The Danish Film School, in collaboration with DANSK FILMKLIPPERSSELSKAB, opens the doors for an exclusive masterclass on the art of documentary film editing. Come into the cutting room and meet two distinctive international profiles: Emmy-nominated comedy expert Cori Wapnowska and award-winning "narrative architect" Chris Wright.

Regardless of whether it applies to absurd humor in the trivialities of everyday life, sharp social criticism or lingering, poetic touches in the whir of history, editing is the heart of the documentary film. This masterclass gives a unique insight into the engine room of two clippers who have created large-scale successes by mastering each corner of the genre.

Meet:

Cori Wapnowska, ACE – Documentary's comedic editor

Cori is an Emmy-nominated and Peabody-winning editor with over 20 years of experience. She specializes in the intersection of documentary, social justice and anarchist comedy. Cori has shaped the visual style and sharp timing on great successes such as the Netflix series My Next Guest with David Letterman, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and not least the HBO hit How To with John Wilson (as well as Wilson's CPH:DOX current theatrical film The History of Concrete). Through her haircut, she demonstrates the difficult discipline of finding humor in the small, often overlooked moments and reactions - always with a deep empathy, where you never kick down.

Chris Wright – The architect of narrative and time

The British-born and Berlin-based editor and director Chris Wright is behind a long series of the most formative European non-fiction films of recent years. His impressive resume includes award-winning festival hits such as Salomé Jashi's breathtaking Taming the Garden, Thomas Heise's epic Heimat Is a Space in Time and Netflix's gripping true crime series Till Murder Do Us Part.

Chris has also directed the documentaries Priests (2014) and Anamnesis (2021), the latter created together with Stefan Kolbe. Anamnesis follows a man convicted of murder through the final years of his prison sentence and was screened at international documentary film festivals, where the film was noted for its experimental approach to truth, memory and representation.

Chris is currently working on the film Arctic Link – about the technological ideas in a changing world. He is recognized for his phenomenal feel for narrative structures, pace and patience in editing. He consistently manages to assemble complex materials for emotionally moving narratives and also teaches documentary at the renowned German film school dffb.

What can you expect?

Look forward to an inspiring evening with a dive into the work processes of the two barbers. We will hear stories from the cutting room and gain concrete insights into how to build "punchlines" in a documentary, how to work backwards from a "selects" archive and how to create the right architecture in long, character-driven films.

Program:

18.00 Doors open
18.15 -19 Shaping Time
Chris Wright - film editor and director
Line Schou - moderator
19.00 -19.15 break

19.15 - 20.00 The Comedy of Reality
Cori Wapnowska - film editor and director
Steen Johannessen - moderator

Supported by: