Sabine Hoffman
Editor/Producer
Editing (Nov. 12)
Case studies from prominent editors will elucidate the craft and help build your editor’s toolkit. Insider tips on how to craft scenes for maximum storytelling impact will also be highlighted. Special interactive panel exploring mental health care for documentary editors.
Editing Day is co-presented by:
In the Festival Lounge, the day starts with Breakfast (9-10AM) and ends with a Happy Hour (4:30-5:30PM) co-presented by Portrait Creative Network.
10-11:15AM
AI in the Edit Room: A Double-Edged Sword
Members of the Association of Cinema Editors Sabine Hoffman (Coded Bias), Rabab Haj Yahya (The Feeling of Being Watched), and generative AI expert Lucien Harriot (Mechanism Digital) showcase cutting-edge AI tools that are transforming documentary editing. Through live demonstrations, they’ll explore both the exciting possibilities and the potential downsides of this evolving technology. Along with Stephanie Jenkins (Archival Producers Alliance), the panel will weigh the pros and cons of AI in editing, discussing its impact on the craft and the ethical concerns it brings. Don’t miss this deep dive into how AI is reshaping the future of filmmaking.
Sabine Hoffman
Editor/Producer
Sabine Hoffman, ACE has edited award-winning fiction feature films for over 20 years for Rebecca Miller (Personal Velocity, The Ballad Of Jack And Rose, The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee, Maggie’s Plan, She Came To Me), Richard LaGravenese (The Last Five Years), Julie Taymor (The Glorias), Rebecca Hall (Passing), A.V. Rockwell (A Thousand And One), Roger Ross Williams (Cassandro) and Tony Goldwyn (Ezra). Sabine is also an editor on Pachinko and numerous documentary films including Academy Award-nominated Ferry Tales, Thomas Allan Harris’ The Twelve Disciples Of Nelson Mandela, Laura Poitras’ Terror Contagion and is the co-producer of Shalini Kantayya’s films Catching The Sun and Emmy-nominated Coded Bias. She serves as an adjunct at Columbia University, as a consultant and mentor to film making organizations such as the Gotham, Firelight Media, Reel Works and the Sundance Institute and is a member of AMPAS.
Stephanie Jenkins
Co-founder, Archival Producers Alliance
Stephanie Jenkins
Co-founder, Archival Producers Alliance
Rabab Haj Yahya
Editor
Rabab Haj Yahya
Editor
Rabab Haj Yahya (She/Her) is a Palestinian-American documentary editor based in New York. She is best known for The Feeling of Being Watched (Tribeca, 2018 | POV, 2019), which earned her the Best Editing Award at Woodstock Film Festival (2018), and the Critic’s Choice-nominated Speed Sisters (Hot Docs, 2015 | Netflix). More recently, she edited the Emmy-nominated Another Body, which received the Special Jury Award for Innovation in Storytelling at SXSW (2023), two episodes of the Emmy-Award Winning series Through Our Eyes (HBOMax, 2024), How We Get Free (HBOMax, 2023), The Legend of the Underground (Tribeca, 2021 | HBOMax), and the Emmy-nominated Apart (Hot Docs, 2021).
Rabab serves as a Sundance Institute Documentary Edit and Story Lab advisor (2023). She has also mentored for Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Chicken & Egg, and the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship (2022-2024). Fluent in English, Arabic, and Hebrew.
Lucien Harriot
Mechanism Digital Inc.
Lucien Harriot
Mechanism Digital Inc.
Lucien Harriot, President & VFX Supervisor of Mechanism Digital since 1996, has been producing award-winning visual effects, animation, and emerging media for film, TV, and marketing in New York City. Leveraging new technologies and advanced workflows including GenAI, the team at Mechanism enhances production value for professional entertainment and marketing storytellers. As a trailblazer in computer-generated imagery and visual effects, Lucien’s work spans feature films, episodic content, animation, medical education, and corporate communications. The studio has collected numerous awards by combining an expertise in animation and visual effects with clients’ deep understanding of brand, together we hold the key to the best solutions for each project.
