Fine Cuts: Interviews On The Practice Of European Film Editing

In the expanded second edition of Fine Cuts, Roger Crittenden reveals the experiences of the greatest European film editors through his warm and perceptive interviews. This new edition builds on the foundations laid out in 2005, including interviews with the editors of films such as Day for Night, The Sacrifice, The Kid with a Bike, and Fanny and Alexander; new interviews with editors of such films as Tyrannosaur and The Other Side of Hope; and editors from a wider range of countries, including Austria, Belgium, Finland, Portugal, and Russia. The book now embraces all aspects of post-production, with insights into sound editing from Larry Sider, originator of the renowned School of Sound, and music composition from Oscar winner Dario Marianelli (Atonement).

Editors relate their experiences with directors including:

• Claire Atherton [Chantal Akerman]
• Mick Audsley [Terry Gilliam, Stephen Frears]
• Yann Dedet [François Truffaut, Claire Denis, Maurice Pialat]
• Marie-Hélène Dozo [Dardenne Brothers]
• François Gédigier [Patrice Chéreau, Lars von Trier]
• Samu Heikkilä [Aki Kaurismäki]
• Sylvia Ingemarsdotter [Ingmar Bergman]
• Tony Lawson [Nicolas Roeg, Stanley Kubrick, Neil Jordan]
• Michal Leszczylowski [Andrei Tarkovsky, Lukas Moodysson]
• Roberto Perpignani [Orson Welles, Bernardo Bertolucci, Tavianni Brothers]
• Mary Stephen [Éric Rohmer]

Each interview also includes a list of cited and notable films for further study. An online eResource contains additional interviews with editors Sabine Mamou, Agnès Guillemot, and Nino Baragli.

Acknowledgements

Foreword to 1st edition: Walter Murch – The Transformation of Chance into Destiny

Introduction

Yann Dedet

Mary Stephen

Francois Gedigier

Claire Atherton

Marie-Helene Dozo

Katharina Wartena

Roberto Perpignani

Simona Paggi

Julia Juaniz

Joao Braz

Juliane Lorenz

Karina Ressler

Samu Heikkila

Sylvia Ingemarsdotter

Michal Leszczylowski

Olga Grinsphun

Tony Lawson

Jonathan Morris

Mike Ellis

Mick Audsley

Pia Di Ciaula

Lucia Zucchetti

David Charap

Larry Sider

Dario Marianelli

Dave King

Index

"What gives all of these interviews their complexity and warmth is not only the different nationalities, but even more so the richly diverse and ‘uncinematic’ family backgrounds of the editors collected here. Had they followed in their parents’ footsteps they would have instead become teachers, pilots, tailors, doctors, farmers, chemists, vegetable sellers, astronomers, bookkeepers, salesmen, road workers, dry cleaners, dentists or civil servants. Luckily for the readers of this marvelous book, and for world cinema, they took another route and – to use Godard’s evocative description of film editing – transformed chance into destiny, making the varied circumstances of their lives a reflection of montage at its most sublime, when accidental moments are propelled by structure into inevitability."

—Walter Murch, Academy Award-winning Editor, Apocalypse Now (1979), The Godfather: Part III (1990), The English Patient (1996)

"The cutting room is where you learn how to make films, where you face up to your limitations and realise what you should have done. So, you''d better have a good relationship with your editor. The people talking here are amongst the best