Alum Film Itzhak in Theaters

Itzhak, edited by TEC Alum Helen Yum and additional cinematography by TEC Alum Ramsey Fendall, is now in select theaters.

Matt Seitz at Roger Ebert says, "The filmmaking itself displays mastery in the spirit of its subject. There's never a doubt that you're in the hands of craftspeople operating at the peak of their powers, even as each choice serves the work. Helen Yum's editing is superb. It displays a rare sense of how to cut musical performances and dialogue together in a way that preserves the continuity of the music while favoring the forward motion of the story."

You can read the full review here.

More information on the film and screenings can be found here.

TEC Alum Becomes Sundance Screenwriting Fellow

Congratulations to Melissa Hickey for being selected as one of Sundance's 2018 Screenwriting Fellows! 

"The Screenwriters Intensive provides emerging screenwriters with the opportunity to hone their craft in a two-day concentrated workshop focused on the further development of a fiction feature screenplay."

More information about Melissa and the program and be found here.

Alum Film Thoroughbreds in Theaters Now

Thoroughbreds, edited by TEC Alum Louise Ford, is now in select theaters.

Variety says, "Thoroughbreds doesn’t look or sound anything like other teen-centric movies, but this is hardly a surface-only character study. Rather, the high-gloss, baroque world of Lily’s house serves as an elaborate mask for their true natures."

You can read the full review here.

TEC Alum to Receive Award at SXSW 2018

Congratulations to Kristin Bye who is to receive the 2018 Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship at today's SXSW Awards Ceremony for her work on the feature documentary, Obit!

"Obit premiered at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, screened at numerous festivals in the U.S. and internationally, and was released theatrically in 2017. NPR called the film “heartfelt and unshakable” and the New York Times chose Obit as a Critics Pick, describing it as 'observant, graceful and nonchalantly witty.'"

You can find out more about Kristin and the Fellowship, here.

SXSW 2018

With SXSW beginning today, we wanted to congratulate the following TEC alums on their success!

Friday's Child | Editor Chris Branca (TEC Alum)

Fresh out of foster care at age 18, Richie Wincott collides with the perils and temptations of a life apart. Becoming a prime suspect in a botched robbery, he discovers an impossible love in an unlikely friend. But with the police on his heels, and a sinister stranger threatening to reveal Richie's past, there may not be enough time to do the right thing.

Most Likely to Murder | Editor Mollie Goldstein (TEC Alum) - Assistant Editor Brian Young (TEC Alum)

A home for the holidays comedic murder-mystery... Billy (Adam Pally) comes back to his hometown expecting to be beloved like he used to be. Instead he finds his ex (Rachel Bloom) is dating the former high school outcast (Vincent Kartheiser), so Billy becomes obsessed with proving the outcast is actually the killer behind a mysterious local death. It's like Rear Window... for stoners.

Prospect | Editor Paul Frank (TEC Alum)

A teenage girl and her father travel to a remote alien moon, aiming to strike it rich. They've secured a contract to harvest a large deposit of the elusive gems hidden in the depths of the moon's toxic forest. But there are others roving the wilderness and the job quickly devolves into a fight to survive. Forced to contend not only with the forest's other ruthless inhabitants, but with her own father's greed-addled judgment, the girl finds she must carve her own path to escape.

Who We Are Now | Editor Betsy Kagen (TEC Alum) - Associate Editor Stella Quinn (TEC Alum)

Recently released from prison, Beth works with her public defender to get her son back from her sister who was awarded legal custody when she was incarcerated. As she navigates her way back into the outside world, Beth falls into a romantic fling with a traumatized Marine afraid of human connection and at the same time forms an unlikely alliance with a headstrong young woman on the public defense team who decides to take on her cause whether Beth likes it or not. These two people challenge, and eventually crack, Beth's tough exterior, making her realize that who she is isn’t about where she’s been, it’s about where she’s going.

SXSW EDU

On Tuesday, Fail State, edited by TEC alum Regina Sobel, had a special screening followed by a Q & A, at SXSW EDU.

Fail State | Editor Regina Sobel - Associate Editor Isabel Ponte - Additional Editor Betsy Kagen - Assistant Editors Stella Quinn, Kerri Green & Katrina Pastore

Fail State investigates the dark side of American higher education, chronicling the decades of policy decisions in Washington DC that have given rise to a powerful and highly predatory for-profit college industry. With echoes of the subprime mortgage crisis, the film lays bare how for-profit colleges exploit millions of low-income and minority students, leaving them with worthless degrees and drowning in student loan debt. Director Alexander Shebanow traces the rise, fall, and resurgence of the for-profit college industry, revealing their Wall Street backing and the politicians enabling them. Fail State is executive produced by news legend Dan Rather.

Interview With TEC Alum Marina Katz on Editing Festival Favorite

After it's global and European premieres at Sundance and Berlinale, Stephen Robert Morse from No Film School sat down with editor Marina Katz to discuss the editing process behind, MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A..

"You have to really trust your intuition and have a good process in place. I built long reels with my favorite moments and scenes from each period of Maya’s life. Then I cut those reels down more. Then you see what you have and what’s worth putting into the first assembly."

You can read the full article here.

TEC Alum Documentary Now Streaming

HONDROS, edited by TEC Alum Cindy Lee, began streaming on iTunes, Amazon Video, Google Play, Vudu, and Fandango Now, today!

