The Dharamshala International Film Festival, in association with the Paddy and Joan Leigh Fermor Arts Fund, will hold an editing workshop from October 29 to November 4. French editor Jacques Comets will conduct the workshop. Two director-editor teams will be selected and given the chance to screen their movie before a team of experienced film professionals. They can then consult on the film’s edit with Comet and other experienced editors.
Applications for the Dharamshala PJLF Editing Workshop can be submitted till September 20 and the two teams will be announced on October 8. The films have to be at least 90 minutes long and can be at any stage of completion betwen rough cut and final cut. The Selection Committee will comprise editor Bina Paul and filmmakers Umesh Kulkarni and Tenzing Sonam. Paul, the Artistic Director of the International Film Festival of Kerala, will also serve as an Editing Workshop Mentor alongside filmmaker Olivia Stewart.
Comets has previously co-headed the editing department of the French National Film School, La Femis, and has been part of many seminars, workshops, masterclasses and juries in film festivals, film schools and universities around the world.
“Our hope is that the workshop will not only inspire editors to give the director the benefit of an equal, qualified and experienced contribution to the final film, but will also reassure directors that editing skill is not a takeover of their vision but an asset and an opportunity to bring out the best in their film,” Dharamshala International Film Festival Director Ritu Sarin said in a statement.