Editing Day (Nov. 13)

Be part of this current debate within the editing community: The editor as a writer. How does the documentary editor collaborate in the storytelling process and how is their role akin to that of a writer? What is writing in the edit room? This panel will examine the role that editors play in crafting, guiding and refining the final cut of a film. Cinque Northern (Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices from A Plantation Prison), Nyneve Laura Minnear (The Art of Making It) and David Teague (Life, Animated) shed insight into their roles as writers in post-production and unpack this timely topic. Director/producer Cyndee Readdean (Boston School Battle) will contribute her insight.

From first-time filmmaker Rebeca Huntt and editor Isabel Freeman, Beba is a coming of age memoir where deep insight into the impact of generational trauma emerges in this award winning documentary. In conversation with Jevon Heyliger, Senior Editor at Warner Bros. Discovery, Rebeca explores the art of remaining vulnerable while editing self-portraiture with her stunning film. Rebeca will highlight the editing choices she made to impactfully tell her family’s story of love, trauma, and healing.

Don Argott (Framing John DeLorean) hosts a vibrant conversation with series director Ethan Hawke and editor Barry Poltermann as they go behind the scenes of their complex, acclaimed storytelling endeavor that explores the careers and decades-long relationship of Hollywood icons Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman. Creating a compelling story in the edit room that honors Newman and Woodward’s expansive careers and rocky marriage is a feat. Add to the mix access to a treasure trove of rich archival material plus thousands of pages of written transcript from Newman’s unpublished memoir and we have a multilayered editing experience.

This panel explores how authorship plays out in complex, often messy ways during the creative process in the edit room. While there is a widening understanding of the importance of diverse teams, the reality is that BIPOC editors are sometimes brought in to mostly white productions to fill a checkbox for funders and streamers, or the editor is tasked with providing “authenticity” and expertise based on their identity. This panel will shine a critical light on these problematic dynamics, and in response, ask: What does a fruitful, creative collaboration look like when issues of voice, power, and authorship are navigated? Taking an unfiltered approach, panelists will share their struggles and triumphs of working in the creative documentary space. Moderated by Carla Gutierrez (Julia), panelists include Rebecca Adorno (Homeroom), Jason Pollard (Louis Armstrong’s Black and Blues) and Gerardo del Valle from the Firelight Media and BIPOC Docs Editor’s Group communities.