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Qollom

Where the screen comes into focus through an African lens, wherever that screen originates.

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In Focus

The editor nobody credits

She has cut fourteen features in nine years, three of them the biggest of their year. Almost nothing is written about her. That is not an accident.

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The editor nobody credits

Editing is the department that is hardest to see and easiest to take credit for. A director talks about rhythm. A producer talks about the cut that saved the film. Somewhere behind both is a person who sat with the footage for five months.

This piece is an attempt to describe a body of work that has never been collected in one place, and to be precise about what is actually hers.

A recognisable hand

Across fourteen films there is a consistent instinct: she holds one beat longer than the coverage wants, and she cuts out of scenes early. The combination produces a particular forward lean.

You can see it clearest in the two films where she was brought in late to recut someone else’s assembly. Same footage, different film.

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