FEST was delighted to welcome renowned film editor Chris King for his masterclass “Truth and Structure: The Editor’s Role in Documentary” on June 25. King’s work has been recognized with numerous awards, including a BAFTA for Senna (2010), an Emmy for Wasted! The Story of Food Waste (2017), and a lineup of other awards and nominations. 

The masterclass was staged as an “edit diary” outlining the editing process and “cross-cut” with anecdotal examples from some of King’s most well-known projects.   

While King notes that his time in film school included what felt like an excess of coursework on theory and film history, he exemplifies how concepts like dramatic structure have molded his approach to editing. Crucially, King’s edit diary showcases that dramatic structure is not imposed on the editing process from the get-go. Rather, forms like three-act and five-act structure can be used to hone editing once the identity and story of the film begin to come into focus.  

One of the most remarkable points King shared in his masterclass is that none of the trilogy of documentaries created in collaboration with director Asif Kapadia—comprising Senna (2010), Amy (2015), and Maradona (2019)—had a script. All three of these films, which center on famous people and their relationships with the media, were built from archival material. Sifting through hours and hours of footage requires substantial time and commitment, but King underscores that it is by considering all the materials at hand and identifying the “nuggets” that the narrative of the film eventually emerges. 

King reflected on how each of these films required whittling in order to arrive at the truth of the protagonists’ identities. He referred to further traditional literary elements as guiding the process of understanding the “true” story, including tracing the protagonist’s the tragic flaw through to its consequences in Senna. He also highlighted non-Western approaches to storytelling, such as the inspiration of Bollywood-style filmmaking in the use of music as a narrative device in Amy.  

In addition to the influence of theory in his approach to understanding documentary structures, King manipulates cinematic elements beyond just the images shown to reinforce the narrative. Components including sound, music, and techniques like montage can all be operationalized to complement and enhance the narrative. It is this careful blend of traditional narrative techniques with cinematic elements that renders editing an integral component of the filmmaking process. 

-          Alexandra Rongione