Documentaries are a powerful medium that can entertain and effect social change. Editing the footage requires a keen sense of storytelling and the ability to see possibilities. Experts discuss the collaborative role of editor and director, how the editor shapes a story, interprets the director's vision, and determines what stays and what gets cut.
Panelists:
Sarah Menzies is a director, producer, and cinematographer. She founded her production company Let Media in 2012, creating short documentary films, including The Mirnavator (Director/Editor, 2017), A Steelhead Quest (Director/Editor, 2017), and Catch It (Director/Producer, 2014) which have screened at Mountainfilm, Banff Mountain Film Festival, Port Townsend Film Festival, and Wild and Scenic Film Festival. Her work has allowed her to venture into wild spaces to bring back amazing stories of strength, courage, and passion that highlight our common humanity. Seeking personal character-driven stories, Sarah made her feature length documentary directorial debut at the 2018 Hot Docs Film Festival and just screened at SIFF 2018. Afghan Cycles won The Aegis Living Film Grant, and is also sponsored by 4Culture, Encore City Arts, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle Weekly, Washington State Arts Commission, Shoreline Community College, National Endowment for the Arts, Women In Film Seattle, The Seattle Times.
Vlada Knowlton is a documentary filmmaker whose feature length films include her first: Having it All, which was selected by PBS station KCTS 9 as the anchor program for the “Women Who Inspire” series in 2015, and went on to be broadcast by Oregon Public Broadcasting. Her current documentary The Most Dangerous Year, premiering this year at SIFF 2018, was awarded the Professional Grant from Women in Film Seattle and an Open 4Culture Grant. Prior to becoming a filmmaker Vlada worked at Microsoft. She holds a B.Sc. in Psychology from McGill University and a Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from Brown University. The Most Dangerous Year Description: In 2016 a group of Washington State families with transgender kids joined the fight against the wave of discriminatory anti-transgender legislation sweeping through the nation and into their home state. With the help of a coalition of state lawmakers and civil rights activists, these families embarked on an uncharted journey of fighting to protect and preserve their children’s inalienable human rights and freedoms in this present-day civil rights movement.
Sandy Jeglum is an independent video editor with over a decade of experience editing short and feature-length documentaries. Her producing/editing work includes shorts for the non-profit KIVA (2013), Foundation for Women (2013), and the Living Oceans Foundation (2013). As a digital media producer, Sandy managed successful crowd- funding campaigns, most recently for Dirtbag: The Legend of Fred Beckey (SIFF 2017). Sandy is co-producer/assistant editor of the award-winning documentary Crazywise (SIFF 2017) and editor of the award-winning feature-length documentary Headhunt Revisited (Cascadia International Film Festival 2018). Driven by the power of storytelling to expand perceptions, increase empathy, and promote social change, Sandy’s passion lies in creating captivating, human-centered stories.
Ali Scattergood is a documentary filmmaker and photographer currently based in Seattle, WA. Ali started her documentary career Co-directing and shooting a documentary film with the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Interlochen Arts Academy's dance department back in 2008, and since then has worked all over the country photographing and producing for some of the best filmmakers in the industry. Recently, Ali was the Assistant Producer and Assistant Editor on Ken Burns' documentary Mayo Clinic: Faith, Hope, and Science. Ali has also worked on several other Ken Burns' projects such as Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, The Life and Times of Jackie Robinson, The Address, and the The Vietnam War. Currently, Ali is Producing an independent feature length documentary, Velvet Citizen, about a man's journey to pursue his life long dream of sailing around the world after spending over 40 years building he boat by hand in his backyard in Czechoslovakia. A Wisconsin native, Ali graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin with a degree in Studio Art, with an emphasis on analog photography and digital media. She is also a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies, where she received a graduate certificate in documentary photography and video.
WIF will announce more panelists closer to the event, which should include some of the documentary filmmakers in attendance for SIFF 2018.
Moderator:
Virginia Bogert has directed and edited hundreds of documentary shorts. Her long form documentaries; Pike Place Market: Soul of a City; Healing a Soldier’s Heart; and The Fly Filmmaking Challenge, have been broadcast on PBS KCTS 9 and screened at multiple festivals. Her documentaries for MoPOP have screened world-wide. Virginia’s award-winning narrative short films, seen on PBS, have had successful festival runs. Virginia is President Emerita/Community Liaison of WIF Seattle.