Thursday's KVIFF Talk belonged to American film editor Sarah Flack, who as a member of the main festival jury is watching all competition films and in addition accompanying the pictures Freak Show and The Beguiled. She worked on the second of these with Sofia Coppola, for whom she also edited the hit Lost in Translation.
In addition to describing her first meeting with the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola, she also spoke during the discussion with American critic Leonard Maltin about working with her other "fateful" director Steven Soderbergh. "I had already taken an interest in Eastern Europe during my studies, so when I read in Variety that Steven Soderbergh was planning to shoot the film Kafka in Prague shortly after the fall of communism, I wanted to be there. So I found a job on the set, though it was mainly just making coffee," recalls Flack, saying that she also got to see Prague in 1992 thanks to the drama Swing Kids.
To other editors she recommended showing their work not only to friends, but also to professionals who can assess it honestly, and also not to be afraid of directors. "I always respect directors and their vision, but I'm not the type of editor who merely follows the director's instructions," said Flack, who also revealed that editing can significantly improve an actor's performance.
From the programme of the Karlovy Vary festival, Flack recommended the films Baby Driver and Good Time. "It's not my style of editing, but they made an impression on me."