11:30-12:45PM
Crafting the Cut with David Teague, Part I
This two-part session explores the art of editing in documentary film, using rough cuts and final scenes from veteran editor David Teague’s films including Frida, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, Life, Animated, and Cutie and the Boxer. We’ll examine the techniques that create powerful openings, maintain narrative flow, and shape memorable endings, revealing the editing choices that turn raw footage into compelling stories.
David Teague
Editor
David Teague
Editor
David Teague is an Emmy-winning documentary film editor, writer and producer. His work as an editor includes the Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning Life Animated, the Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning Cutie and the Boxer, the Independent Spirit-nominated The Departure, and the Oscar-winning Freeheld. He wrote and produced Stamped from the Beginning, based on the book by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. Stamped was shortlisted for an Academy Award and David was nominated for an Emmy and a Writers Guild Award for his work on the film. He was the supervising editor for the Sundance-winning Frida and the Emmy-nominated Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields. He wrote the fiction film Cassandro with director Roger Ross Williams, starring Gael García Bernal, which premiered at Sundance 2023 and was nominated for a GLAAD award. David has served as an editing mentor with IFP/Gotham, Firelight, Tribeca, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Catapult True/False Rough Cut Retreat, and the Sundance Institute.
1:45-3PM
Collaborative Filmmaking, Accessibility and Editing
Accessibility is key to inclusive storytelling. In this panel, we’ll explore how to work in collaboration with film participants throughout the editing process, how to incorporate feedback, and how to center accessibility as a cornerstone throughout. Director Alexis Neophytides (Fire Through Dry Grass) and director/producer Set Hernandez and protagonist/co-writer Pedro (Unseen) discuss their challenges with moderator Nefertiti Matos Olivares (Descriptive Video Works) and some of the ingenious solutions that arose during their own collaborative filmmaking processes.
Set Hernandez
Director/Producer
Set Hernandez
Director/Producer
Set Hernandez is a filmmaker and community organizer whose roots come from Bicol, Philippines. As a queer, undocumented immigrant, they dedicate their filmmaking to expand the portrayal of their communities on screen. Set’s past documentary work includes the award-winning short Cover/Age (2019) and impact producing for Call Her Ganda (Tribeca, 2018). An alumnus of the Disruptors Fellowship, Set is also developing a TV comedy pilot and a feature-length screenplay. Since 2010, Set has been organizing around migrant justice issues, from deportation defense to healthcare access. They co-founded the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective which promotes equity for undocumented immigrants in the film industry. Set’s work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, NBCUniversal, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, among others. In their past life, Set was a published linguistics researcher, focusing in the area of bilingualism. Above all, Set is the fruit of their family’s love and their community’s generosity.
Alexis Neophytides
Director
Alexis Neophytides
Director
Alexis Neophytides is a documentary filmmaker and educator based in New York City. Her work centers around community and how we find meaning in people and place. She is the co-creator/co-director/producer of Neighborhood Slice, a public television documentary series that tells the stories of longtime New Yorkers who’ve held onto their little corner of the city despite fast-growing gentrification. She produced and directed the series 9.99, for which she won a NY Emmy. Her first feature-length documentary, Dear Thirteen, explores coming of age in the modern world and premiered at DOC NYC in 2022. She is a Sundance Institute Documentary Film Grantee for her second feature, Fire Through Dry Grass, co-directed with Andres “Jay” Molina. Fire Through Dry Grass premiered at BlackStar in 2023, where it won the jury award for best feature documentary. It will be broadcast on POV/PBS in late 2023. Alexis holds a BA from Brown University and an MA in Media Studies from The New School.
