Editors
Interviews - Editors
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“I Usually Prefer To Embrace the Rushes as a Whole”: Editor Hoping Chen on Drift
Drift, the latest feature from Singaporean director Anthony Chen, follows Jacqueline (Cynthia Erivo), who finds herself struggling to scrape by on a Greek island after fleeing Liberia during the war. The daughter of a wealthy government loyalist, this new rough and tumble lifestyle is far from the luxurious life she used to live. When she meets Callie (Alia Shawkat), an American tourist traveling solo, she is charmed and takes a risk by forming a connection with her. Chen’s longtime editor Hoping Chen discusses the process of working on this film, revealing many of his established cutting habits. See all responses […]
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“The Tonal Balance Was a Bit of a Tightrope”: Editor Jacob Craycroft on Cat Person
Cat Person, the viral short story that originally appeared in The New Yorker is now a feature film from director Susanna Fogel. Editor Jacob Craycroft tells Filmmaker about bringing the re-imagined feminist cautionary tale to life in the cutting room. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. 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 for this job? Craycroft: As with most of my jobs that aren’t with repeat filmmakers, this came through my agent. I had read the short […]
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“It’s Great When an Idea Is Transformed So Much That the Author Is Rendered Unknown”: Editor Jon Philpot on Theater Camp
A dysfunctional summer camp for thespians in upstate New York is the setting of Theater Camp, the co-directing effort of Molly Gordon (who also stars as quirky counselor Rebecca-Diane) and Nick Lieberman. Editor Jon Philpot discusses the process of cutting the mockumentary-style film. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. 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 for this job? Philpot: The directors, Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman, found me on IMDB while looking for editors that worked on […]
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“From the First Assembly, I Knew the Film Was There”: Editor Lindsay Armstrong on Young. Wild. Free.
Teenagers Brandon (Algee Smith) and Cassidy (Sierra Capri) form a perilous romance that rivals Bonnie and Clyde’s in Young. Wild. Free., director Thembi Banks’s feature debut. Filmmaker asked editor Lindsay Armstrong about her experience cutting the film, including the unexpected importance of VFX. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. 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 for this job? Armstrong: Director Thembi Banks and I met and became good friends while working towards our MFAs in Film Production […]
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“When a Place Is Transformed and Scrubbed, so Are the Original Memories”: Editor Mel Mel Sukekawa-Mooring on The Stroll
In The Stroll, the gentrification of New York City’s Meatpacking District is told through the history of the trans sex workers who long worked and resided in the neighborhood. Through extensive archival materials and intimate interviews, co-directors Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker explore how police violence factored into the downfall of “The Stroll” where this community would congregate. Editor Mel Mel Sukekawa-Mooring discusses cutting the film, also touching on the “roundabout journey” that brought them to the industry. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your […]
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“I Never Realized How Gifted He Is With Comic Timing”: Editor Michael Harte on STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie
The life and career of Michael J. Fox is told through recreations of his most iconic acting roles in STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie. Editor Michael Harte tells Filmmaker about working on the latest film from Davis Guggenheim. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. 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 for this job? Harte: I grew up in the 80s so like a lot of people my age I loved Michael’s movies as a kid. They […]
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“The World Just Sounded Different 50 Years Ago”: Editors Peter Hagan and Lawrence Klein on Fairyland
Based on Alysia Abbott’s memoir of the same name, Fairyland chronicles Alysia’s (Emilia Jones’s) coming of age in the ’70s and ’80s. After her mother dies, her father moves to San Francisco with the then-5-year-old Alysia and begins openly dating men. The film follows Alysia’s ever-evolving relationship with her father as she relocates to New York for college, travels to France for a study abroad program and eventually returns home to San Francisco. Co-editors Peter Hagan and Lawrence Klein discuss how they worked together to cut Andrew Durham’s debut feature. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: […]
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“Even the Biggest Fight Scene Was Ultimately About Character”: Editor Robbie Morrison on Polite Society
When Ria’s (Priya Kansara) big sister Lena (Ritu Arya) announces that she’s dropping out of art school and getting married, she immediately knows that something’s not right. As such, the London schoolgirl and aspiring martial artist recruits a couple of friends to save Lena from her own wedding before she moves to Singapore with her new beau. Robbie Morrison tells Filmmaker about cutting Polite Society, writer-director Nida Manzoor’s debut feature. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that […]
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“Develop a Workflow to Effectively ‘Play Ping-pong'”: Editors Roman Liubyi and Mila Zhluktenko on Iron Butterflies
Ukrainian director Roman Liubyi’s Iron Butterflies examines the ramifications of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down by Russian forces as it passed over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 passengers on board. With an intricate nonfiction narrative laid out by Liubyi and Mila Zhluktenko, Iron Butterflies confronts the political aftermath of this atrocity. Liubyi and Zhluktenko discuss the process of cutting Iron Butterflies, as well as their involvement in the Babylon’13 film collective. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your […]
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“The Feeling of Interconnectedness We Share as Humans”: Editor Chris McNabb on Invisible Beauty
The impressive life and career of model and activist Bethann Hardison is the focus of Invisible Beauty, co-directed by Frédéric Tcheng and Hardison herself. From Hardison’s experience as a Black runway model in the ’70s to her vocal advocacy for more diversity in the fashion world in the 2000s, her decades-spanning commitment to fighting racism in the field is front and center in this documentary. Editor Chris McNabb details their experience cutting the film, which included incorporating Hardison’s memoir-writing journey. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor […]
