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?  How does a good sound designer work, and how does post-production sound enhance your documentary?

Penelope Falk is an award-winning editor with over 15 years of documentary experience. She most recently edited Step, which won a Special Jury Award at Sundance this year and will open in theaters August 4, and Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, which premiered at Cannes and was broadcast on HBO. Other editing credits include Maidentrip (SXSW Audience Award 2013) and Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (Sundance Excellence in Editing Award 2010). This year, she’s a mentor to editor Leigh Johnson through the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship.

Paul Hsu is Principal Partner in c5, inc., a boutique post production sound facility in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood for the last 29 years. Paul has also worked as an independent music producer and has a formal education in classical piano and composition.
Recent credits as re-recording mixer, supervising sound editor, and/or sound designer include OCEAN’S 8, FOXCATCHER, EATING ANIMALS, LADY BIRD, SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT, and THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES.

Lana Wilson is an Emmy Award-winning and two-time Spirit Award-nominated director, writer, and producer based in New York. Her most recent film, The Departure, premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival to critical acclaim and went on to be nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary. The Departure was called “A work of art” by the San Francisco Chronicle, “Moving…like a haiku” by The New York Times, and “A genuinely spiritual experience” by The Washington Post. The Departure was theatrically released in 30 US cities last fall, starting with a held-over run at New York’s Metrograph, and nationally broadcast on PBS this year. Wilson’s first film, After Tiller (co-directed by Martha Shane), premiered at Sundance in 2013 and went on to win an Emmy Award for Best Documentary. It was also nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, four Cinema Eye Honors, and the Ridenhour Prize. After Tiller was theatrically released in 50 US cities by Oscilloscope and nationally broadcast on POV. Wilson has also worked as a writer and producer for television. She is a 2018 Women at Sundance Fellow, has been a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute, and holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University.

DOCUMENTARY FUNDAMENTALS! A nuts-and-bolts professional development series designed for the emerging or intermediate documentary filmmaker, Documentary Fundamentals at UnionDocs is a six-part program taking place over the course of one weekend. Buy a SERIES PASS ($125) or choose to attend individual sessions ($25/each). This program has been an ongoing series at UnionDocs for many years. It developed from our experience with documentarians who needed a better foundation across the board to navigate production and distribution as an independent filmmaker in today’s landscape.