Nefertiti Matos Olivares
Workflow Manager, Descriptive Video Works
Nefertiti Matos Olivares
Workflow Manager, Descriptive Video Works
I am a blind bilingual Latina deeply committed to ensuring that culture is a shared space for all, a fervent advocate for disability inclusion, and a lover of documentary films. In my role as Workflow Manager for Quality and Inclusion at Descriptive Video Works, I am dedicated to developing pathways and building frameworks for gainful employment of the blind and low vision community in the AD industry. A professional voice talent, you can hear my Audio Description narration in many independent films as well as on the Emmy-winning short My Disability Roadmap, Hot Docs Official Selection Unseen,, and Netflix’s Jennifer Lopez: Halftime. I am particularly passionate about creating culturally competent Audio Description. I am a member of the Social Audio Description Collective, co-host the Blind-Centered Audio Description Chat series, and I proudly run the Audio Description LinkedIn Group and the Audio Description X Community where all things AD are welcome.
3:15-4:30PM
Case Study: Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
Embark on a journey through the heart of Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project in this captivating panel discussion. Explore the documentary’s intricate editing process and uncover the storytelling secrets that make this film a powerful narrative. Go behind the scenes with co-director and co-producer Joe Brewster, additional editor/consulting editor Regi Allen and moderator Adam Lingo (National Geographic) as they explore the challenges and creative choices that brought Nikki Giovanni’s remarkable journey to life on screen. Whether you’re a budding filmmaker, a fan of this documentary, or simply curious about the art of storytelling, this panel promises an illuminating exploration of the documentary’s editing process and narrative craft.
Joe Brewster
Director
Joe Brewster
Director
Joe Brewster is a Harvard-trained physician and an award-winning immersive and documentary filmmaker whose character-driven work challenges the audience to envision an equitable future. He is a Spirit Award and four-time Emmy nominee. Brewster, a two-time Sundance jury prize winner, resides in Brooklyn with his partner, Michèle Stephenson (and cat, Tama).
Regi Allen
Editor
Regi Allen
Editor
Regi Allen is a 2X Emmy® award-winning editor, producer, and media design artist. He is the creative director, editorial kingpin, and producer for the post-production collective Niceandcreative.
Regi has edited and produced various works and specials for MTV, Discovery Channel, ABC, HBO, BBC, IFC, ESPN, Investigation (ID), TLC, SyFy, Showtime, NATGEO, TV One, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google and Disney, as well as several corporate and private companies. He has received two EMMY Awards for editing and multi-camera editing, one for Children’s Television Workshop’s Sesame Street and another for ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings/The Century. In addition, Mr. Allen has won numerous BDA and Telly Awards for editing.
Regi lives between Washington, DC, Panama City, Panama, and London, England. Niceandcreative. is a multicultural collective of editors, colorists, and mixers providing tons of post-production services. Regi was featured this past year as a featured editor and post-production designer for Rada Film Group’s Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project. The film premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival and won the U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Award.
Adam Lingo
Senior Editor
Adam Lingo
Senior Editor
Adam Lingo is currently a Lead Senior Editor at National Geographic. He is excited to work on projects that challenge and explore our shared humanity. His significant credits include the one hour special Black Travel Across America premiering February 6th for National Geographic, Frontline: The Healthcare Divide (nominated for 2022 Peabody & National Emmy), the PBS verité documentary series 180 Days: A Year Inside an American High School (2014 Peabody award), numerous large and small format videos for the opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (2016), the PBS Frontline: Blackout in Puerto Rico (2019 Loeb Award), Robert Rauschenberg: Inventive Genius for the PBS American Masters Series (1999), and Great Books: The Autobiography of Malcolm X for the Learning Channel (1999 national Emmy nomination).
To experience the DOC NYC PRO lineup, purchase an individual PRO Day Pass (via the Buy Ticket button) to hone in on a specific subject, or benefit from discounted pricing when you purchase Multi-Day Pass Packs to an assortment of topics.
DOC NYC PRO is co-presented by:
