The 2019 Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship is now accepting submissions. Entering its ninth year, the fellowship supports up-and-coming documentary editors in honor of Sundance award-winning editor Karen Schmeer (“Sergio”).
The goal of the fellowship is to champion “emerging documentary editors by developing their talent, expanding their creative community, and furthering their career aspirations.” The selected 2019 fellow will receive mentorship opportunities via American Cinema Editors (ACE), membership to ACE, Rooftop Films Summer Series, International Documentary Association (IDA), DCTV, and Adobe Creative Cloud, admission and/or credentials to fests such as ACE Editfest Los Angeles, Sundance, and SXSW, a $1,000 cash award, and more.
Editors who have cut at least one feature doc (60 minutes or more) but no more than three features (fiction or doc) are eligible for the fellowship. The deadline to submit is September 30, 2018.
Schmeer edited “The Fog of War,” “My Father, the Genius,” and “Fast, Cheap & Out of Control,” among other films. She won editing awards from Sundance and Slamdance for “Sergio” and “My Father, the Genius,” respectively. In 2004 she was nominated for ACE’s Best Edited Documentary Film prize for “The Fog of War.” Schmeer was in the midst of editing Liz Garbus’ “Bobby Fischer Against the World” when she was killed in a hit-and-run in 2010. She was 39.
Kristin Bye (“Obit”), Leigh Johnson (“It’s a Hard Truth Ain’t It”), and Eileen Meyer (“Best of Enemies”) are among the previous Karen Schmeer fellows.
Go to the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship website for more information and to apply.
