This session of DOCUMENTARY FUNDAMENTALS is about editing your next documentary. How can documentary directors work effectively with editors, sound designers, and other essential post-production talent?  How does a story emerge from a pile of footage?  Can you really “fix it in post”?  What is an online edit and can you do it yourself?

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DOCUMENTARY FUNDAMENTALS: A professional development series designed to give the emerging or intermediate documentary filmmaker an inside look at the filmmaking process from pre-production planning to post-production and distribution. Over the past few years, UnionDocs has developed this ongoing program for documentarians that desire a better foundation for navigating the modern landscape of independent filmmaking. This six-part program takes place over the course of one weekend at UnionDocs. Buy a SERIES PASS ($175) or choose to attend individual sessions ($35/each).

Instructors

Katyann Gonzalez is a video editor born, bred and living in New York. Having worked in documentary post-production for the majority of her career, she recently made the jump into the narrative space on the upcoming A24 film, Death of a Unicorne. She has worked as an assistant editor on several documentaries and docuseries which had major streaming distribution (HBO, Netflix, etc.) and successful film festival runs (Sundance, True/False, Camden, Sheffield, and more.) Some of the titles include Union, Time Bomb Y2K, and Love Has Won. Katyann is also a 2024 Karen Schmeer Editing Fellow under the mentorship of Penny Falk and Toby Shimin in a cohort of 6 talented editors in NYC. She also works as a colorist for fashion films, short films, branded content, and music videos and in 2023 she color graded a feature-length documentary called Divisible.

David Teague is an Emmy-winning documentary film editor and writer. 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, the Emmy-nominated E-TEAM, and the Oscar-winning Freeheld. As a consulting editor, he worked on American Factory, Knock Down the House, Crip Camp, Cameraperson, Welcome to Chechnya, Mayor, and Athlete A. He wrote the fiction film Cassandro with director Roger Ross Williams, starring Gael García Bernal (Sundance 2023). David has served as an editing mentor with IFP/Gotham, Firelight, Catapult & True/False, Brown Girls Doc Mafia and the Sundance Institute.