: Editor Davis Coombe on Chasing Coral
The creators of Chasing Coral had a key goal: to make an environmental documentary with a personal, non-political approach. As editor Davis Coombe tells Filmmaker below, he and director Jeff Orlowski “had no interest in making a political film.” Their film, instead, focuses on the personal narratives of a group of people seeking to capture the phenomenon of “coral bleaching” on film. Ahead of the film’s six screenings at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, Coombe discusses the task of simplifying a scientific story without dumbing it down. He also lays out how he and Orlowski sought to strip the film of expository passages to create […]
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“Accessing Their Intimacy with Respect”: Editor Sofia Subercaseaux on Dina
Four years ago, Sofia Subercaseaux was using YouTube tutorials to teach herself how to edit a feature film. She has since gone on to edit Nasty Baby, Christine and now Dina, the new documentary from Mala Mala directors Dan Sickles and Antonio Santini. Dina documents the lives of Dina and Scott, a couple very much in love but with profound complications when it comes to physical intimacy. Before the film’s debut at Sundance 2017, Subercaseaux spoke with Filmmaker about how she broke into editing, working with two directors and the task of shaping hours of documentary footage into a final narrative. Filmmaker: How and […]
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Editor Azin Samari on Sundance Surfing Documentary Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton
Editor Azin Samari has cut everything from reality TV shows like The Bachelorette and The Hills to award-winning documentaries such as The September Issue. For her latest feature, Samari edited Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton, a documentary on the celebrity surfer from director Rory Kennedy (Last Days in Vietnam). We spoke with Samari before the film’s premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Below, Samari speaks about her previous work with Kennedy, her love of Thelma Schoonmaker and cracking the veneer of a media-savvy figure like Hamilton. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your […]
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“Chronic Illness Doesn’t Lead to Tidy Endings”: Editor Kim Roberts on Unrest
Jennifer Brea had a challenge: to make a film from bed. Brea was a PhD student at Harvard when a sudden illness left her bedridden. She sought to create a documentary portrait of her experience and found support from labs at Sundance, IFP and elsewhere. She premiered Unrest, her debut film, in competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Kim Roberts, an editor and writer on the film, spoke with Filmmaker about what drew her to the project and finding the right tone for a story this personal. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What […]
