Film editing has long been a domain where women have been able to make their mark, or take their cut shall we say, in a male-dominated industry. For instance, a number of women (Thelma Schoonmaker, Verna Fields, Dede Allen and Marcia Lucas among them) came up alongside their male director counterparts to enjoy significant success during 60s and 70s Hollywood.
But who are the next generation of expert editors? Here are our two cents…
Maya Maffioli
Maya is fast becoming a stalwart in the British independent film scene. Having worked on Michael Pearce’s Film4-backed genre fairytale Beast after the pair met at film school and she edited two of his short films, she has since completed work on the London-set coming-of-ager Rocks and is currently in post-production on Clio Barnard’s next film Ali & Ava. With a brilliant feel for intimate, sensory storytelling we have no doubt it will be a must-see.
You can watch Beast on Film4 on All4.
Rebecca Lloyd
Rebecca gained experience in assistant editing on projects such as American Honey, The Two Faces of January and Testament of Youth, and credits her dyslexia with inspiring a creative impulse and an affinity with pictures over words. She was the first ever editor to be selected for BAFTA’s Breakthrough Brits and has since gone on to edit projects such as Carmilla and Herself, the latter premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews. She talks more about the editing process for that project here, but clearly Lloyd is attuned to respecting and elevating a powerful central performance, a skill that we look forward to seeing on display in her edit of Corinna Faith’s The Power.
Amanda James
Amanda cut her editorial teeth working across commercials and music videos for artists like The Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Jay-Z, even winning an award for Best Editing at the UKMVAs in 2010 for the ‘On To The Next One’ video. She collaborates regularly with rising director Aneil Karia having edited his short films Beat and Work (pictured, a Film4-backed and BAFTA-nominated project you can watch right here) and most recently, his debut feature Surge starring Ben Whishaw, demonstrating an intuitive feel for rhythm, movement and timing.
Julie Buckland
Julie has been steadily making a name for herself within the industry, most recently earning a place on Film London’s Lodestars of 2020 list. We’re particularly enamoured of her work on the Film4-backed short film Pompeii, which poignantly interweaves a series of vibrant Instagram stories with a young man’s journey home. Both a technical feat and an emotional rollercoaster, Julie’s editing helps to convey the fleeting excitement of a night out and the profound loneliness of the young man watching it on his phone. We’re sure she’ll be on many more ‘rising star’ lists to come.
You can watch Pompeii here.
Rachel Durance
Rachel is an assistant and freelance editor who has worked across feature films such as Sorry We Missed You, Assassin’s Creed, The Legend of Tarzan and Kingsman: The Secret Service, as well as editing an abundance of short films such as Signs, Doggerland and an upcoming Film4-backed project called Shagbands. Demonstrating a capacity to work across big budget action movies and deeply felt character studies, Rachel is a talent we are excited to see flourish in the coming years.
