Q&A with editors Carla Gutierrez, Flaviá de Souza, Faisal Azam
LA CORONA
Dir. Isabel Vega & Amanda Micheli | 2008 | Documentary/Short | 40 mins
The contestants are murderers, guerrillas, and thieves. The winner will be crowned Queen, but she won't be invited on a press tour as a role model for young girls. Instead, she will be escorted back to her cell.
OPEN HEART
Dir. Kief Davidson | 2012 | Documentary/Short | 40 mins
Eight Rwandan children leave their families behind to embark on a life-or-death journey seeking high-risk heart surgery in Sudan. Their hearts ravaged by a treatable disease from childhood strep throat, they have only months left to live. Open Heart reveals the intertwined endeavors of Dr. Emmanuel, Rwanda's lone government cardiologist fighting to save the lives of his young patients, and Dr. Gino, the Salam Center's head surgeon, who is fighting to save his hospital, Africa's only link to life-saving free cardiac surgery for the millions who need it.
ST. LOUIS SUPERMAN
Dir. Sami Khan & Smriti Mundhra | 2019 | Documentary/Short | 28 mins
Bruce Franks Jr., a Ferguson activist and battle rapper who was elected to the overwhelmingly white and Republican Missouri House of Representatives, must overcome both personal trauma and political obstacles to pass a critical bill for his community.
Carla Gutiérrez ACE is an Emmy and Eddie nominated documentary editor. She edited the Oscar nominated films RBG and La Corona. Her latest film, Julia, about renowned chef, and television personality Julia Child, premiered at Telluride and was an official selection of the Toronto Film Festival. She also edited the Emmy nominated Pray Away (Netflix Original, Tribeca premiere). Carla’s work has received awards at Sundance, Tribeca, Berlinale, Outfest, the Critic’s Choice Awards, the National Board of Review Awards and the DuPont Columbia Awards. She has been a creative adviser for the Sundance Edit Lab, and a mentor for the Firelight Producers’ Lab, The Karen Schmeer Diversity Program, and the Tribeca Film Fellows program. Carla is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures and the American Cinema Editors. She received a Masters in Documentary Film from Stanford University.
Flávia de Souza edited Aftershock, which was nominated for the Peabody News and Documentaries Awards, and received a U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Impact for Change at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. Her work also includes the Academy Award-nominated short documentary Open Heart, the News & Documentary Emmy Award-winning film Armed with Faith, as well as Boycott and Song of Lahore. Flávia's work has screened at SXSW, Tribeca, DOC NYC, and Sheffield, among other festivals, and has broadcast on HBO, PBS, Arté, and the Discovery Channel. Flávia is currently a mentor in the Karen Schmeer Film Fellowship Diversity in the Edit Room Program.
Faisal Azam is an award-winning filmmaker best known for editing the Oscar-nominated documentary short St. Louis Superman; Without Shepherds, Grand Prize Winner at the Brooklyn Film Festival; and Salar, which won Best Dramatic Short at the Austin Film Festival and was shortlisted for an Academy Award. Over the course of his career, Faisal’s work has been featured at Sundance, Tribeca, Clermont-Ferrand, Big Sky, Hot Docs, and BFI London. In 2015, Faisal co-wrote H8, which was a top-ten finalist in numerous national competitions and won WeScreenplay’s TV Pilot Contest. Faisal’s latest film, which he wrote, edited and co-directed is the upcoming feature documentary The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, based loosely on the New York Times bestselling book of the same name. Born in Karachi, Pakistan, Faisal grew up in the Middle East and immigrated to the US at age 15. He graduated with high distinction from UC Berkeley with a degree in Rhetoric.