Today Kim Miille came in to meet with us. Kim is an editor and my mentor St. Clair Bourne introduced us a while back. I have learned that even though it will be a while before we hire an editor, it great to meet with the people you think you'll work with - as this business is all about relationships. I really liked Kim's energy and the way she describes her working process - which is very intuitive and from the heart. Its very much the way I work though as a producer/writer/director, I also engage in deep research and preproduction. Kim didnt go to school to learn editing but trained on the job working with such greats as Sam Pollard (who edited my last film - Twelve Disciples of Nelson Mandela). After our meeting she came into our edit room and our editing intern Brian Kyallo screened a cut of the new trailer he is cutting for an upcoming grant application. Kim gave us great feedback on trailer pointing out a photographer who is featured in the film and suggesting that we develop her character to provide the grant panel with an idea on how the film would unfold. This is Brian's second day working here (he is a filmmaker from Kenya who is here on a Ford Foundation scholarship & we are very happy to have him here. Brian was besides himself after Kim's suggestions and comments saying that he learned so much in just 20 minutes. This kind of magic, (diasporic) connection and synchronicity is what I love about filmmaking.
