Today on Art of the Cut we speak with director/editor Josh Safdie and his co-editor co-producer and co-writer, Ronald Bronstein. Safdie and Bronstein are nominated this year for Oscars for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and Best Editing for Marty Supreme. Safdie has an additional nomination for the film for Best Achievement in Directing.

The pair has worked together for almost two decades on such films as Uncut Gems, Good Time, Heaven Knows What, and Daddy Longlegs.

Our discussion today includes the importance of editing the film linearly – not looking at dailies until after the shoot - and being in love with their flawed main character.

If you'd like to read along with this interview and see the trailer, clips and stills from the film, visit the BorisFX.com website and check out the Art of the Cut blog:

borisfx.com/blog/aotc.

Today on Art of the Cut we speak with Stephen Rivkin, ACE, who was one of the editors on James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash. The other editors included Cameron himself, Nicholas de Toth, Jason Gaudio, and John Refoua. 

Steve’s been on Art of the Cut before when we discussed the previous Avatar film – The Way of Water. Steve also edited the first Avatar film, for which he was nominated along with John Refoua and James Cameron for an Oscar, a BAFTA, and an ACE Eddie Award. He won an Eddie for his work on Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He was also nominated for ACE Eddies for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Other films include Alita: Battle Angel, Ali, The Hurricane, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, and My Cousin Vinny. 

Today our discussion includes how the Avatar films use a unique two step process - first editing performance alone, then editing the final shots created with those performances, and on co-editing with the film’s director, James Cameron, ACE.

If you'd like to read along with this interview and see the trailer, video featurettes, clips and images from the film, visit the BorisFX.com website for the Art of the Cut blog.

borisfx.com/blog/aotc

Today on Art of the Cut we speak with editor Mark Strand, ACE, who is nominated for an ACE Eddie for Best Edited Drama Series for his work on HBO’s The Pitt.

In addition to The Pitt, Mark’s work includes Shameless, Animal Kingdom, Rizzoli and Isles, Longmire, Nip/Tuck, and others.

Our discussion includes  how the show was not supposed to have any music, how geography matters to the editing, and the value of subverting audience expectations when cutting.

If you want to read along with this interview and see exclusive images, like the floor plan for The Pitt and timeline screenshots of Mark's nominated episode and the pilot, visit BorisFX's blog site.

BorisFX.com/blog/aotc

Today on Art of the Cut we’re talking with editor Viridiana Lieberman about the Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-nominated Best Documentary, The Perfect Neighbor. The film was also nominated for the Grand Jury prize at Sundance, and the Audience Award at SXSW, it won the Cinema Eye Honors Award for Best Directing and Viri was nominated for Best Editing. Viri was also nominated for an ACE Eddie and won the Critics Choice Documentary Award for Best Editing.

Viri was last on Art of the Cut for her work on the documentary, Carlos. Her other work includes directing and editing the ESPN film, Born to Play, and editing on docs like The Sentence, 30 for 30, and Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power.

Our discussion today includes using structure to hook the audience, how sometimes an iPhone is an editing tool, and why the term “b-roll” is cringe-worthy.

If you want to read along with this interview and see exclusive photos, check out the BorisFX blog at

borisfx.com/blog/aotc

Today on Art of the Cut a discussion of the Oscar-nominated Best Picture, Train Dreams with editor Parker Laramie.

Parker was the 2025 Winner of the Jonathan Oppenheim Editing Award at Sundance for the documentary André Is an Idiot. He has also been nominated for 2 Emmys and a Cinema Eye Honors Award for his writing and editing on the non-fiction program, Allen v. Farrow. His other work includes the feature film Sing Sing, and the TV mini-series Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult, among many other projects.

Our conversation today includes: how a background in documentary editing helps with editing narrative features, creating dynamics by changing structure, and the power … and danger … of a cut to black.

If you'd like to read along with the podcast and see a trailer, behind the scenes photos, a timeline screenshot of Train Dreams - in Premiere - visit the BorisFX.com blog site

borisfx.com/blog/aotc

Today on Art of the Cut we speak with Affonso Gonçalves about editing Chloe Zhao’s Hamnet.

Affonso has been on Art of the Cut previously for Don’t Worry, Darling,

Affonso has been nominated for an Emmy and won an ACE Eddie for his work on the TV series True Detective. He was nominated for another ACE Eddie for his work on the documentary, The Velvet Underground. His other work includes the films Carol, The Lost Daughter, Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Winter’s Bone.

Our conversation today will cover co-editing with Oscar-winning director Chloe Zhao, the power of elliptical editing, and the value of cutting to black.