HONDROS is currently in select theaters and will open on Netflix on July 1st.

More about the film and details for ways to watch can be found here.

Inside the IFP Labs Event Features TEC Alum as One of Three Key Speakers

Paula Eiselt, a 2016 Documentary Lab fellow, attended with 93Queen.

"For Eiselt, getting into the Labs was the first big validation their project received. They had been rejected for many grants already, and IFP was the first to give them the stamp of approval."

You can read the full article here.

TEC Alum Film Wins Special Jury Award at Sundance

Congratulations to Marina Katz for her editing on the film Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. which won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award at Sundance. 

You can find more information on the 2018 Sundance Award Winners, here.

TEC at Sundance and Slamdance

Sundance and Slamdance have announced their slates and we're thrilled to congratulate the following TEC alums, teachers, and class projects on their success!

Sundance

A Kid Like Jake | Editor Michael Taylor (TEC Alum)

Exciting filmmaker Silas Howard returns to the Sundance Film Festival—after years of directing boundary-pushing TV series like Transparent and This Is Us—with a sharply observed feature expanding the vital conversation around gender identity today. Pitch-perfect performances from Danes and Parsons balance the relentless competitive drive of New Yorkers with the brutal honesty needed to keep a family together. Stellar supporting actors Amy Landecker, Ann Dowd, Priyanka Chopra, and Octavia Spencer bring humor and energy to the film, along with unexpected revelations about the characters and the world they inhabit.

Chef Flynn | Consultant Editor Amy Foote (TEC Alum)

With access to a trove of personal archival footage and including new, intimate vérité footage, director Cameron Yates creates a collage of Flynn’s singular focus and distinctive path through childhood. Chef Flynn shares a rare view of a young man’s successful rise from the inside.

MATANGI/MAYA/M.I.A. | Editor Marina Katz (TEC Alum)

Maya kept the camera rolling through her battles with the music industry and mainstream media as her success and fame grew around the world. Filmmaker and longtime friend Stephen Loveridge situates us inside the personal process of one of the most provocative and divisive artists working in music today.

The King | Editor Elia Gasul Galada (TEC Alum) - Editor Betsy Kagen (TEC Alum)

With his singular cinematic brilliance, Jarecki paints a penetrating portrait of a nation in crisis and a metaphoric connection between Elvis and America. For just as a country boy lost his authenticity and became a king, so too his country lost her democracy and became an empire. One died on the toilet; the other now faces an uncertain future under the closest thing she’s ever had to a monarch.

The Trade | Editor Matthew Hamacheck (TEC Alum)

Director Matthew Heineman (City of Ghosts) returns to the Sundance Film Festival with this powerful, observational take on opioid addiction and the drug trade. Characters are presented without judgment in a riveting, interwoven narrative with superlative access to moments of heartbreak and personal truths. When one mother sobs, “I’m so tired of this; I don’t understand why,” she could be speaking for any person along this pervasive chain.

Wildlife | Editor Lou Ford (TEC Alum)

Actor Paul Dano makes an impressive debut as a filmmaker and—along with co-writer Zoe Kazan—elegantly adapts Richard Ford’s novel of the same name. Carey Mulligan delivers one of her finest performances as a complex woman whose self-determination and self-involvement disrupt the values and expectations of the 1960s nuclear family. With precise details and textures of its specific time and place, Wildlife commits to the viewpoint of a teenage boy observing the gradual dissolution of his parents’ marriage.

Come Sunday | Editor Malcolm Jamieson (TEC Teacher)

Based on the true story of a controversial and courageous man of God, Come Sunday elegantly and respectfully captures the authentic texture and tone of Pearson’s devout world, never resorting to hyperbole. Chiwetel Ejiofor’s tour-de-force performance embodies the effusive charisma and grounded humility of a character with everything to lose, yet even more to gain by heeding his convictions.

The Kindergarten Teacher | Editor Marc Vives (TEC Teacher) - Assistant Editor Katrina Pastore (TEC Alum)

Gyllenhaal propels every moment of this mysterious film with a beguiling performance that proves once again she’s one of the most interesting actors working today. Based on an acclaimed Israeli film, The Kindergarten Teacher is the superb sophomore feature from writer/director Sara Colangelo (Little Accidents, 2014 Sundance Film Festival).

Slamdance

Human Affairs | TEC August/September 2014 Six-Week class narrative film

Human Affairs is a visceral drama about the human condition that captivates from the first frame to the final credit, With a dazzling ensemble cast, this nuanced and hard-hitting, emotional story leaves a lasting impression long after you've departed the theater. An accomplished and satisfying debut in its raw authenticity.

The Rainbow Experiment | Editor Natalie Reneau (TEC Alum) - TEC June 2016 10 Saturdays class narrative film

This isn't another teen movie! Well...ok there are teenage cast members and it takes place in a high school. BUT, this film is so much more than that. The Rainbow Experiment is an epic tale of guilt and blame where adults refuse to take responsibility for their actions and too easily pass on their issues to the kids around or whomever is the weakest target. Director Christina Kallas takes a known story trope, blows it up, reverses it, adds her own spices to it and creates a brilliant and ambitious human story of loss and "life happens" where we can all recognize a bit of ourselves.