Open Call for the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship Starts Today!

The Open Call for submissions for our 2017-18 fellowship begins today! The online application must be completed by September 30, 2016. There is no fee to apply. As you know, the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship honors the memory of our friend and gifted editor Karen Schmeer. Inspired by Karen's generous nature, the fellowship assists emerging documentary editors by developing their talent, expanding their creative community, and furthering their career aspirations. We work with American Cinema Editors (ACE), Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, Manhattan Edit Workshop, SXSW, IFFBoston, Stranger than Fiction, Rooftop Films, IDA and Camden International Film Festival to offer a wide array of opportunities for promising editors. To learn more about the amazing person that Karen was, read here.

Karen Schmeer at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival screening Mr. Death.

If you are an emerging documentary film editor who has cut between one and three films with at least one of those being a documentary, please take a look at our FAQ to see all of our eligibility rules. If you know an editor or editors who would benefit from this opportunity, please send them to our website.

EILEEN MEYER, OUR 2016-17 FELLOW

Eileen Meyer, our 2016-17 fellow, is having a fantastic year. She’s currently in the edit room working on a feature documentary about multi-Grammy winning producer and music industry executive, Clive Davis. Earlier in the year she worked on Love, Alabama (working title), a feature documentary that follows three lesbian families in Alabama whose stories exemplify the continuing fight for full LGBTQ equality in the southern states. She’s traveled to the SXSW Film Festival; moderated a panel at “Contemplating the Cut,” an event co-hosted by KSFEF and the Sundance Institute's Documentary Film Program; and attended the Sundance Documentary Edit and Story Lab as a contributing editor on Cynthia Wade’sMudflow. Her first feature documentary editing effort, the extraordinary Best of Enemies, is currently streaming on Netflix. She’s been invited to be the Fall 2016 Artist-in-Residence for the Department of Film & Moving Image at Stevenson University. This is the first time they’ve invited a film editor! Her mentors Greg Finton, ACE; Pedro Kos; and Kim Roberts, ACE, have been giving her invaluable support and guidance. She had focused conversations with Kim and Pedro which have been published on POV’s Documentary Blog. Kim’s is called A Crash Course on Structuring Social Documentary and Pedro’s is The Challenges of Being Both Director and Editor. Past recipients were Anna Gustavi (Seymour: An Introduction), Colin Nusbaum (Tough Love, The Sheik and I), Jim Hession (Rich Hill, Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present), Lindsay Utz (In Country, Bully), and Erin Casper (American Promise, Our School). Read about all of them here. Good luck to our applicants and thank you to all of our supporters and partners.

2016-17 Fellow Eileen Meyer (photo by Claire Marie Vogel)

KSFEF TEAM

Robin Hessman, Board Member Ann Kim, Board Member Ellie Lee, Board Member Garret Savage, Board President Rachel Shuman, Board Member Maya Mumma, Website

OUR AIM

The yearlong Fellowship is designed to foster the development of an emerging documentary film editor by creating opportunities for him or her to grow creatively and expand his or her professional community. The 2017-18 fellowship benefits include: Mentorship with veteran editors; pass, badge and/or admission to: ACE EditFest Los Angeles, SXSW Film Festival, IFFBoston, Manhattan Edit Workshop’s Sight, Sound & Story summit, the KSFEF/Sundance Institute’s Contemplating the Cut workshop, Rooftop Films, Stranger than Fiction, IDA’s Getting Real conference, and the Camden International Film Festival; travel, accommodations and per diem to two of the aforementioned events; a credential to the Sundance Film Festival; an IDA one-year membership; an ACE “special” membership; a $1000 cash award; a $250 gift certificate at Powell’s Books; a portrait session with a professional photographer; and a DVD collection of all 12 of Karen’s films.

OUR PARTNERS

Thanks as always to our wonderful partners: American Cinema Editors (ACE), Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, Manhattan Edit Workshop, SXSW, IFFBoston,Rooftop Films, Stranger Than Fiction, IDA, Camden International Film Festival, and Claire Marie Vogel Photography.

IFFBOSTON'S KAREN SCHMEER AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN DOCUMENTARY EDITING

In addition to all the benefits we offer the fellow, we also fund a $500 cash award for the winner of IFFBoston's annual Karen Schmeer Award for Excellence in Documentary Editing. The 2016 winner is Andrew Gersh for Real Boy.