Today on Art of the Cut we speak with Oscar-winning director, Laura Poitras, who also edited the documentary, Cover Up, with fellow editors, Amy Foote, ACE and Peter Bowman. Cover Up is available to watch now on Netflix.

Laura’s documentaries have been nominated for three Oscars - for All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, My Country, My Country, and CitizenFour, which won the Oscar. She’s also been nominated for three Emmys, winning one, for CitizenFour, which also won a BAFTA.

Amy’s been on Art of the Cut before for All the Beauty and Bloodshed, for which she was nominated for an ACE Eddie, and Hail Satan? Her other work includes Father Soldier Son, which won an Emmy for Best Documentary Editing, and Girls State, among many others.

Peter Bowman is a Cinema Eye Honors nominee for Cover Up, along with his co-editors. His other work includes Girls State, How to Fix a Drug Scandal and USA versus Chapo: The Drug War Goes on Trial.

Our conversation today will cover the importance of allowing breaths to allow the audience to feel and absorb, the ethics of documentary, and the difficult choices of killing one’s darlings to streamline the story.

If you want to read along with this podcast and see exclusive photos and timeline screenshots, go to the BorisFX blogsite:

borisfx.com/blog/aotc

Mike Rowe