If you'd like to read along with this podcast, you can read a transcription and see photos, clips and the trailer at teh BorisFX blog site.

Check out: borisfx.co/blog/aotc

Today on Art of the Cut, the editor of Oscar-contender Sentimental Value, Olivier Coutté.

Olivier’s is a Danish editor whose previous work includes Thelma, Oslo August 31st, Beginners, and The Apprentice, for which he was nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award. He also won the Tribeca Jury Award for Best Editing of a narrative feature for Bridgend.

Our conversation today will cover structuring where montages belong in the film, the importance of trust in the cutting room, and the need to include “sparkles” amid the drama, … Among many other things!

If you'd like to read along with this interview and see exclusive photos, plus trailers, clips and more, check out the BorisFX.com blog site!

borisfx.com/blog/aotc

Today on Art of the Cut we speak with Oscar-winning director, Laura Poitras, who also edited the documentary, Cover Up, with fellow editors, Amy Foote, ACE and Peter Bowman. Cover Up is available to watch now on Netflix.

Laura’s documentaries have been nominated for three Oscars - for All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, My Country, My Country, and CitizenFour, which won the Oscar. She’s also been nominated for three Emmys, winning one, for CitizenFour, which also won a BAFTA.

Amy’s been on Art of the Cut before for All the Beauty and Bloodshed, for which she was nominated for an ACE Eddie, and Hail Satan? Her other work includes Father Soldier Son, which won an Emmy for Best Documentary Editing, and Girls State, among many others.

Peter Bowman is a Cinema Eye Honors nominee for Cover Up, along with his co-editors. His other work includes Girls State, How to Fix a Drug Scandal and USA versus Chapo: The Drug War Goes on Trial.

Our conversation today will cover the importance of allowing breaths to allow the audience to feel and absorb, the ethics of documentary, and the difficult choices of killing one’s darlings to streamline the story.

If you want to read along with this podcast and see exclusive photos and timeline screenshots, go to the BorisFX blogsite:

borisfx.com/blog/aotc

Today on Art of the Cut we speak with Oscar-winning director, Raoul Peck and editor Alexandra Strauss. Both have been on Art of the Cut in the past for Raoul’s film, Ernest Cole: Lost and Found.

Raoul is an Oscar-nominated, BAFTA-winning and Emmy-winning director/producer for his documentary I Am Not Your Negro. He was also a winner of Cannes Golden Eye Award for Ernest Cole: Lost and Found and a nominee for Orwell: 2+2=5.  He was an International Documentary Award winner for Exterminate All the Brutes. And received Cinema Eye Honors Award nominations for I Am Not Your Negro, and Exterminate all the Brutes.

Alexandra has been nominated for numerous awards for her editing, including Cinema Eye Honors Awards for Best Editing for Orwell 2+2=5, Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, I Am Not Your Negro, and Exterminate all the Brutes.

On this episode we discuss the importance of voice-over in documentary, how and why to deliver tone, and the power of juxtaposing historical archival with modern news footage.

You can read along with this episode - and ALL the episodes - on BorisFX.com's blog site:

BorisFX.com/blog/aotc

Today on Art of the Cut we speak with the three editors of the Netflix TV series, Black Rabbit: Vikash Patel, Cedric Nairn-Smith, and Kyle Reiter, ACE.

Vikash is an Emmy winner for his work on Top Chef, and an Emmy nominee for Ozark. His other work includes TV series Revolution and The Sympathizer.

Cedric Nairn-Smith has been on Art of the Cut in the past for Daredevil: Born Again. His other work includes Moon Knight and The Boys.

Kyle’s been nominated for four Emmys and four ACE Eddies for his work on Barry, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and Atlanta.

On this episode we discuss their approach to new material, the benefits of working with a director who’s also a showrunner, and tying the show’s tone with score. 

You can read along with this podcast on the BorisFX.com blog site:

borisfx.com/blog/aotc

Today on Art of the Cut we speak with Oscar-nominated editor, Sandra Adair, ACE, about the Richard Linklater film, Blue Moon.

Sandra was last on Art of the Cut for her last collaboration with Linklater, Hit Man. Before that we spoke about her film Where’d you Go, Bernadette. She was nominated for an ACE Eddie for her work on School of Rock. And she was nominated for an Oscar and won an ACE Eddie for her work on Boyhood. Her other work includes Dazed and Confused, A Scanner Darkly, and Bernie.

In this interview Sandra discusses the secrets to editing overlapping dialogue, the importance of eye-lines, and the value of having a long history editing an actor.

You can read along with this interview audio on the BorisFX website and see trailers, clips, exclusive photos and timeline screenshots. Go to:

borisfx.com/blog/aotc